The Miami Heat are potentially set up for a dynasty with the likes of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh in the fold. But with each player possessing the option to opt out after next season, the question has always been whether or not the Heat would be able to keep all 3 down the road. With the potential luxury tax penalties for teams over the salary cap, keeping this trio together will be difficult. But if you ask Heat President Pat Riley, it is certainly doable.
Per ESPN:
“It’s doable in this tax economy, but I’ll leave that up to [Heat owner] Micky [Arison],” Riley said. “That will all be tackled after the season, but it is doable.”
“I don’t believe that we have to sell anybody on us anymore in 2014,” Riley said. “It’s all about winning now and when that time comes, we’ll deal with it.”
“It’s going to take that kind of revenue and those kinds of opportunities to be able to [keep the core together],” Riley said. “It is doable, but it’s a question of the economics of the game. There’s going to have to be some strategic planning not only from [the business] standpoint, but also personnel-wise over the next couple of years to deal with [the potential tax penalties].”
“I would love to see all of [the current Heat players] end their careers together here at the same time and hang their numbers, all of the players become the godfathers to each other’s children and have one big, happy barbecue in the backyard somewhere. I would love to see that,” Riley said. “But I don’t know if that’s reality in today’s game.”
I think the biggest factor in keeping this Big 3 together is whether or not they want to be together. They’ve all shown they are extremely unselfish and willing to take less to come play together.
If the squad is coming off a 3-peat after next season, I’m sure they might be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to keep the core together.