"As a potential new NBA collective-bargaining agreement threatens to rip them apart, Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade insists his focus remains on playing alongside LeBron James for years to come.

"The one thing about me and LeBron is we want this to work, we want to win championships or compete for championships," Wade said during a Wednesday appearance on ESPN. "So we want to do everything in our power to make sure it works."

The ongoing negotiations over a new NBA agreement, however, could be working against the alliance, as well as the one the two have as teammates of Chris Bosh.

According to an ESPN report, among the NBA's latest proposals on ending the ongoing lockout is limiting teams each year to a single "Bird Rights" exception, the mechanism teams use to re-sign their own free agents above the salary cap.

The concern for the Heat under such a scenario is that Wade, James and Bosh all are eligible to become free agents in the 2014 offseason. Under the single-Bird proposal, it could limit the Heat to re-signing only one of their stars that offseason."