Whether or not talks have officially started or gotten serious, it is pretty obvious that the Bulls and Dwyane Wade will agree to a buy out for the final year and $24 million of his contract.
It makes little sense for a 35-year-old Wade to be playing for a team trying to reach the top of the lottery, and the Bulls don’t need Wade as a distraction to take up minutes and touches and frankly prevent them from losing enough games to get a top three pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
With that being the case, the immediate thought of where he would end up is Cleveland, as it presents him an opportunity next season to team up with his old buddy LeBron James once again and compete for another NBA title, something he has very few chances left to do at this point in his career.
While Cleveland still appears to be the favorite, there is reportedly a chance Wade could return to the Miami Heat or even join the Los Angeles Lakers…
Here is what Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald Reported:
“Though ESPN reported that LeBron James’ camp expects Dwyane Wade to end up with Cleveland if he reaches a buyout with the Bulls, a Wade associate has been telling people that Miami and Los Angeles are also appealing destinations for Wade…
But the person who mentioned Miami and L.A. to me was the same person who first alerted me to my scoop a few years ago that Wade’s negotiations with the Heat were not going well – the first time that information ever surfaced (and a year later, the sides divorced).”
While playing and living in Los Angeles seems appealing to a celebrity like Wade and his actress wife Gabrielle Union, it makes zero basketball sense for him to just join another rebuilding team that is not poised to make the postseason in 2017-18.
The Clippers seem like an odd fit and highly unlikely for Wade as well.
Miami would be great nostalgia and fun to see, but with the Heat’s current back court situation all Wade would do is mess up the locker room chemistry as he would come in and feel like the leader of the franchise yet again.
There is only one real destination that makes any sense and it is still Cleveland.
