You can look at this one or two ways.
Wade is a team guy and took less salary to make sure the team could be competitive without the services of LeBron James or the Heat weren’t going to give him a massive contract, so he had no choice but to take what he could get.
Whatever the case, Wade is a little lighter in the wallet, but the Heat might be better off for it.
Official numbers on Dwyane Wade contract: $15M this season, $16.125 next season, sources told ESPN.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 16, 2014
Wade took about an $11 million reduction in guaranteed money over 2 years after opting out. Rollback made it possible to sign Luol Deng.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 16, 2014