According to a league source, the Wizards are open to acquiring Michael Beasley from the Heat this off-season.

The Heat is looking to create more salary cap room and the former second-overall pick struggled at times during his second season in Miami.

The Wizards' front office, which could have more than $21 million in cap room to use this summer, has mixed views on Beasley's game.

Beasley is a Maryland native.

Charles Barkley believes the only place LeBron James would leave Cleveland for is New York, and seemed to say that James would take another maximum-salary free-agent with him.

Barkley also thinks it would be easy to convince players to join Dwyane Wade in the warm weather of Miami.  

"Being in Miami, I think it's easy to persuade someone to come down there. I think you've got to figure out who's going be free. But first of all, everything revolves around LeBron. That's first and foremost," Barkley said in an interview. "Because if LeBron goes somewhere, he's going to take somebody with him if he goes to New York. I mean he's going to take somebody.

"But like if they [Miami] got Chris Bosh, somebody like that, they'd be a much, much better team. They've got to get some big guys. They're a small team. Haslem, Jermaine, they're good players, Beasley - they're little guys. Miami's got a very small team. They've got to get much bigger quickly."

Heat center Jermaine O'Neal was largely absent in Miami's first round series against Boston.

Regardless, the soon-to-be-free-agent hopes to land with a contender this offseason.

"Free agency is going to be what it is. I want to play three, four more years, but I want to play and have the opportunity to win a championship. I want to be on a team that can win and win now," O'Neal said.

"I've been in all-star games, All-NBA, Nike commercials, and everything I accomplished is individual stuff. But, right now, to feel validated, I want to play with a championship-caliber team for the next three or four years."

Dwyane Wade has said that his heart is in Miami, but nothing is assured as free agency and millions of dollars lurk this summer.

Less than 24 hours after the Heat were eliminated from the playoffs by the Celtics, a few of Wade's teammates said they believe the superstar will return to the only NBA team he's ever played with.

"I see Dwyane in Miami," forward Udonis Haslem, Wade's closest friend on the team.

"My gut would tell me he's going to be a Miami Heat next year," fellow Chicagoan Quentin Richardson said. "If I was in his shoes, I would be back."

"He loves it here. He loves it here," Jermaine O'Neal added. "I believe he will sign with them."

Wade even appeared to lean towards re-signing himself.

"My heart is here and anybody who knows me, I'm mostly heart more so than anything," Wade said Wednesday evening.

"My heart is in Miami. If everything works out, I will be in Miami."

The Heat will place a high priority on re-signing forward Udonis Haslem this summer.

Haslem finished ninth in the voting for the Sixth Man of the Year award, which was won by Atlanta's Jamal Crawford.

"My priority is to take advantage of the best opportunity I have," Haslem said before Tuesday's game. "I would love to be here, but I have a lot of things to think about."

He made $7.1 million this past season.

"It's not about just me and staying in Miami because I want to stay in Miami," Haslem said. "I have kids, I have a mom that's ill [with cancer]. I need to make sure I'm in the best position financially to take care of those things and those people."

Dwyane Wade was visibly depressed following Miami's Game 5 loss to Boston, which end their season and may mark the end of the guard's career with the Heat.

Wade played 46 minutes, scoring 31 points on 42% shooting. He exploded for 46 points on 67% in Miami's Game 4 win, their only victory in the series.

He didn't offer much insight into his future when asked about free agency during the postgame press conference.

"I can't predict the future," said the soon-to-be-free-agent.

"It's going to be an important summer, a very busy summer. I still have to get this [being eliminated] out of my system.

"I don't think I have to say much more about it."

Wade is expected to hit the free agent market alongside superstars like LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer and Amar'e Stoudemire.

He has repeatedly said how much he loves Miami, but has stopped short of saying that the Heat have the best chance to sign him.

"This playoff run had no indication on my future," Wade added before saying that Miami's front office has work to do.

"I'm not putting any pressure on myself," he said when asked if he might sign early, if he re-signs with the Heat, so he can help recruit another max-level player.

"The front office has some work to do."

Heat forward Michael Beasley, the second overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, didn't see any action in the second half of the team's Game 5 loss to the Celtics on Tuesday night.

He went 0-for-3 from the field in 14 first-half minutes, while grabbing three rebounds and committing three turnovers.

Miami was eliminated from the playoffs with the loss.

During his postgame press conference, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra appeared to dodge the issue.

"Michael's not hurt," the coach said. "It wasn't an indictment on him or even how he was playing."

Udonis Haslem played 35 minutes, including a bulk of the minutes in the paint in the third and fourth quarters.

"It was tough to find a working combination," added Spoelstra, who claimed that every time we was ready to send Beasley back into the game the Heat would go on a run.

Dwyane Wade has repeatedly said that he loves Miami, but his future with the Heat is far from certain as he also intends to test the free agent market.

Many felt as though his 46-point performance in Miami's Game 4 victory over Boston felt like a goodbye to the American Airlines Center, but a former teammate and longtime adversary see things differently.

"Follow your heart, man," said Alonzo Mourning, longtime center for the Heat. "I know that his heart is here. Follow your heart, and everything else will take care of itself. You can just trust that [president] Pat Riley and [owner] Micky Arison because of the position we are in and the flexibility we have. I think we have the most attractive situation for a free agent. You got to trust and know that Pat is not going to sit around and wait. He's going to build a contender here. I think [Wade] knows that.

"He has a relationship with Micky and Pat. If your heart is into your organization and this town, you have to trust that the front-office basketball operation is going to do everything possible to make sure we get back to that championship recognition."

Wade has said that he'd like to see what the Heat will add to their roster before he re-signs.

According to sources, Wade's hometown Bulls haven't helped their chances to land the star due to all their front-office dysfunction with coach Vinny Del Negro.

"I can't think of a better working environment based on the other two organizations I've played for, not taking anything away from the [Charlotte] Hornets and the [New Jersey] Nets," Mourning added. "But I'm a little bit biased because this is a championship organization that has proven that it takes care of its players. The success of the organization speaks for itself."

Paul Pierce, Boston's captain, has spent his entire career with one franchise, like Wade, and doesn't see him going anywhere else.

"He understands what he has here," Pierce said.

"It is tough to leave a place where you won a championship, where it all started for you. I think he really values that. He's definitely made this his home. It's going to be tough for him to leave. Even though he is carrying the team night in and night out and doesn't have the supporting cast anymore to be a contender, it's really going to be tough for him to leave because of the foundation he's built here so far. I think he's going to be here for a very long time."

If Game 4 was Dwyane Wade?s last home game as a member of the Miami Heat he made sure that everyone got their money's worth.? Facing elimination, the six-time All-Star put the Heat on his back and carried them to a 101-92 victory.

?He took the game over,? Rajon Rando said. ?That is why he is who he is. That is why he is the man for the Heat. He did a great job tonight.?

Facing a 3-0 deficit and a six-point Boston lead, Wade electrified the crowd scoring 46 points highlighted by 19 points in the final quarter. The superstar hit four 3-pointers to give the Heat an 11-point-lead they wouldn?t relinquish.

?Wade brought the team back in one stretch,? Celtics? coach Doc Rivers said. ?He was fantastic. He made shots and he had to make them, but he made them. We have to defend him better. He has hurt us this entire series and we just have to do a better job.?

The 28-year-old superstar has a history of having big games when his team needs him the most. Dating back to his Jordan-esque performance in the 2006 NBA Finals, Wade seems to play his best when his team?s back is against the wall. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra credits his star?s results to defiance.

?He (Wade) probably has the most flagrant defiance and stubbornness in terms of what everybody else is saying,? Spoelstra said. ?Dwyane, our leader and captain led the way be revealing the inside of his character and what he?s made of.?

Wade agrees with his coach,?but also acknowledges that anger plays a part in his ability to shift into the mode that birthed the 'I ain't going out like this' moment in the NBA Finals that made him a star. Game 4 was simply an addition to his growing legend.

?It?s another chapter,? Wade said. ?Some people say ?we?re going to get you angry all the time? but it?s not easy to get angry all the time. Whenever you feel like your back is against the wall something happens. I know a lot of people expected us to just roll over tonight and give them this series because they are up 3-0. That weighed heavily on my mind. I?m just not ready for the summer yet. We?re got a fight ahead of us in Game 5, but they have a fight ahead of them as well.?

The summer plans to be an exciting one for Wade as he, along with LeBron James, will be recruited from several teams with dreams of winning and millions of dollars to spend to help their cause.

Surprisingly, the possibility of Game 4 being his last in a Heat uniform didn?t factor into his explosion.

?It didn?t cross my mind at all,? Wade said.

Winning?Game 4?wasn?t the only thing Wade accomplished with his 46-point performance, his sixth career postseason game with at least 40 points. He was also given another title, though at this point it's unofficial.

?Clearly after this game he moves into first place as the best player to ever come out of Marquette, there?s no doubt about that," said fellow Marquette University star Doc Rivers said. "Just barely."

Dwyane Wade was almost solely responsible for Miami's Game 4 win over Boston on Sunday afternoon.

Wade scored 46 points, including 30 in the second half and a barrage of three-pointers.

"We don't take Dwyane for granted, that greatness," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We don't. He has another gear, another depth to go into in his soul to be able to dig it out and really carry a team on his back with his will. ... When his back is against the wall, it's an utter defiance."

The victory allowed the Heat to avoid elimination, sending the first-round series back to Boston for Game 5.