JULY 15, 8:56pm: The Bulls have issued a press release officially announcing their deal with Wade.
“We are thrilled that Dwyane has decided to come to Chicago,” Bulls GM Gar Forman said in a statement. “It’s not often you get the opportunity to add a three-time champion and 12-time All Star to your roster. We are delighted he has decided to become a Bull, as he provides a great veteran perspective on the court and in the locker room. He will be a tremendous fit with our team.”
JULY 6, 9:50pm: The deal includes a player option for the second year, Wojnarowski tweets.
8:30pm: Dwyane Wade has informed the Bulls that he plans to sign with the team, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports. Wade’s deal will be for $47MM over two seasons. Chicago was the only place Wade could see himself playing outside of Miami, as people close to the shooting guard told Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The deal is pending, as Chicago will need to clear cap space to accommodate a significant contract for the 34-year-old.
The Bulls are working to trade Jose Calderon and Mike Dunleavy in an attempt to clear space. The team has a trade in place for Calderon, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, and Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports via Twitter that the Nets could be a potential trade partner. The Bulls remain confident that they will be able to move Dunleavy before the night is over, Johnson adds on Twitter.
Wade felt the team no longer appreciated him and that, coupled with bitterness over contract talks, led to his departure, sources tell Wojnarowski. The Heat were unwilling to offer a third year, which also factored into Wade not re-signing. Wade is a Chicago native who grew up idolizing Michael Jordan, as Wojnarowski writes.
The Bulls believe having Wade on the roster will not only offer a more competitive team during the 2016/17 season, but it will also help them land a marquee free agent next summer, Johnson tweets. Johnson tweeted earlier in the day that Wade could choose the Bulls without a face-to-face meeting since he met with the team twice back in 2010.
The Heat selected Wade with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2003 draft. He led the team to three NBA titles and five Eastern Conference crowns. The 12-time All-Star will head to Chicago and join Jimmy Butler and newly signed point guard Rajon Rondo in the backcourt.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Holy crap, didn’t see that coming.
Wow
Dwade moving to SF
Haha…no, Butler can play the 3
Is this the most incompetent front office in all of basketball? If not, they are up there. Why would you bring in Hoiberg to get the offense running and gunning and then sign Rondo and Wade? It’ll be super fun watching Rondo, Wade, and Butler chuck 3’s… not.
I honestly think they’ve accepted the fact that they can’t beat the Cavs or Warriors (and countless other teams), so they decided to sign players that would “excite the fans” rather than blowing it up. Newsflash – anyone that’s excited about these signings doesn’t know good basketball.
The bulls are light years better than last year’s squad with this move. Heck, they were better just replacing Rose with Rondo.
Bulls might be 2-3 in the East. Sure, Cleveland is loads better. But injuries get every team. Hard not to consider them a contender. Rondo-Wade-Butler is about as good a 1-2-3 as the East has.
Lol no, it’s not. It’s not very good at all, and NONE of them fit what the coach they hired wants to do. This will be the worst 3 point shooting team in basketball, and they don’t have any big guys to throw the ball to in the paint. They have nothing. Even if they do make the playoffs, which wouldn’t be an accomplishment in the East, they have 0 chance of winning the East unless every other good player in the East gets hurt. This is a horribly constructed team.
He no star on offense but they do have Lopez who good for 8 to 12 points a game
He gets most of those via dunks and putbacks on offensive rebounds. That doesn’t help space the floor or give a team an offensive identity. The good news for him is that they’ll miss a LOT of shots.
Can you use correct grammar? I can’t even understand what you tried to say.
No one thinks they’re going to win the East. But so long as no team is going to make a real offer for Butler, the Bulls are stuck in hell. They might as well sign a guy like Wade, a former star with enough league-wide respect to perhaps shake the Bulls perception of being an organization that dismisses its star talent.
The Celtics offered Crowder, the #3 pick, and the #16 pick (I believe that was their second pick) for Butler. That’s a real offer for a team that should be rebuilding, especially since they “loved” Dunn.
They will at least make the playoffs this year. I am not saying signing Wade makes them great, it just improves them, but you are completely wrong. If “they have nothing”, tell me why they didn’t have the worst record in the NBA last year? Also, tell me how Butler = nothing.
The “they have nothing” comment refers to the team’s offensive identity, not players. In a vacuum, they have a couple decent basketball players and one that is potentially very good in Jimmy Butler. That being said, none of them fit the system the coach wants to run, and none of them fit together in general.
They didn’t finish dead last in the NBA last year because there are a lot of horrible basketball teams in the NBA… The Bulls weren’t horrible last year, they were just bad. They very well should be better next year, but they still won’t be a good basketball team.
Those 3 won’t shoot 3s but don’t they have two guys who are pretty good 3 point shooters. With rondo at point people will be getting their shots
So 3 of their starters that will be playing a ton of minutes are bad 3 point shooters, and their Centers aren’t scorers. You really think that’ll work in today’s NBA? They will have NO spacing at all.
This is a move for next season, not this upcoming season. Wade will be a draw for other free agents and the Bulls will have money to spend.
Please tell me you aren’t serious. Who is a 35 year old Dwayne Wade going to draw to the Bulls? Not to mention they won’t have room to sign anyone to a max contract without shedding more salaries. They’ll be paying Butler, Wade, Rondo (if he stays), Taj, and Lopez somewhere around $80 mil. And they’d still have to fill the rest of the roster. If this is a move for next year, the front office is even dumber than I thought.
This move, along with the Rondo move, is to get the casual fan excited. That’s it.
I am so excited… Win for FO.
It’s not about someone coming to Chicago to play with Wade. The Bulls have suffered for 20 years with the perception that the organization isn’t star friendly. Free agents have shied away from Chicago as a result. Wade has enough league-wide respect to dismiss that perception entirely. That’s his value to the organization.
You really think signing a 34 year old ex-star player to a somewhat discounted deal to come back to his hometown will affect how star players view Chicago? It won’t.
It’s a stupid move. It’s about putting butts in seats not putting together a winning team
I would agree. As someone whose butt was already forcibly in season ticket seats, I guess this is more interesting than a season of watching Butler get double-teamed and Felicio get repeatedly faced going for rebounds. Still, a weird set of pieces that don’t seem to fit together. They still likely are going to try to pull something into the Hinrich trade exception and try to get rid of Snell if they can get someone to take him. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Taj Gibson go somewhere as well.
I would agree, they have replaced a team of parts that don’t fit in one way with a team of parts that don’t fit in a different, equally frustrating way — unless they have another deal in store. Any way you go, this does not fit HoiBall, so he is in for another troubling year.
Yes finally
Damn
Dwayne El Duque Wade. The oldest 34 year old there is
Wow. Bulls picked up Lopez(better than Noah) and replace Rose with Wade and Rondo. Good offseason. As for the Heat, it burns.
Bulls look pretty good. Butler has a Healther PG and wade who can help take the pressure off Butler. Plus they have a younger Healther center. Bulls might surprise people.
Crazy off season. I know Wade had a good year and good playoffs but I feel like this is going to be another Kobe deal. He will break down and they’ll be stuck with that big contract. That’s just my opinion and could be completely wrong. I think the Heat did the right thing by not overpaying even if he did take pay cuts. Wonder what the Hears next move is. They got a different looking team with no Wade and no Deng especially if Bosh can’t stay on the court and who knows if Whiteside is going to pan out. Can’t wait for next season either way and see what happens with all these teams.
Watch the Bulls dump those players for cap space then see Wade sign somewhere else.
I really hope so because 1) I love how incompetent the Bulls management is, and 2) Wade is a horrible fit.
Wade is still a very good player = git anywhere in any system.
“fit” anywhere
Please tell me how having at least 4 people in the starting lineup that can’t make a 3-pointer is a good fit for a coach that wants to run and gun and shoot a ton of 3’s.
You don’t need everyone shooting 3s to win.
Horrible signing by Chicago. What are they thinking?!? Terrible fit. Nice for Wade to go home though, I guess?
Whatchutalkinboutwillis?
It will definitely be weird not seeing DWade in a Heat jersey, but it may end up working in Miami’s favor. Wade was good but he is no longer a great defender and he didn’t make a 3 until the playoffs. Add in his declining athleticism, the heat would be taking a huge financial risk with a mid 30s SG past his prime for $20 million per year. With Josh Richardson showing he has starter potential last season and is locked in for 2 more years at a ridiculously low cost, it would be too much to keep an aging Wade.
I don’t see why the Bulls made this move. And for Wade the only reason I see why he would sign with the Bulls is the $$$$. Makes no sense
It makes them a playoff team, which is better than winning 30-35 games and ending up in the lottery. There is a good chance both Rondo and Wade opt out next offseason too, so they don’t have bad deals that will tie up money for years. The only bad thing is how this teams fits with their coaches philosophy.
Rondo and Wade – – for Noah and Rose? Yeah I’d take it. Wade will play some 3. Go smaller like GS, he’s older he can play bigger/slower
They would look slot better with Gasol.
You do realize that when GS goes small, they have 5 guys on the court that can move the ball and make a shot from just about anywhere… The Bulls would have 2 (at most) if they go small. It won’t work.
Shaq will re-sign with the heat.
Liar.
He will go back to the lakers
…and they still will be terrible.
Why are they clearing 12mil in cap space when they only needed around 6 or 7mil? I think they are preparing for another additional deal. Hope that whatever it is, it includes sending Tony Smell away.
The avid NBA follower likes to point out that the Bulls are in NBA hell, but none of them seem to have a realistic way for the Bulls to get out of that hell.
They scream to trade Jimmy Butler. But they seem to ignore the fact that the Bulls TRIED to trade Jimmy Butler but couldn’t find a suitable offer. The Celtics tried to steal him for the 3rd pick in a two-player draft. The Bulls asked that the Celtics include the Nets unprotected #1 pick next year, and the Celtics said no. Why? Because that pick can turn into a potential superstar that’s even better than Butler. The Wolves then tried to steal Butler, offering the Kris Dunn and Ricky Rubio’s expiring deal. The Bulls countered with Zach Lavine over Rubio, but the Wolves balked. Why? Because they don’t think Butler is the kind of star-caliber player that can carry a contender… And the truth is, he isn’t.
The problem with Butler is that while he’s not a superstar capable of carrying a team to contention, he is a star player capable of keeping a team in playoff contention. And what that means is that so long as he’s on the roster, the Bulls will be stuck with a pick somewhere in the middle of the first round. That puts the Bulls in a position where they can neither draft a superstar nor legitimately compete for a title.
Even worse, Butler doesn’t have the credibility to reel in a major star to serve as the team’s top option. Essentially, keeping Butler prohibits the Bulls from ever getting a top-5 player, which is necessary to win in the NBA.
So what do you do? Do you accept the fact that no one is going to give you nearly enough for Butler, and simply trade him for pennies on the dollar just so you can compete for a top-5 pick? Doing that might help the Bulls get to contention quicker, but we’ve seen this game before… It failed in 2000, and it failed again in 2010. Why? Because the Bulls have long carried a perception that the organization isn’t star friendly. Giving away Jimmy Butler for nothing only adds more fuel to that fire.
But signing Wade? Sure, he’s a few years removed from being a legitimate all-star player. But guys like him, stars at the end of their careers – especially when thrust into starring roles – still carry that respect around the league. Come free agency next year, the Bulls are going to be ‘in’ on star-caliber free agents. If nothing else, Wade can sit down with that free agent and hopefully dismiss this idea that the Bulls are an organization that mistreats its stars. If all Wade does during his time in Chicago is remove that label from the Bulls organization, then this signing was worth it…
And just to give a few out-of-owners an idea about how bad this Bulls perception is…
In the summer of 2000, the Bulls had Elton Brand, a sane Ron Artest, and had just drafted Jamal Crawford. With a free agency class that included Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Eddie Jones – the best the Bulls could do was to beg Eddie Robinson to take their money.
In the summer of 2010, the Bulls had a pre-injured Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and Joacim Noah. With a free agency class that included LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, A’mare Stoudemire, and Rudy Gay – the best the Bulls could do was to sign Carlos Boozer.
There are definite issues in Chicago when it comes to signing star talent in free agency. And as great as the players in this upcoming draft might be, their existence on the Bulls roster wouldn’t do a damn bit of good for them come free agency time next year. And unfortunately, free agency is the path to greatness in the NBA these days. At least now, they have more of a chance to make some noise in that pool next year than they did before the Wade signing..
They will strike out in free agency next year just like they do every year. Signing a 34 year old ex-star doesn’t change perception, especially when the deal is to come to his hometown. What star is going to come to Chicago next year to play with a 35 year old Dwayne Wade on an expiring contract? None. Not to mention the fact that they won’t even have enough money to sign a big player next year if Rondo and Wade stick around unless they can move some more contracts…
If anything, this signals to the rest of the league that the Bulls don’t know what the heck they’re doing. They ran a very good coach out of town (one that a LOT of players respect) to bring in Gar’s yes man, and then they filled the roster with players that are god awful fits for his system.
And the Celtics didn’t just offer the #3 pick, they also offered Crowder and the #16, which would’ve been a very smart deal for the Bulls if they were committed to rebuilding.
The only reason they made this move was to excite fans in a year that they know they cannot compete. It’s really that simple.
The sentimentality about Thibs is understandable coming from a Bulls fan… bur you might wanna take a look at his playoff record with the Bulls. You must also consider his refusal to manage minutes for veteran players, his poor in-game adjustments, and his constant yelling on the sidelines about defensive switches. This is the NBA, not high school… that kind of behavior doesn’t resonate with today’s players.
Not a bad fall back Plan worst case they will be competitive this season the east is better but not Great.
Gar looks even more foolish now u have Lopez he is 28 Wade is 34 and Rondo 30 All older than Drose so you definitely got Younger.
I think Bulls can lure Blake Griffin from LA with a max Contract and still sign Rondo Bulls fans let’s give this a chance for a minute And I hate management as much as the next Man
All 3 of those players (Lopez, Wade, and Rondo) are better than Rose. Who cares if Rose grew up in Chicago and that he was our hometown hero! He tore his ACL and Meniscus and missed 1.5 seasons! Bulls fans everywhere were mad at him for sitting out to long and we rushed him causing him to come back to early and get injured AGAIN! He then came back and wasn’t his normal self and had 10 million dollar numbers, Not 21 million! The Rose trade was great, Jerian Grant is young and a heck of a player, and Lopez is a beast down low. The Bulls squad is very young and very special (Snell, McDermott, Portis, and Valentine) They all have a chance to be great players and D-Wade, Rondo, and Butler will make them better for the future! And so what if we have a bad season, we will have 2 first round picks next year and a lot of money going into free agency! Who cares what Gar said/says about getting younger! It doesn’t matter, we have a chance to be a playoff team rather than when he made that statement! So stop complaining!
You are one heck of an optimist my friend.
Lineup is Rondo, Wade, Butler, mirotic or portis. Center is Lopez
No, taj Gipson is starting
So they’ll have 5 starters that can’t hit a long range jumpshot with any constancy. Awesome plan.
And McDermott is apparently 6th man.
w.o.w.
Fantastic signing. Wade wiill help recruit 2 max free agents next summer to go along with Butler and Lopez. Imagine Paul or Westbrook/Wade/Butler/Griffin or Durant or Ibaka or Lebron or Millsap/Lopez. I know Wade is good friends with Chris Paul and if we can’t get an elite PF Iggy is from Chicago so we can play Warriors small ball. Not to mention Portis/Felcio/Mirotic may develop into very solid 4s. We have the money, the city, the team, and the recruiter, but will GarPax ruin it?