This never was going to be simple accounting for the Miami Heat. Not with the salary cap about to explode in 2016, not after a season of unmet expectation, not with so many unknowns about whether this roster actually fits.

Until the end of June, it is the players who control the game, namely Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng, all with the right to opt out of the final season on their current contracts.

Each case is unique, with the door to free agency potentially open to each on July 1. Compounding the significance of each move is the 2016 free agency of center Hassan Whiteside.

Goran Dragic: This is what would appear to be the only slam dunk. There is no reason for the prized acquisition at February's trade deadline not to opt out and become a free agent.

At stake is the $7.5 million that Dragic is scheduled to otherwise earn next season.

While there has been thought that Dragic and many of the leading free agents with 2015-16 options would simply ride out their current contracts until the 2016 offseason, when the salary cap is expected to rise from this summer's projection of $67 million to $89 million, there is no reason for Dragic to not cover himself for a potential injury next season by, at minimum, opting out and taking a two-year deal this summer that includes a player option for 2016-17.

Such an approach would provide Dragic with a $20 million salary for next season and an option for $21 million in '16-17.

Dragic's other options would be a maximum five-year, $116 million deal from the Heat this summer after opting out or a maximum four-year, $86 million deal this summer with another team.

Dwyane Wade: As with Dragic, there is little reason for Wade not to opt out, if only to assure himself of an additional year's salary in case of injury this coming season.

Due $16.1 million next season if he does not opt out, Wade could make it as simple as opting out, taking a two-year deal in the neighborhood of $32 million from the Heat, while giving himself the opportunity to work with the Heat in the 2016 offseason by holding an out-opt for 2016-17.

Dwyane Wade can opt out by the end of June, become a free agent in July. Dwyane Wade can opt out by the end of June, become a free agent in July. SEE MORE VIDEOS

The reality is that when all is said and done this offseason, it is more likely than not that Wade will carry a salary on the Heat's 2016-17 ledger at least through the end of next season.

* There is, however, one way, although a bit tricky, that could meet the needs of all involved: Wade could opt out (and I expect he will) and then take a one-year contract at the veteran maximum for 2015-16 of $23.5 million (35 percent of the projected salary cap, which would be allowed with his Bird Rights), and then deal with something more workable to both parties when 2016 free agency starts, like a two-year, $30 million deal, which would leave him with $53.5 million over the next three seasons. And perhaps it wouldn't even have to be $15 million for each of those next two seasons, further benefiting the Heat.

Luol Deng: As with Dragic and Wade, there is little downside to Deng protecting himself for at least one more season by opting out. The only reason not to would be if he believes he could not recoup, either from the Heat or elsewhere, the $10 million he would be due from the Heat next season without opting out.

And while Deng does not hold Bird Rights, he can work out a multiyear deal with the Heat built off of 20-percent raises on last season's $9.8 million salary. So, just as the option is there for Dragic and Wade, if Deng were to choose to wait to cash in during the 2016 free-agent market, he still could take a new two-year deal from the Heat worth $20 million over two years, with the right to opt out in the 2016 offseason.

(Whether the Heat would offer one year plus a player option year is another story: See below.)

Hassan Whiteside: No, he is not going anywhere this offseason. He remains on a minimal-scale contract for one more season, with the Heat, by rule, unable to offer an extension before he becomes a free agent on July 1, 2016.

But he looms as a significant piece of the puzzle that Pat Riley is trying to fit together going forward, and why having Dragic, Wade and Deng on the books for 2016-17 (even if just with option years), makes matters particularly complicated.

Here's why: With Whiteside lacking Bird Rights in 2016-17, the Heat will have to fit any new contract for the center within the 2016-17 cap of that projected $89 million.

So let's do the 2016-17 math, working with some of the aforementioned projections, as well as salaries firmly on the books: Chris Bosh, $23.7 million, Goran Dragic, $22 million (projected), Dwyane Wade, $16 million (projected), Luol Deng, $11 million (projected), Josh McRoberts, $5.8 million. That's $78.5 million (not even counting rookie-scale players), without a cent for Whiteside, and essentially no remaining space (because of a pesky accounting factor known as cap holds).

So if Whiteside truly can market himself in the $20 million range, it would either mean replacing Deng with a minimum-salary player, trading McRoberts for draft picks or reducing the working number with Wade, and not utilizing the mid-level exception.

The challenge now for Riley and his staff is to make this summer work so next summer can work.

IN THE LANE