Dwyane Wade back where he belongs

On trade deadline day, Dwyane Wade got sent back to the team he never should have left. Let's rewind on how we got here. During the 2014 free agency period after 4 straight finals appearances LeBron James heads back to Cleveland, setting the Miami Heat back a couple of years. Pat Riley proceeds to resign Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. The Heat run a "Heat Lifer" for Wade, giving him the Bryant, Duncan, Magic, Bird type legacy with all of the achievements and success he had with one team for his entire career.

The Heat miss the postseason because of the void left by LeBron James and the injures to their key players. The following season the Heat obtain the 3rd seed and get knocked out in the second round to the Raptors in 7 games. Wade was their best player and was 1 game away from a conference finals without Chris Bosh because of his blood clots situation.

This leaves us at free agency 2016. The Cavs had just won the 2016 title against the 73-9 Warriors. LeBron re-ups with Cleveland for 3 years. Kevin Durant had the Heat on his short-list for teams he could have joined along with the Spurs, Celtics, Warriors and Thunder. Hassan Whiteside was also a free agent and was offered a max deal by the Heat. However, he was willing to sacrifice some money to bring KD in on a max deal. Obviously, this did not occur as Kevin Durant ghosted OKC and signed for a ring with the Dubs. This left no other major superstar free agent for the Heat to go after.

It was time to attempt to resign Wade. Dwyane Wade always sacrificed for the betterment of the team turning down tens of millions of dollars in the past to win. So now he was looking for a Kobe-esque deal repaying him for the favours of the past. Wade was looking for either a 2 year-$50 million-dollar deal or a 3 year-$60 million-dollar deal. The Heat were clear they did not want to commit the third year with Wade’s injury history and his skills declining.

The negotiations began, a long tense battle. Hassan Whiteside was a priority for the Heat, as he was younger, and they viewed him as a building block for the future, so he signed his max contract. There was still enough room to sign Wade to his $50 million deal. The Heat’s final offer was a two-year $40 million offer, a whole $7 million less than what the Bulls offered. Wade felt insulted, as the man who brought this organization their first ever ring, recruited Lebron and Bosh, sacrificed millions of dollars, took a Robin role for the team to win in his prime and the Heat nickel and dime him for 7-10 million dollars. On top of that, they offer Tyler Johnson an otherwise unproven player a huge 4-year $50 million-dollar deal. Dwyane felt betrayed and disrespected by Miami. He decides to go to play for his hometown of Chicago for just 7 million dollars more than Miami’s offer.

He spends 1 year with the Bulls who were a hot mess, with calling out teammates, coaching issues, chemistry problems to say the least it was a mess in the Windy city. He’s feelings for Miami soften as they were one of the best run organizations in all of basketball. Jimmy Butler gets traded to the Timberwolves and the Bulls move into rebuilding mode. Wade clearly no longer wants to play there so he accepts a buy out and hits the free agency market. The two main suitors Cleveland Cavaliers and the team he never should have left, the Miami Heat. The Heat just missed the postseason last year after going 30-11 to finish the season. Wade thinks instead of inserting himself to that team they deserve a chance to see what they can do. He opts to go play alongside his best friend, LeBron James, and go for a ring with the Cavs. 

The Cavs had just traded Kyrie Irving in one of the dumbest moves of the year. Receiving Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and a Brooklyn pick. The Cavs just coming off a finals annihilation to the Warriors in 5 games believed they improved and got “deeper”. I.T is out until January with a hip injury. After the starting spot fiasco with J.R Smith, Wade opts to go to the bench after he struggled in the first couple games. The Cavs have a rocky start to the season playing less defense than your local middle school team. Wade figures out the second unit and gave the Cavs a legitimate bench. The Cavs rally off a 10+ game win-streak on the backs off LeBron James’ ridicules stat line and the bench led by D-Wade.

On Christmas Day in a Finals rematch the Warriors take a close game against the Cavs of some questionable calls. That starts the Cavs slide, where their defense just becomes super atrocious and their offense starts to struggle. I.T comes back around this time and clearly doesn’t fit well on this team. Their defense is super bad, and they are just showing no effort. It gets so bad that it didn’t look like they would make it out of the FIRST ROUND. Deadline day comes, the Cavs trade half their team. Original plans were not to trade the 3-time champ. With new wings joining a diminished role for Wade that Cavs did right by him and sent him home.

The love between Miami and D-Wade was real. The city got an immediate boost from Wade rejoining the team. His Miami Vice jersey got sold out in 8 minutes and jersey sales for the Heat went all the way up. Receiving a welcome at the airport, tribute video’s welcoming him back and a standing ovation with him checking in.

However, this move wasn’t just for memorabilia purposes, the Heat needed Wade. With Waiters out and them in a battle to make the playoffs they could use another playmaker, someone to be a leader for this young group and someone to close out games. This showed in his first game, playing vital minutes and coming up with a clutch block to win the game against the Bucks. Then soon after he scored a season high 27 points including 15 points in the 4^th, to win a pivotal game against the Sixers. He even sealed the game with 5 seconds with a jumper near the top of the key. Wade can be very beneficial to this team and help them get into the postseason.   

In all honesty Wade never should have left, but maybe it was necessary. After this reunion maybe both parties appreciate each other more than they did in 2016. Maybe it was a necessary break, but it’s good to see Wade back in the right jersey. Wade is everything for the Heat. He leads the franchise in:

-      - Games

-      - Minutes

-      - Field Goals

-      - Free Throws

-      - Assists

-      - Steals

-      - Points

Good to see him back. Should’ve never left.