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By The Associated Press
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 22, 1996
MIAMI - Free agent Dan Majerle will sign a three-year, $8-million deal with the Miami Heat, a team he rebuffed just last week because he wanted to return to the Phoenix Suns, media reports said yesterday.While Heat officials declined to comment, Majerle arrived in Miami Wednesday and indicated it was a done deal.
''It was a big decision,'' he told WTVJ-TV in Miami, ''but it's a class organization here in Miami. Pat Riley's going to be great and the guys on the team I think I'm really going to like.''
Majerle, who pulled out of an oral agreement last week between agent Kurt Schoeppler and the Heat, decided to sign with Miami because the team was offering more money, according to published reports.
The Suns could only pay the league-minimum $247,500 because of their salary cap.
While on his way to Miami last week, Majerle reportedly changed his mind, and headed back to Phoenix. He had misgivings and didn't get on his connecting flight in Dallas. The Heat's offer remained on the table.
''Well, I didn't say it wasn't going to work the first time,'' he said. ''A lot of things were going on so quickly and I kinda' wanted to step back and make sure I was doing the right thing for myself and my family.''
The 30-year-old guard-forward had expressed a preference to play in Phoenix, where he lives and owns a popular restaurant. But Heat coach Pat Riley reportedly made Majerle the best offer the player has received.
Other teams have also expressed interest in the three-time All-Star, but the Heat can offer the most lucrative deal because they have about $4.5 million left under the cap.
The 6-foot-6 Majerle played seven seasons with the Suns before he was traded to Cleveland last October. He averaged 10.6 points and made 146 of 414 three-point attempts last season for the Cavaliers, who renounced his rights.
MILWAUKEE - The Phoenix Suns, with a glut of guards following the Charles Barkley trade, will send Elliot Perry to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The Bucks, who have pursued the point guard for two years, will send Phoenix a conditional first-round draft pick for Perry, the newspaper reported yesterday.
The paper said the deal will be officially announced after Sept. 1, because the bonus money Perry received last year will not count toward his base salary after that date.
Bucks spokesman Joe Condo said the team wouldn't comment on the report.
''We never comment on rumored trades,'' he said.
Perry, 27, who averaged 8.6 points and 4.4 assists last season, became expendable when the Suns acquired Sam Cassell, along with forwards Robert Horry, Mark Bryant and Chucky Brown from the Houston Rockets in Sunday's trade for Barkley.
The Suns also have point guards Kevin Johnson and Steve Nash, their top draft pick, on their roster.
Suns president Jerry Colangelo alluded to the likelihood of a deal, at a news conference in Phoenix, when Barkley was traded.
''If you look at the point guard situation, we have four point guards,'' he said. ''You could pretty much believe that something will, if it hasn't already happened, take place at that position. It will probably be announced a month or so from now, but something will happen.''
The Bucks sought Perry earlier this summer in a proposed, three-way deal that had Milwaukee signing free agent Dan Majerle and then trading him to Phoenix for Perry. The NBA nullified the deal, saying the Suns were trying to circumvent the salary cap.
The Bucks also tried to sign Perry last offseason, when he was a free agent, but he refused their offer and returned to the Suns.
Perry was selected in the second round of the 1991 draft out of Memphis State by the Los Angeles Clippers. He made the roster, but was waived in November and had stints in the CBA with La Crosse and Grand Rapids before catching on with the Suns during the 1993-94 season.
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