Report: Pat Riley confident in Big 3 returning to Heat

Miami Heat president Pat Riley is confident his Big 3 of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade will return next season, according to a report from Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick of USA Today.

All three players exercised the early termination option in their contracts, and Bosh is the only one that has reportedly received any offer in free agency. The Houston Rockets offered Bosh a max deal that is worth $88 million over the next four seasons.

While the team is waiting for those three to make up their minds, the Heat added two role players to help the team fill out its roster.

The team signed forwards Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger to contracts on Monday, with McRoberts securing a four-year, $23 million deal, and Granger, once a 25-point per game scorer, signing a two-year deal for $4.2 million.

McRoberts averaged 8.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game for the Charlotte Bobcats last season. Granger combined to average 8.2 points per game with the Indianapolis Pacers and then the Los Angeles Clippers after a midseason trade.

More from USA Today:

(The Rockets') pitch, like so many others, was multilayered. But beyond all the talk of a winning tradition, stability and success of ownership and the like is the fact that the lack of a state tax coupled with the relatively cheap cost of living could, by the Rockets' own calculations, make it worth the equivalent of about $120 million in some other cities. (Florida also lacks a state income tax.) But James remains the linchpin.

Only the four-time NBA MVP knows where his head is at these days. And only James knows whether he really is thinking about heading home again or if the city of Cleveland that was so angry with him when he left the Cavaliers in 2010 is about to have its heart broken again. 

~Scooby Axson