Last week, Dwyane Wade opted into the second year of his contract with the Chicago Bulls, which will pay him $23 million for next season.
Accepting the contract guarantees Wade will get paid for next season. But in reality, the Bulls probably wish that Wade didn’t opt in for next year given their route for next season. On the night of the 2017 NBA Draft, the Bulls traded their best player in Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With Butler, the Bulls were a playoff team. Now that Butler is long gone from Chicago, the Bulls are looking at a full-blown re-build. Dwyane Wade opting in for next season likely doesn’t fit into that re-build.
There have been reports that the Bulls could potentially look to buy out the remainder of Wade’s deal and make him a free agent. The buyout would still guarantee Wade most, if not all of the $23 million owed to him this season from Chicago. What a buyout would give Wade is the chance to play anywhere he wants next year.
If Wade does get bought out, he should take his talents to Cleveland and join up with his old friend in LeBron James and play for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers have discussed a three-team trade with the Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets that could potentially land them Paul George and Kenneth Faried. That would be a massive upgrade for Cleveland and increase their chances of getting back to the NBA Finals. They have also been the team reported to being the landing spot for Carmelo Anthony if the New York Knicks buy him out of his contract.
This might be the formation of another “super team,” but it might be the only way any team has a chance of dethroning the Golden State Warriors. Back when Dwyane Wade couldn’t get a deal done with the Miami Heat, there were multiple reports that he was interested in signing with the Cavaliers and joining LeBron there.
The only problem was that Cleveland didn’t have the cap space needed to bring Wade in to go on top of re-signing their own players. That lead to Wade going to Chicago, but it hasn’t worked out like he hoped when he went back home.
Now that the Bulls are on the verge of blowing it up, Dwyane Wade will likely want to go elsewhere if the Bulls want to rebuild and start preparing for the future. Someone like Wade will likely not want to be a part of that rebuild and instead, want to play for another chance at a championship.
And thus, why Dwyane Wade should look to join the Cavaliers if the Bulls decide to buy him out.