Report: Heat telling free agents they have $12M to spend, points to Bosh, Wade pay cuts

In order to retain The Big Three, pay LeBron James the maximum salary he wants and add additional reinforcements, the hammer was going to fall on Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to take substantial pay cuts.

Piecing together multiple reports, it seems as if that could be the case, and to a further degree than most expected possible.

For the Heat to boast $12 million in usable money, that means Bosh and Wade will be looking at salaries in the $10-12 million range, assuming James stands by his desire for a max contract that would begin just north of $22 million. Exactly who would get how much remains fuzzy:

Keep in mind that Bosh could likely command an annual salary of at least $16 million, perhaps even the max, on the open market, and that both players walked away from more than $40 million over two seasons. This would represent an enormous financial sacrifice on the part of both, even if the deals extend four or five years as anticipated.

If Wade, Bosh and James signed for combined starting salaries of $44 million, as reported in varying iterations, the team would still have about $11 million to use to re-sign Udonis Haslem and any other free agents, plus the $2.65 million room exception and, of course, minimum roster exceptions to add veterans.

The Heat are said to have Kyle Lowry, Marcin Gortat and Luol Deng in their sights, among others, though each are expected to have strong markets for their services. Lowry met with the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday and is expected to meet with Miami later Tuesday.

However, nothing is yet official, and reports of Wade and Bosh's charity is varied.

On Wednesday, a report from ESPN's Chris Broussard reported that Bosh is looking for a five-year deal worth between $80 million and $90 million, while Wade is shopping in the range of $55 million to $60 million over four years.

[Salary data courtesy ShamSports]