Chicago Bulls: Pat Riley “regrets” letting Dwyane Wade leave Miami Heat

Although he was successful in his one season with the Chicago Bulls, the home for Dwyane Wade is with Pat Riley and the Miami Heat.

When the Chicago Bulls signed future Hall-of-Fame guard Dwyane Wade in free agency back in 2016, it appeared to be a solid get that could provide a veteran voice in the locker room and strengthen the rotation. Wade wound up providing a good boost along with fellow former Bulls star Jimmy Butler.

However, the Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers just didn’t feel right for Dwyane Wade. He did get to play with some of his best friends and biggest stars in the NBA now between his time in Cleveland and Chicago. Something didn’t match up, though.

Ultimately for what could be the final season for the great career of Dwyane Wade this season, he looks to round things out with the franchise he started with. The Heat were good to Dwyane Wade for a long time, as was Pat Riley. He’s seen some great years in South Beach with various superstars like Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Jermaine O’Neal (even though it was the very end of his career).

It’s not like the tenure for Dwyane Wade was a terrible result in his hometown of Chicago, IL. But, it does seem like the Heat is a more natural place for Wade to play. That is where his NBA career started to take a dip. A lot of that was due to LeBron leaving the Heat soon before and age kicking in as well.

You can tell that Dwyane Wade is still near the end of his career now that he’s posting a player efficiency rating and points per game well under his career averages. But, he still has the Heat in position to make the playoffs in an Eastern Conference that doesn’t have much outside the top four. A ton of teams around the Heat, like the Bulls, are just rebuilding for the future.

Yet, we’re tracing this piece back to Wade’s tenure in the Windy City. The Heat pretty much let Wade walk out of South Beach for all intents and purposes. It looked as if Riley and the Heat front office were looking to start a rebuild behind talented center Hassan Whiteside after Wade’s departure.

A recent report did indicate that Riley felt differently about his intentions to re-sign Wade with the Heat than most NBA fans thought at the time. According to the Miami Herald, Riley “regrets” letting Wade walk the way he did and felt he could’ve pursued him more that off-season to come back to Miami.

Although, this all traces back because of Wade’s final All-Star Weekend that he played in this year at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC. Wade was one of the two eventual Hall-of-Famers that played in this All-Star Game, alongside the Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki.

Nonetheless, it was nice to see Wade return for one year to his hometown and don the Bulls jersey. He played well in that season in the Windy City, averaging more than 18.0 points per game. But, there is just something special when Wade gets to standout with the Heat.