Dwyane Wade Says He Wouldn’t Have Signed With Cavs If He Knew He Was Going to Be Traded

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade only spent a little over four months with the Cleveland Cavaliers before he was traded to the Heat last February. It’s now clear that Wade would have signed with another team had he known that his stay in Cleveland would be so brief.

Joe Vardon of The Athletic wrote that one of Wade’s main reasons for signing with last year’s edition of the Cavaliers was due to the strong possibility of the team reaching the NBA Finals. Despite what ended up taking place, the 16-year veteran indicated that he has no regrets about how things turned out:

“That’s why I signed there in the first place. If I had known that was gonna happen (the trade), I wouldn’t have signed there. It’s gonna be an item on my resume that’s hard to understand, but it happened. I know I filled my role while I was there, as a veteran and a leader. At least I can say I made some really cool relationships with the people who were there.”

Wade did make clear that he never asked to be dealt away, even though he was aware that close friend and teammate LeBron James was likely to leave as a free agent at the end of last season. James had recruited Wade after the latter had the final year of his contract with the Chicago Bulls bought out.

While Wade made a number of contributions in a Cavs uniform, his tenure did have some controversial moments, including a heated players only meeting in January. In that meeting, both he and former Cavs guard Isaiah Thomas attacked forward Kevin Love for missing a practice and most of a game due to an illness. Only later was it revealed that Love was suffering from panic attacks.

Wade announced in September that he would be retiring at the end of this season, ending his Hall of Fame career as he began it — in a Heat uniform. When Miami plays in Cleveland twice next month, Cavaliers management will presumably follow in the footsteps of other teams that are honoring Wade for his legendary career, even if his time with the Cavs was limited to just 46 games.