The Miami Heat have a top priority of keeping LeBron James this offseason and that means going after free agents and names like Chandler Parsons, Greg Monroe, Luol Deng, Lance Stephenson and Eric Bledsoe are options to join James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade if the Big 3 return for Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra in South Beach.
According to ESPN.com, Luol Deng met with Pat Riley this offseason to hear the Miami Heat pitch to join up with James and while reports said that Deng wouldn't be willing to take a pay cut to sign there, it could change if it gets deeper into the summer. James is asking for max money for his contract and there are reports that the Houston Rockets would go after Chris Bosh if he wanted to leave Miami, but other reports say Bosh will only leave if James does.
Stephenson and his representatives have said that he is in no rush to sign a deal and that could play out well for Miami if they do not get the type of interest they are hoping for. ESPN.com is reporting that Pat Riley met with Luol Deng over the weekend to have initial talks about the Heat's interest in signing him and they were called "preliminary" since Riley can't give specific salary numbers yet. James, Bosh and Wade are all free agents and once they make their intentions clear, Riley can give players like Deng solid offers and he could be a very good option if the team misses out on some of the other free agents on the market. Deng also reportedly has interest from the Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls.
Parsons is a restricted free agent and the Rockets want to keep him, but if they sign Carmelo Anthony there is a chance that they may not be able to afford him as well. The team declined a cheap option for him this season at less than $1 million so that he would be a restricted free agent now rather than an unrestricted free agent after next year. Parsons is a former second round pick and that is one reason why Daryl Morey wants to keep him, as he has shown first round value and production since coming into the league. Last season Parsons had a career year, averaging over 16 points five 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 47 percent from the floor.
Parsons has been mentioned as a target for the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers and he may not sign until Anthony and James are inked. Those players will set the dominoes in free agency and the Cavs could look at Parsons as an option after signing Kyrie Irving to a max contract. Parsons has been in Houston for three years and he has size at 6'9" and is still very young at just 25 years old and if the Rockets sign Anthony, he could get hit with a contract offer too high for the Rockets to match, bt Morey will do his best to make sure that doesn't happen. Yahoo Sports reports that the Timberwolves are another team that is interested in Parsons, but that they would only move forward once the Kevin Love trade talk has settled down.