The Miami Heat will make their salary-cap quandary a lot more palatable if they can somehow move Michael Beasley onto another team. The problem, though, is that the Toronto Raptors have little interest in taking back Beasley in a sign-and-trade for Chris Bosh.
They still have little interest, to be clear, but Miami is working to try to find another solution. According to Chad Ford and Marc Stein, they've begun discussing a complicated four-way trade with Charlotte and Houston that would send Beasley to the Bobcats.
The proposed deal, sources said, would send Beasley and Rockets forward Jared Jeffries to Charlotte, land Bobcats center Tyson Chandler in Houston and create sufficient cap space for Heat president Pat Riley to offer max-contract money to Wade, Bosh and James.
The Heat and Raptors engaged in discussions for several hours after Bosh and Dwyane Wade announced that they committing to Miami in a package about the various sign-and-trade options. Discussions were serious enough Wednesday night, according to two sources, that Heat officials told Beasley to start preparing to relocate.
One source with knowledge of Toronto's thinking, however, insists that the four-team trade - which would require Houston to send at least $3.1 million in salary to the Raptors -- is "not happening." Toronto continues to convey the message that it is a reluctant partner in any deal that makes Bosh's departure more lucrative.
It seems really, really hard to believe that Larry Brown of all coaches would be willing to take a chance on Beasley, but hey, stranger things have happened. Then again, this whole proposal feels like a pointless one for all teams (except Miami of course), so I'm really skeptical.