Banana Boat Dreaming

It’s still another two days before NBA Free Agents can officially sign all of the paperwork they agreed to over the long holiday weekend, but certain rumors are still floating around on a large yellow raft. The Cavs have been mostly quiet about their plans, other than LeBron’s quick trigger Tweets of congratulations to former Cavs Timofey Mozgov and Matthew Dellavedova, yet social media has been aTwitter with folks wishful thinking and pipe dreaming (not of the JR variety) about the possibility of Dwyane Wade bringing his talents to the shores of Lake Erie.

Despite the hype and cryptic tracking of private jet tail numbers, the hard facts remain that the Cavs just don’t have the resources to bring DWade into the fold. Beyond Wade agreeing to take a massive paycut to accept a minimum $3.3M offer, the only other way #3 could be in a wine & gold uni for the 2016-17 season would be if the Cavs would be willing to trade Kevin Love to the Heat for him. And, even if that were a possibility, it’s highly unlikely Pat Riley and Mickey Arison are in any way, shape or form willing to facilitate that kind of move to help LeBron or Cleveland.

But, that doesn’t stop some from going bananas…

DWade reportedly was on a plane w/ LeBron & Dan Gilbert last night.

Today, he cancelled his meeting w/ the Bucks scheduled for tomorrow.

🤔

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 5, 2016

According to Jason Carr, the son of Cavs legend Austin Carr, DWade to Cleveland is a "done deal" and should be announced later this week.

— CLE Sports Source (@CLESportsSource) July 5, 2016

The @DwyaneWade signal has been activated… pic.twitter.com/AQbLgIOkCy

— ShueTube (@TheBShue) July 4, 2016

https://twitter.com/MarronMatt/status/750373272395649024

Let the #GSW @Cavs arms race begin. Just do whatever to make this happen @KingJames. #DWade pic.twitter.com/u0tp8Cn7UU

— 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜 𝙾𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 (@ChrisEOlive) July 5, 2016

Brian Windhorst, who usually has some inkling of things Cavs and Heat related, posted this Tweet this morning…

Dwyane Wade has canceled some free agent meetings with teams he'd set up with this week, sources said.

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 5, 2016

But he followed it up just a few minutes ago with a live report on ESPN stating that DWade has told the Miami heat that their 2 year, $40M offer was about $10M too light. That’s right… WOW wants $50M over the next two, so it’s tough to imagine the Cavs figuring out a scenario that works given that it seems Wade wants to get PAID. Windy did mention that while the Bucks have dropped out, the Bulls and Nuggets still sound interested.

Chances are, however, that the Heat (having failed in their bid to snag KD) will eventually figure out a way to structure a deal to give Wade what he wants… since there’s not too many guys left they can pay. Meanwhile, it looks like the Cavs may yet be kicking the tires on a few other FAs before it’s all said and done, along with hopefully bringing JR and RJ back to the team.

On Sportscenter, @mcten just said the Cavs are looking at veterans like Norris Cole, Mario Chalmers, David West and Luis Scola.

— Brett Zelman (@blouiszelman) July 5, 2016

No harm in dreaming though, right?