LeBron James, Dwyane Wade nearly chose Chicago Bulls atop Heat

One former Chicago Bulls guard, Dwyane Wade, nearly wound up with LeBron James in either the Windy City or with the New York Knicks instead of Miami.

The term that was coined the “big three” in the NBA world today largely started with the decision that current Los Angeles Lakers superstar forward LeBron James made to link up with legendary shooting guard Dwyane Wade with the Miami Heat. LeBron, Wade, and the Heat were one of the NBA’s best teams in the early 2010’s. Yet, it appears as if that almost didn’t come to be thanks to the considerations of other NBA teams like the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks.

According to a recent report from the Miami Herald, LeBron and Wade considered the Knicks and Bulls before joining the Heat and former star center Chris Bosh. The Knicks and Bulls both didn’t experience much success since LeBron left the Heat either. Wade even wound up joining the Bulls at one point after that “super team” formed in Miami.

Imagine if the Bulls had the opportunity to bring the Windy City native D-Wade and LeBron in the mix alongside former superstar hometown point guard Derrick Rose back in 2010? That could’ve brought numerous championships to town for the first time since the Michael Jordan days with the Bulls back in the 1990’s.

LeBron and D-Wade won two titles with the Heat, and could win a few more if one of those two didn’t go back to join the Cleveland Cavaliers a few years back. But, LeBron wound up having Wade join him in Cleveland a few years down the road too.

Wade had a few stops along the way before he wound up retiring with the Heat this season. He wound up playing for three teams over the course of two seasons during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns. He started with the Bulls in his hometown and then landed with the Cavaliers alongside LeBron the following year. Wade wound up back with the Heat the same season he started with the Cavs.

The one year that Wade spent with the Bulls didn’t go well. The worst player efficiency rating that Wade posted since his rookie campaign came with the Bulls during the 2016-17 season. Yet, age was starting to catch up with him by then too.

Yet, in this piece written up by the Miami Herald, Wade and Bosh both exclaimed: “Chicago was on top of both of our lists. They had two max contracts and they had a young [Derrick] Rose. They had a Luol Deng, they had [Joakim] Noah, they had all these pieces. So I’m like, ‘In Chicago, in one of the biggest markets?’

They both also essentially stated that they chose the Heat because that was the only franchise that could bring over Wade, James, and Bosh. The Bulls had a lot on the books at the time, as did the Knicks. This is still an interesting thought, though, if LeBron and Wade had wound up in Bulls uniforms in 2010.