4:31pm: A person close to Wade tells ESPN’s Mark Jones that the shooting guard has no interest in playing for the Bulls, adding that Wade recently sold the house he had there (Twitter link).
3:20pm: The Bulls are “gauging interest” with Dwyane Wade, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). It’s not clear whether Wade, a Chicago native, would be receptive to a homecoming, given his longstanding ties to the Heat, for whom he’s played his entire NBA career. Wade spent Thursday with LeBron James in an apparent attempt to recruit him back to the Heat, but with James off to the Cavs and Chris Bosh nearing a commitment to the Rockets, the Bulls want to see whether a third member of Miami’s star trio is also willing to leave South Beach.
Wade, 32, has seen his game decline in recent years as trouble with his knees has arisen. Still, he remains a dangerous force, having averaged 19.0 points, 4.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds this past season. He’s No. 7 in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings.
The Bulls are one of two teams that Carmelo Anthony, who’s No. 2 on that free agent list, is reportedly deciding between as he makes his choice of where to sign. The Bulls have also been in hot pursuit of Pau Gasol, and are a favorite for him, too.
Wade passed up two years and about $42MM left on his deal when he opted out in June, ostensibly to help the Heat re-sign James. He’ll have a tough time finding a deal with salaries anywhere close to what he would have made.
Oh man, maybe they pull off a s/t deal for Wade sending Boozer and others to MIA and then open up cap space to sign Melo?? Is that doable??
Without looking into the numbers, I think (assuming it’s amenable to both teams) that it likely depends on how much Wade commands and what else Chicago can unload. Doesn’t seem likely that it’s even doable.
Yeah, after looking at the salary cap for the Bulls, they’d have to get MIA to take back Boozer, Dunleavy, and probably Anthony Randolph and Tony Snell to clear about $23M to split between Wade and Melo…unless they both take HUGE pay cuts, I don’t see it happening.
NOT EVEN IN YOUR DREAMS…if he didnt go home in 2010, he wont now.
Situation was way different in 2010. LeBron and Bosh went to Miami. Miami won’t be even close to contending after LeBron leaving and Bosh almost certainly going to the Rockets. Now is a time more then ever to go to a team that is absolutely way closer to contending then the Heat.
That being said, it would be weird to see Wade leave the Heat. This will almost likely be his last contract.
Wade will be a part of the Heat organization for life. His tenure here wont end when his career on the court is over
I agree with you on that one. I do not see Wade leaving either. I think they are an orginization who recocgnizes when to pay there players so they will give him the most money, and i think that at this point in his career, that is the most important thing. Spending your whole career with one team is very rare, and I don’t see him giving that up even if he could make a few extra bucks somewhere. I was just arguing your point that if he was going to leave, it would of been in 2010. I think the main reason he stayed was that was going to the best situation for him team and championship wise. 4 years older now, closer to the end of his career, his priorities probably have changed in that time.
Chicago will not spend money on Wade…he just isn’t worth it
If they manage his minutes right and use him like the Spurs use Manu he is absolutely worth the money.
In no world is Wade worth a max deal. Maybe he’d be worth it if he took a Ginobili type deal, but he won’t.
meh he got 2 rings … he should stay with heat.
3!
i meant he got 2 rings out of the lbj,bosh,wade era
and thats 2 … not 3 not 4 not 5 not 6 ….
again with that….that was supposed to be a thing for Heat fans to celebrate the fact that we brought back Wade, which was in question, signed Chris Bosh, and also landed the best payer on the planet. Thats it. That statement was made in response to a question about what their goals were. What are they supposed to say? “We want to miss the playoffs every year, never winning a championship. We hope we are terrible!” Why shouldnt they want to win multiple titles? That was their answer. They want to win multiple championships. Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, etc…Every single player in the NBA wants to win every year. If they dont, they shouldnt be playing basketball
just busting your chops .. i think its speaks to what a classy team the heat are that they got bosh to resign … i wonder if they still want granger and mcroberts though .. now with no lbj in the fold .
One would assume the Bulls are doing their due diligence to see if Wade would sign with them for the mid-level if they got Anthony, conceivably in a 6th man role (ala Manu Ginobli).
It is hard to imagine Wade wanting to live in the same town with his ex-wife, after their ugly custody battle. Distance seemed to have been a significant part of making that work.
Wade has no interest in coming back to Chicago. He recently sold his home there.
good for wade its nice to see loyalty in the nba …