If he returns, Dwyane Wade will only play for the Miami Heat next season
Dwyane Wade hasn’t committed to playing a 16th season in the NBA just yet.
If he does return this fall, though, he’ll only suit up for one team: The Miami Heat.
“If I’m playing the game of basketball this year, it’ll be in a Miami uniform,” Wade told the Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds on Saturday at the Jr. NBA World Championships in Orlando.
More Wade from Jr. NBA: "If I'm playing the game of basketball this year, it'll be in a Miami uniform." (Take note: China was never a real option for this year.)
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) August 11, 2018
Wade was offered a three-year, $25 million deal last month by the Zhejiang Golden Bulls of the Chinese Basketball Association, which would have made him the highest-paid player in China. Apparently, though, Wade isn’t interested.
He hasn’t set a timetable yet, though, as to whether he’ll actually play again this season, telling Reynolds “there’s no clock for me.”
In Orlando tonight at the Jr. NBA World Championship, Dwyane Wade said "there's no clock for me" when it comes to deciding what'll happen this coming season.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) August 11, 2018
Wade played his first 13 seasons in the NBA with the Heat. He played for the Chicago Bulls during the 2016-17 season. Wade played half of a season last year for the Cleveland Cavaliers before being traded back to Miami for the final 21 games of the season. He averaged 12 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists coming off the bench for the Heat this season.
“I want him back as a player,” Heat president Pat Riley told Reynolds in July. “I want him back as a competitor. I want him back as a guy who wants to have the greatest year he ever had as a player. I read more articles about Dwyane being done, he’s lost a step, he’s not the same player, he might not have the same motivation.’ But I still see a player who can contribute heavily if he really wants to.”
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