The Miami Heat have just won their first championship under the Big Three regime and already they’re looking to improve their team by adding a future Hall of Famer.
According to multiple league sources, there is mutual interest between Ray Allen and the Heat, who could use a wing position player who has the ability to shoot. Well, not only does Allen meet those requirements, you could argue that the 36-year-old is still the best shooter in the NBA. After all, during this past regular season, Allen made 45.3 percent of his shots from downtown, and that was off an average of 5.1 attempts per game.
Allen’s decision to sign with the Heat may ultimately come down to two things: Kevin Garnett and money. Like Allen, Garnett is set to become a free agent; however, it’s still an uncertainty at this point whether or not KG will return for his 18th season. And even if Garnett does decide to play another year, there’s no guarantee he’ll remain a Celtic.
The second potential issue preventing Allen from signing with the Heat when free agency opens July 1 is that the most the Heat can afford to pay him is $3 million per season. That’s a far cry from the $10 million he pocketed this season in the final year of his contract.
And don’t think he’s not ready to go. Allen, who had surgery to remove bone spurs from his ankle last week, said after the Celtics’ loss to the Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals that “there’s still a lot of basketball left in my legs.”
And even if there wasn’t, there’s plenty of teams that would gladly wheel Allen out onto the court and have him just shoot threes all day long.
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