The Chicago Bulls had a really good team in the 2010s, but they nearly had an all-time roster with Dwyane Wade on board. The guard was a potential signing for the Bulls in free agency, but he ended up staying with the Heat and joining forces with LeBron James instead.
Dwyane Wade confirms plan to join Chicago Bulls in 2010
Dwyane Wade wanted to join the Chicago Bulls. He said as much. That’s not how his foray into free agency in 2010 played out, but it was his plan going into it.
Wade said on The OGs podcast, “I was like, ‘Man, I’m going back home. I’m going back to Chicago.’ I played seven years here, I won a championship, it’s time. For me, that was my mentality going into free agency outside of Miami, of course, Miami was still in there for me. But I got that call, man. I got that call from number six.”
LeBron James joined forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami in 2010 to form the superteam known as the Heatles. It’s obviously hard to turn down James when he wants to come join your team, but Wade had plans to link up with prime Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and Joakim Noah to form a different superteam.
Wade admitted that it caught him by surprise, adding that he never thought about playing with James, only against him. The next step was another call with himself, James, and their agents, who revealed that the Heat had built up enough room to get three stars (which turned into Bosh), and that sealed the deal.
Wade enjoyed a couple of NBA Finals wins with James and Bosh in Miami, something he might’ve also enjoyed had he stuck with his plan and gone to Chicago, as they were one of the better teams in the East and actually had a better record than Wade, James, and Bosh’s Heat team in 2010-11.
Rose’s eventual injury would hamper the Bulls, but in his healthy prime, a duo of him and Wade in the backcourt would’ve rivaled the best the NBA had. Wade did eventually play for the Bulls, but that was in 2016-17 when he wasn’t in his prime. He averaged 18.3 points and was off to the Cleveland Cavaliers the following season.
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