9:45 p.m. update: Veteran combo guard J.J. Barea is leaning toward signing with the Heat, NBA.com and TNT reporter David Aldridge reported tonight. But a source cautioned that Barea has not made any decision and is considering several teams.
Barea, 6-0, averaged 7.5 points and 3.4 assists and 0.9 turnovers in 77 games for Dallas last season, including 10 starts.
Barea, a point guard who also can be an undersized shooting guard if needed, shot 42 percent from the field but just 32.3 percent on threes (54 for 167). He played last season for $1.3 million, the minimum for players with his years of service.
Barea, 31, played his first five seasons for Dallas and his next three for Minnesota before returning to Dallas last season.
His overall career averages: 8.2 points, 3.4 assists, 41.9 percent shooting and 34.5 percent on threes.
He was born in Puerto Rico and attended Miami Christian High in Miami.
If he signs, it could allow the Heat to trade Mario Chalmers, who is available as Miami tries to cut payroll to lessen its tax bill. Chalmers is due $4.3 million next season. (See our post below about that.)
The Heat has available a $3.4 million taxpayer's midlevel exception and also can sign players to minimum contracts.
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A six pack of Heat and Marlins notes on a Wednesday evening:
### While nothing has been finalized, NBA people who spoke to the Heat in the past two days say Heat officials are not expressing any doubt about signing Dwyane Wade and are instead operating under the belief that a Wade deal will get done, even as Wade considers multiple Heat proposals.
Whereas the Heat announced it intends to sign Goran Dragic, neither the Heat nor Wade is ready to make any public announcement because negotiations are ongoing and Wade (as of earlier today) hadn't signed off on a deal.
But the Heat is committed to keeping Wade and privately has expressed confidence that a deal is going to get done, according to league (non-Heat) officials in touch with Miami.
"It would be shocking" otherwise, as one Heat person put it.
Wade, it appears, has overcome the initial anger of what he considered a lowball offer, one that has subsequently been raised. Conversations with team officials in recent days have helped Wade move past that.
Terms are still being discussed and several scenarios have been tossed around. The idea of giving Wade the maximum of about $23 million (the maximum and the exact salary cap number for 2015-2016 have still not been established by the league) or close to the maximum has been talked about. That would allow Wade to become a free agent again in 2016. There also have been discussions about a multiyear deal at a lower average.
Teams that potentially appealed to Wade, including the Lakers, have been pursuing other players initially.
### A team that has spoken to the Heat said today that Miami is, in fact, trying to move contracts, as ESPN previously reported, because the Wade and Goran Dragic deals will push them into luxury tax territory.
As we explained in the last post, the luxury tax is particularly onerous for Miami because the Heat is classified as a repeater tax team.
Chris Andersen ($5 million) and Mario Chalmers ($4.3 million) remain candidates to be dealt.
There is some hesitation to dealing Josh McRoberts, who’s due $17 million over the next three seasons, because the Heat likes the skill set, and he offers protection should Miami be outbid for Hassan Whiteside next summer.
We mentioned two weeks ago that Carlos Boozer thought there was a chance he could end up on the Heat, and Miami was among teams that expressed interest in him today, according to ESPN's Jeff Goodman.
Boozer, at the minimum, would cost only $947,000 against the luxury tax --- far cheaper than Birdman at $5 million.
### ESPN reported that Dragic offered to be flexible with his deal to help the Heat sign Wade. And by agreeing to a deal reportedly worth $90 million over five years, Dragic took several million less than what his agents thought he could get from the Heat if he hadn’t been willing to work with Miami.
### On the eve of Jose Fernandez’s first major league start since Tommy John surgery 13 months ago, the Marlins ace admitted he expects to feel some butterflies when he takes the mound against visiting San Francisco on Thursday (noon, Fox Sports Florida).
"I’ve got to control my emotions as best I can,” he said. He said there is “no chance” he sleeps well tonight.
“I feel great, feel healthy,” he said. “I have all my pitches, feel comfortable with all my pitches.”
He said he envisions throwing between 90 and 95 pitches, though he wasn’t sure if there was a set-in-stone pitch count.
### Agent Scott Boras, in town to support client Fernandez, has represented a number of pitchers returning from Tommy John (including Stephen Strasburg).
“For anybody that’s had Tommy John, there are boundaries,” Boras said a couple of hours ago. “You have to manage emotion and you have to manage command. You may be stronger than you’ve ever been in your career. In many cases, players come through it better, more in tuned with their bodies, with their conditioning habits.
“And they have a relationship with the game that’s different, because the appreciation level of the game is definitely more real for players who have lost it for a period of time and regained it. It’s an exciting time.”
Boras, on the Marlins’ (our word: disappointing) season: “When you talk about three-fifths of your rotation not being available [Fernandez, Henderson Alvarez, Jarred Cosart], that’s going to dramatically impact a club in many directions. You’re going to call up players you didn’t anticipate having. When you look at the position players on the team, it’s a very solid club. It’s a team that has the ability to compete.
“You’re in a division where the pitching is so strong in New York and Washington, and Atlanta obviously has some frontline arms as well. When you’ve got to call on pitchers you didn’t expect to call on early in the year, it’s going to really cause you to be shorter an inning, shorter in experience and put you behind in a lot of games.”
### With Alvarez still out and Justin Nicolino sent to the minors, the Marlins appear to have settled --- for now --- on a rotation of Fernandez, Dan Haren, Mat Latos, Tom Koehler and Cosart (who returns to the rotation Saturday).
Manager Dan Jennings said the Marlins are deciding whether to put Jose Urena in the bullpen or send him back to Triple A. “It’s easy to put them in the pen, but is that in their best interests?” Jennings said of Urena and Nicolino.
Twitter: @flasportsbuzz
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