As we noted last week, the Heat were working on a buyout for James Jones' contract in an effort to clear more cap space to potentially sign Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James to max contracts. And according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, such a buyout is now complete. "The Heat invoked its right to pay Jones $1.86 million to walk away from the obligation, with Jones to receive similar payouts in each of the next two years, as well," wrote Winderman. "However, the Sun Sentinel has learned that because of the way Jones' 2010-11 buyout payment will be amortized, his hit against the 2010-11 NBA salary cap will be $1.5 million, opening unexpected additional space." It's long been known that the Heat are also looking to trade Michael Beasley for cap space as well. Such a move of Beasley's $4.96 million salary for next season would be enough to have space for three max players. But it's proved fruitless so far. Ken Berger of CBS Sports cites a source on Tuesday that says: "They literally can't give him away right now. No one is going to take that money on their cap." If the Heat fail to get rid of Beasley, they'll end up a bit short of being able to pay out three max deals. Source: Sun Sentinel
