A modified version of the ballyhooed free-agent summit that was initially suggested and then downplayed by Dwyane Wade has indeed taken place, ESPN.com has learned.

Sources close to the situation said Monday night that three of the biggest names in basketball — Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James
— met over the weekend in Miami to seriously discuss their futures,
with a focus on the increasingly plausible possibility of those three
teaming up with Wade’s Heat.

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Yet sources with knowledge of the meeting stressed to ESPN.com
that James, while clearly intrigued by the possibility of forming a
star-studded Miami trio with Wade and Bosh, has not yet committed to
leaving his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for South Beach.

One
source did label Miami as the new frontrunner to land James in a
package deal with Bosh and a re-signed Wade but also cautioned that
James was “non-committal” with the start of free agency fast
approaching.

Sources said James remains committed to fielding free-agent pitches
from several teams when free agency officially opens Thursday at 12:01
a.m. ET, with the Chicago Bulls
continuing to rank as a highly appealing destination and a return to
Cleveland still figuring prominently in his thinking and with the Dallas Mavericks looming as an intriguing outsider.

The
Miami Herald reported Tuesday on its website that two Wade
representatives deny that the meeting took place, saying that Wade was
in Chicago all weekend. Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com
that the three players were initially drawn to Miami in conjunction
with an annual two-day party and golf tournament hosted by DJ Irie —
who serves as the Heat’s official team DJ — and were seen in Miami.

Earlier
Monday, Fox Sports Radio’s Stephen A. Smith reported on his morning
radio show and via his Twitter feed that James and Bosh have committed
to joining Wade in Miami. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper, in
a report on its website Monday afternoon, quoted a source close to Wade
as saying that the 2006 NBA Finals MVP “believes his team is poised to
pull off a free-agency coup” by signing James and Bosh and re-signing
Wade.

Scott Van Pelt

Chris Broussard says that a meeting definitely took place between
LeBron James and other free agents, but everyone will deny it because
of possible tampering charges. Broussard thinks James will make a quick
decision and sign with Chicago.

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The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, in a subsequent
report on its website Tuesday, quoted a source close to Wade confirming
that the All-Star guard “in recent days” has addressed the possibility
of playing alongside James and Bosh and that the three have discussed
the “financial machinations” required to get all of them on the same
roster.

Unless Miami trades away former No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley
to a team with salary-cap space, so it can avoid taking salary back,
Heat president Pat Riley will not be able to offer the estimated
2010-11 maximum salary of $16.5 million to all three Team USA stars.

But
sources told ESPN.com that James, Wade and Bosh all expressed
confidence at the meeting that contractual complexities to make this
ambitious triple signing work can be achieved, although it was not
immediately clear if all three players would receive an equal amount or
if one or two would receive the max. Another variable is whether Bosh
would be willing to sign with the Heat outright or if he wants to hold
out for a sign-and-trade.

Toronto Raptors
general manager Bryan Colangelo acknowledged Monday for the first time
in a radio interview with the Fan590 in Toronto that “it’s becoming
more and more clear” that the prospect of Bosh re-signing with the
Raptors is “not going to happen.” But sources close to the situation
have maintained for months that Bosh was likely to work with the
Raptors on a sign-and-trade if he ultimately decided to leave in free
agency, thereby ensuring that Toronto doesn’t lose him without
compensation and enabling Bosh to get an extra year on his contract
potentially worth as much as $30 million.

Sources
insisted, meanwhile, that other scenarios were discussed at the weekend
meeting apart from the Miami plan. One source said James’ admiration
for Bulls legend Michael Jordan
is such that he is determined to hear Chicago’s pitch later this week,
keeping alive the possibility that both James and Bosh could still wind
up together with the Bulls.

In that scenario, sources said, James and Bosh would join Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah in Chicago, while Wade would hope to be joined in Miami by close friend Carlos Boozer, who was not at the meeting.

Sources
said James, furthermore, has not ruled out staying with the Cavaliers.
Although Cleveland does not have the financial flexibility or the trade
assets to import Bosh or Wade and enhance its chances of retaining this
summer’s face of free agency, James is a proud Ohioan who is said to be
still wrestling with the notion of leaving his home state, no matter
how enticing the possibilities are in Miami and Chicago.

The
Sun-Sentinel reported that Wade is also exploring his options by
planning free-agent sitdowns in coming days with the Bulls and
Mavericks. ESPN.com had previously reported that Wade and Bosh are
scheduled to be in New York on Friday for separate recruiting visits
with the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets.

It
was not immediately clear, as details of the Miami option emerged,
whether the 65-year-old Riley intends to stay in his front-office role
and let coach Erik Spoelstra return for his third season or return to
the bench for a third stint coaching the Heat.

The
original notion of a summit was hatched in late May, when Wade told the
Chicago Tribune that he planned to talk with fellow free agents James
and Joe Johnson before making a decision in free agency. It later emerged that Bosh, Boozer, Amare Stoudemire wanted to participate as well, leading to the “summit” concept.

But Wade and agent Henry Thomas insisted that a formal gathering involving all those free agents was never the intent.

“Dwyane
never made reference to a summit,” Thomas told CNBC.com in early June.
“He said that he’d have conversations with some of these guys and that
still will happen. These guys came into the league at the same time and
they’re in similar situations, so it’s unrealistic to think that they
won’t talk.”

James, however, left little doubt that the
top free agents will discuss their futures together before July 1 in
his recent interview with CNN’s Larry King, telling King that he would
be the “ringleader” for the conversations.

But NBA
commissioner David Stern said during the NBA Finals that he would not
prevent a summit if the league’s top free agents — many of them Team
USA teammates — wanted to get together.

“They can have
it,” Stern said, explaining that the league does not treat
player-to-player interaction in the offseason in the same way it warns
teams against tampering with other teams’ players or pending free
agents before July 1.

The NBA announced after Wade’s initial
comments that it only metes out discipline for player-to-player
tampering in what it regards as “the most egregious” cases and said
Wade’s comments “do not meet that standard.”

Although
free-agent negotiations begin Thursday, teams and free agents are not
permitted to actually execute new contracts until a leaguewide
moratorium is lifted July 8.

Chris Broussard is a senior NBA writer for ESPN The Magazine and Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.