Heat don’t waste time in making Wade offer

Published 3:15 am Monday, July 13, 2009

MIAMI — When Dwyane Wade checked his cell phone shortly after midnight Sunday, he got perhaps the most predictable text message of his life.

After all, it hardly classifies as stunning news that the Miami Heat want to keep him.

Wade said Heat president Pat Riley texted those sentiments very early Sunday, in what amounts to a largely ceremonial move. The Heat had to wait until 12:01 a.m. on July 12 before they could formally offer an extension to the reigning NBA scoring champion, and Wade said Riley didn’t wait too long before pressing the send button.

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‘‘It’s no rush,’’ Wade said. ‘‘We all know that.’’

Wade didn’t reveal specifics of what the text message said, other than confirming the obvious, that Riley was reaffirming Miami’s hope that the 2006 NBA finals MVP sticks around for many years to come.

‘‘Something like that,’’ Wade said, moments before he and Alonzo Mourning capped the five-day Zo’s Summer Groove fundraising series with a charity game featuring other NBA standouts like Caron Butler, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Wade’s Miami teammates Udonis Haslem, Michael Beasley, Daequan Cook, Mario Chalmers and Dorell Wright.

Wade’s agent, Henry Thomas, and Riley both confirmed that the Heat formally extended an offer. Both declined further comment.