John Paxson says there’s been no talks of Dwyane Wade buyout in radio interview

On The Mully and Hanley Show for CBS Chicago’s 670 The Score, Chicago Bulls VP of basketball operations John Paxson discussed a number of topics, including potential talks of a Dwyane Wade buyout this season.

John Paxson hopped on The Mully and Hanley Show for CBS Chicago‘s 670 The Score on Thursday morning in and discussed some topics with the guys surround the Chicago Bulls heading into the start of training camp next season.

One of the main topics discussed was a potential buyout of the remaining portion of Dwyane Wade‘s contract with the Bulls.

Paxson said there’s been no talks with Wade about a buyout of his contract that he signed last summer before the season, but that the Bulls would be willing to work with him if that’s what the three-time champion desires.

Here’s the full response from Paxson on the Wade buyout questions:

Paxson also noted that Wade didn’t have to pick up his player option of $23.8 million for this season prior to the draft that saw the franchise trade away teammate and friend Jimmy Butler, but that he did “what was best for him” in the scenario.

Obviously, Wade wasn’t going to turn down almost $24 million this season. He’s nowhere near the player he used to be and with his career coming closer and closer to a conclusion, of course Wade was going to accept his option for this season, rebuild or no rebuild. That’s way too much money to leave on the table and anybody would be a fool to leave it on said table.

Next: So, is there any news on the Nikola Mirotic situation? Anything?

Other talking points from Paxson on Thursday

• Paxson used the interview to also defend Bulls general manager Gar Forman, who was noticeably absent for the Doug Collins press conference on Tuesday afternoon. Some Bulls fans probably have something to say about the latter part of that quote too, John.

• Paxson also noted that Fred Hoiberg has had a “phenomenal summer” working with the young guys for the Bulls in the last few months on Tuesday and said some similar things on Thursday about the organization’s head coach.

• As expected, Zach LaVine isn’t going to start the season for the Bulls on the floor. From the looks and sounds of things around LaVine’s rehab, everything is going swell. The Bulls just don’t want to take any chances and rush matters, and in the midst of a rebuild, that’s smart.

LaVine has been rehabbing since tearing the ACL in his left knee back in February and the Bulls also used their new #RunWithUs series to document LaVine’s progress with his knee rehab.