Chicago Bulls guard Dwyane Wade had a number of interested suitors this past summer in free agency. Miami, Wade’s home since 2003, Chicago, Wade’s hometown, Denver, Milwaukee, New York, San Antonio and the Lakers were all teams who took a hard look at signing the 12-time All-Star.
Wade would ultimately choose to sign a two-year deal with the Chicago Bulls, viewing the opportunity to head home just too significant to pass up. Despite the fact over a handful of teams considered making a run or chose to make a run at Wade, one team held a secret interest in obtaining him throughout the first week of free agency: The Cleveland Cavaliers. Most notably, Wade’s former South Beach partner in crime LeBron James.
“Who wouldn’t be interested in a Hall of Famer”, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said (via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “That don’t even make sense. Yeah, we wanted him.”
The Cavaliers, who are still dealing with major financial complications to this very day, couldn’t offer enough to grab Wade’s attention in free agency.
“We couldn’t afford him. It’s that simple,” James told reporters on Wednesday.
Still, fans held hopes Wade and James could unite one more time, only this time in Cleveland. But for Dwyane Wade, his free agent decision wasn’t centered around which team gave him the best shot at winning.
“I’m not ring chasing,” Wade told reporters earlier this week, laughing.
Wade, a three-time champion, is motivated to work with the Bulls’ younger talent and help propel them in the Eastern Conference over time. For now, he says fans’ title aspirations are simply unrealistic, however.
Although Wade and James wont be teammates this season, the shocking decision to side back in 2010 with the Heat very few saw coming. The details of how the trio of Wade, James and Bosh came together are conflicted, but new details continue to emerge in the present day.
In fact, Dwyane Wade revealed some rather surprising info on the situation this week:
“My eyes were here, LeBron’s eyes were here,” Wade said of Chicago. “Miami put a monkey wrench in the plan when they could fit all 3 of us.”
The plan was for LeBron, Wade and Bosh to become the league’s most formidable trio in recent memory. Which team they’d end up on, however, was still in the air.
With Chicago ultimately failing to unload Luol Deng’s contact, Miami swept in and closed the deal, bringing in James and Bosh to play alongside Wade.
The Heat would go on to win two championships, reach the Finals four times, and finish with a 224-88 record across four years sporting the trio.
For Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, the possibility of once again teaming up will always exist. But for now, both friends are preparing to embark on their next journey this season, a journey that does not feature them being together.
