Heat Owner Has “Every Indication” Wade Will Stay

Before last night's game against Washington, Heat owner Mickey Arison sat down with media and announced that he expects Dwyane Wade to stick around.

"I have every indication from Dwyane this is where he wants to be," Arison said. "He loves Miami. He'd like to spend his whole career (here)."

Arison then acknowledged the obvious: "The reality is I don't have a signature on a contract. Obviously, we talked about an extension this summer. I was disappointed that we couldn't come to an agreement...but obviously, I'm very hopeful. And as you know, we can pay him more money than anybody. So financially, it's not going to be an issue."

That signature may be just a formality: it's early days yet, but the Heat are 6-1, matching the best franchise start in a decade. While there are still personnel issues to sort out, the Heat look better than everyone expected, while others aren't off to a great start.

If this keeps up, why would Wade jump ship for less money elsewhere?

Of course, there's still time for Michael Beasley to screw it all up. (Just kidding! Really. If this goes south we're totally blaming Carlos Arroyo.) The real caveat is that the Heat's hot start can be in large part attributed to a soft opening schedule, which will be offset when the Heat go on the road against tougher teams later in the season. And there's months to go. But where it stands now, the few roster tweaks Riley could make -- Quentin Richardson, Arroyo -- seem prescient. And the team looks like they're playing to keep Wade, which is all anyone really wanted out of them anyway.

Advice from earlier in the week still holds: it's November. Arison admitted ticket sales have fallen off --the Heat are suing to collect on luxury suite payments, and reportedly had one of the NBA's worst drop-offs in ticket revenue -- so of course Arison is going to say Wade's planning to stick around. The last thing the franchise needs is for fans to disengage for a year and play the waiting game.