A: This is the entire crux of how it played out between Wade and Riley, and, ultimately, why it played out that way. Riley wanted to negotiate Wade's final seasons on a season-by-season basis. That meant giving him the remainder of the Heat's cap space for next season (since Bird Rights were out the question due to Wade's cap hold). Then there would have been a salary dip in order to allow Riley and the Heat to attack 2017 free agency as they were unable this offseason. From there, Wade would have been made whole, when Riley could have utilized the Bird Rights for Wade and for others (Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow, etc.) and not been beholden to the salary cap. But what apparently happened along the way is that Wade no longer was willing to work on faith (and perhaps justifiably so, with all the Heat's salary twists to this point). Riley's point in offering that example was to show that too much focus was being made on what Wade would have received for the next two years from the Heat. Of course, such wink-wink agreements on future payback also are a form of salary-cap circumvention, not that it doesn't happen all the time.