Pat Riley says the Heat began planning for the Big 3 in 2006: “It’s no coincidence that they were all represented by CAA.”

In 2010, the Miami Heat formed the ultimate superteam when they added LeBron James and Chris Bosh to a roster along with Dwyane Wade. The team appeared in the NBA Finals four times in a row and won back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013.

Everyone knows that James, Wade, Bosh (and Carmelo Anthony) discussed the possibility of working together back in 2004 when they played together at the Athens Olympics. However, during his recent appearance on “The OGs Show,” Heat president Pat Riley admitted that the Heat were already watching the trio as they won the first championship in franchise history.

“2006, the year we won the title, was the year LeBron, Dwyane and Chris Bosh all signed their contract extensions.” Riley said. “It’s no coincidence that they were all represented by CAA, so they all signed, and then we took the contracts, we looked at the contracts with the options and all that stuff, and we saw that everyone from They would be free agents in 2010.”

Pat told Andy to plan ahead

CAA is Creative Artists Agency, a Los Angeles-based company founded in 1975 by Michael Ovitz. When Wade and Bosh were selected in 2003, they signed with CAA’s Henry Thomas. Meanwhile, James became part of CAA when the company took over the business of his then agent Leon Rose.

It is unclear what role CAA or its agents played in synchronizing the three players’ contracts, but what is certain is that as soon as Miami received this crucial information, Riley immediately asked his trusted deputy, current Heat GM Andy Elisburg, monitoring and planning the three as if they would all sign the next time their contracts were due.

“So I said, ‘Andy, okay, we’ll have this in three, four years. I said if we don’t trade for one of them, I think one day we might have the opportunity to sit at the table with LeBron, Chris and Dwyane or all three, and so Andy went to work from that day forward and made sure we had enough space to sign all three in 2010. he added.

Gil spoke about the value of UD

And so 2010 came and the Heat executed their game plan perfectly. However, it was a challenge. Miami needed other players to make the numbers work. Former All-Star Gilbert Arenas spoke about how Udonis Haslem played a key role in Riley’s master plan.

“The two championships that LeBron won there, you have to give him credit for that because he’s the one who took the pay cut to make that happen.” Arenas said. “People don’t realize he took the pay cut. Milwaukee offered him $33 million when LeBron was up and they tried to make the big decision… He declined and said, ‘Sign him. Whatever’s left, me.’ will sign.”‘

Haslem actually turned down major offers in 2010 to accept a $20 million deal from the Heat. But as UD said, the Big 3 also had to take salary cuts so the team had money to sign him, so it was a team effort. And yes, it helped that Haslem was also represented by CAA and by the same agent as D-Wade.