Pat Riley has a message for all you truthers who think that he purposely steered Dwyane Wade from the Miami Heat to the Chicago Bulls.
You’re wrong.
That’s the gist of what he said anyway, telling reporters that he is absolutely shocked Wade ended up in The Windy City, per Jason Leiser of the Palm Beach Post:
Pat Riley: "What happened with Dwyane floored me."
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) July 16, 2016
Riley doubled down on this stance, admitting he had big plans for the end of Wade’s career:
Pat Riley: "I'm gonna miss what I might have had planned for (Wade) and his future and how I saw the end going for him."
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) July 16, 2016
He also took responsibility for Wade’s departure, albeit not in the way many would suspect:
Pat Riley on Wade: "My responsibility to make it happen. I didn't make it happen… I have great regret that I didn't immerse myself in it."
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) July 16, 2016
Pat Riley said he should've "gotten in a canoe and paddled to The Mediterranean" if that's what it took to keep Wade.
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) July 16, 2016
This is all very weird to say, because the Heat, ostensibly, could have prevented Wade from leaving. Multiple reports had their best offer falling $7.5 million short of the Bulls’ deal. They could have offloaded Josh McRoberts to make up some of that difference, which would have perhaps convinced Wade to stay.
Or maybe he was gone if they couldn’t match Chicago’s overtures. He has taken pay cuts in the past, and the Heat basically maxed out Hassan Whiteside. That might not have sat well with him.
Nor should it have. But the Heat, to their defense, couldn’t justify creating more cap space by dealing someone like Justise Winslow, as many talked about. He is a top 10 prospect entering just the second season of his career. As important as Wade might be, the Heat have to think about their future—plan for a time beyond Wade in ways the Los Angeles Lakers never did with Kobe Bryant.
That doesn’t make this entire situation right. But, more importantly, it doesn’t make the Heat’s actions—or rather, inaction—wrong, either.
