A: And the irony is we have now gone a full season where the focus has been about re-signing Hassan Whiteside, retaining Dwyane Wade and fantasies of a free agent such as Kevin Durant. All the while, the clock continues to tick toward Luol's July 1 free agency. The rub in all of this is the great unknown with Chris Bosh. The assumption had been that Bosh would be the power forward going forward alongside Hassan. But that was when Deng was struggling to fit in at small forward. So now the Heat have to weigh (if they're not privately already sure), the possibilities of Bosh coming back, or not coming back. Without Deng, it would mean having to go with a stop-gap option at power forward. With this mix, Deng is as essential as Dwyane said after Sunday's victory over the Hornets. So now we have to start the math all over again, not only planning for Whiteside and Wade, but also considering the possibilities with Deng. And suddenly, no one is quite as quick to want to dump Goran Dragic's salary. With Deng so valuable as a defensive stopper going forward, it is possible his value only increases the balance of these playoffs, which might not be so favorable for the Heat's balance sheet.