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It's the rumor that just won't go away, huh?
ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported Friday evening that Dwyane Wade is "in contract talks" with the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks, with the possibility that Wade would set up meetings with both teams sometimes next week. Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel backed up this report by saying that the Bucks do indeed have a meeting set up with Wade next week. What a time to be alive. I can't even get through one dang paragraph without the news intensifying.
Windhorst had reported earlier in the week that Wade was preparing to field outside offers after talks with the Miami Heat stalled, and for the second straight season, the Wade/Bucks speculation was effortless. Wade has a history with Milwaukee because of his Marquette days and he would be close to his hometown of Chicago so...yeah, it's not exactly difficult to see why some feel like this would be a great fit.
However, Dwyane Wade is not going to come cheap, and money is not something the Bucks have a surplus of at the moment. Here is the updated cap information:
Here's Bucks cap estimate assuming declining deals on Delly/Telly (if rising then about $2m more cap room). pic.twitter.com/e4ppaJJk33
— Frank Madden (@brewhoop) July 1, 2016
In theory, the Bucks could maybe carve out enough cap room for Wade, but it would involve trading Greg Monroe for essentially nothing and some subsequent creative cap structuring, which feels like unlikely asset management from Hammond and company. Also, there's no way Wade is coming off the bench (especially at his price), which feels like it would present the starting lineup with even more questions than answers, no matter how good Wade can be (if he's healthy).
UPDATE (8:43 p.m.) - In Adrian Wojnarowski's latest article, he writes that the Bucks maybe aren't knocking the door down to get Wade on their roster.
"The Nuggets and Bulls have been among the most aggressive pursuers of Wade, league sources said.
Milwaukee has been open to sitting down and talking with Wade, but it doesn't have the salary-cap space - nor yet the full inclination - to make that kind of a commitment to Wade, league sources said."
This makes sense, especially considering Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com's report that, as of now, Jason Kidd would not attend the proposed meeting with Wade.
Ultimately, this still has the scent of a strong leverage maneuver on Wade's part, but it is fun to think about it. It really is. Dwyane Wade! Meeting with the Bucks! But it's probably best to not let yourself get too carried away with this. Until next week, that is.