Don’t bet on Heat getting opt out help

With the exception of the surprising return of Dwyane Wade — once from the icy depths of Cleveland and once from the brink of retirement — nothing Heat fans have hoped for has happened of late.

The Jimmy Butler deal? Nah.

A big move at the 2018 trade deadline? Nope.

Getting in the playoffs or getting higher in the lottery standings? Uh uh. Miami ended up in the worst possible in between position.

Benefiting from some lottery luck? Course not.

So the latest hope trafficking — sorry @Lefty_Leif of Miami Heat Beat for stealing the reference — has concerned the chance that Hassan Whiteside ($27 million) and Goran Dragic ($19.2 million) could opt out of the last season of their contracts and free up cap space for the Heat go get a star.

That, essentially, two players who were benched for parts of this season (Dragic after an injury and Whiteside because of the ascension of Bam Adebayo) would help the Heat out of its mess. 

This notion resurfaced this week from the nether regions of Twitter, and started to make the rounds. Even I have made the case that Dragic could consider this, since he’s 32 years old and his family loves Miami — so maybe he would be open to opting out to take a team-friendly 3-year deal that gives him a little more security.

But after poking around some Wednesday, and connecting with someone very close to one of the two players, and with a knowledge of the Heat’s situation, I’m not going to sell this line to any Heat fans anymore. It just doesn’t appear to be in the cards. That source said there was “zero chance” that Dragic or Whiteside would opt out.

“Believe me.”

I’m gonna believe that.

And so should you.