Dwyane Wade: 'Of course' this season will impact his decision to stay in Chicago
Dwyane Wade left a Miami Heat team that won 48 games for a Chicago Bulls roster that missed the playoffs in 2015-16, mainly because his hometown club offered him a two-year, $47 million contract, and the franchise for whom he played 13 seasons and won three NBA titles wouldn’t match the deal.
Now, Wade’s Bulls are clinging to a playoff seed at .500, the Heat are an absolute mess at 15-30, and now the future Hall of Famer is pondering his future, specifically how to strike the balance between getting paid market value and competing for a championship, and whether that’s no longer in Chicago.
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Asked if his current team’s recent struggles — which have included significant gripes from fellow “alphas” Jimmy Butler and Rajon Rondo — would affect how he approaches his impending $23.8 million player option this summer, Wade responded in the affirmative. Via the Chicago Tribune:
“I wouldn’t lie to you and say no. Of course,” Wade said, when asked if continued mediocrity would influence his decision. “I can’t play this game forever. I just turned 35 and I have a number in my head on how long I want to play.
“It’s tough in this league as well because a lot of it also depends on how much money you’re willing to make. It depends on what city you’re willing to be in. So it’s a lot of variables to that. But no question about it, what happens throughout this year as I go into my summer, I’ll definitely take a look at it. I take my career seriously and where I am and where I want to be. And I will do the same thing this summer.”
Wade had a chance to join the Cleveland Cavaliers for a significant discount over the summer — something LeBron James would surely still like to see happen — but told reporters in October, “I’m not ring chasing.” Wade suggested the contract he turned down from Cleveland in free agency was the taxpayer mid-level exception of $3.5 million for this year, nearly $20 million less than the deal he got from Chicago, and on Tuesday he indicated to the Tribune the Cavs’ offer may have been even lower:
“The reason I said that,” he said, “was they asked me a question about going to the Cavs this summer, and I said: ‘Well, I think they had, like, $2.4 million. It ain’t that bad for me now. I do have three rings.’
“I wasn’t willing to do that now, not at all, not at this point. When you’re a veteran guy, some guys have taken those sacrifices. David West last year, he gave all of his money back to go to San Antonio. That’s something he wanted to do. He wanted to put himself in position to win a ring.
“I have three. I’ve been in five Finals. So I don’t need to do that. But it is a time where you want to be on a team that can compete too. So it’s a fine line between what you really want. This summer, that’s not what I wanted.”
This summer, that’s not what I wanted.
Things change. Just ask Pat Riley. They haven’t changed for Wade just yet. He added of July 2017, via ESPN.com, “That is months away. I haven’t concerned myself with that. I’ll figure it out later.” But who knows how Wade will feel after another half-season on his well-worn treads, especially if he misses the playoffs for only the third time in his career. And double-especially if the Bulls trade Jimmy Butler.
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It will be hard for Wade to decline his $23.8 million option for 2017-18, if only because he’s no longer playing at an All-Star level. Wade’s numbers have fallen to depths he hasn’t seen since his rookie year, and his career-worst shooting efficiency puts him on par with the likes of Evan Turner and Jeff Green.
Then again, Turner and Green earned $17.5 and $15 million annual paychecks this past July, and the soaring salary cap is expected to jump another $10 million this summer. So, any number of wanna be contenders could make the mistake of overpaying a 35-year-old with 38,000 minutes on his legs. It won’t be the cap-strapped Cavaliers, though, not unless Wade is willing to set another $20 million on fire in the name of LeBron — two years after the last time he torched a pile of cash for his good friend.
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
