Ridiculous Theories About Chris Bosh And Miami Heat Could Tarnish Reputations

Shrewd, resourceful and genius are some of the words that have been known to follow Pat Riley around. And thanks to general manager Andy Elisburg’s knack for knowing how to sidestep salary and luxury tax issues, the two have had their compliments bumped up to being conniving. Especially given the way they were able to convince an injured Beno Udrih to agree to a buyout, join the waiver wire and give the Miami Heat a chance to sign another player for their playoff push.

However, the theory that Stephen A. Smith floated across the ESPN airwaves about their handling of All-Star Chris Bosh would put them in a vile category that no one would respect.

According to Smith, some people within Bosh’s camp believe that the Heat are trying to hold him out until December in order to receive an injury insurance waiver and free themselves of the remaining years on the power forward’s five-year, $118 million contract. He even went on to insinuate that it would somehow allow Miami to chase Kevin Durant — and possibly LeBron James — in this summer’s free agency.

But as they say, a lie is always more interesting than the facts. NBA rules state:

“There is one exception whereby a player can continue to receive his salary, but the salary is excluded from team salary. This is when a player suffers a career-ending injury or illness… If the player played 10 or more games in a season, the team can apply on the one-year anniversary of the player’s last game.”

Bosh, for one, has played 53 games this season, meaning that he would actually have to sit out until next February for the Heat to see an exception which would be pretty obvious to anyone watching. But what makes it more ridiculous is the thought that money that’s coming off the books in 2017 would somehow help them have cap relief to sign free agents in the summer of 2016 — seven months in advance of being awarded any type of exception.

False claims like that tarnish reputations. So everyone should sit back, let the Heat, the All-Star and the players union meet, then figure out if the situation is healthy enough to #BringBoshBack this postseason.

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