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NBA Rumors: Dwyane Wade Still Unsigned, Could Sign With The Chicago Bulls

By Ernest Shepard
Published on: 15:41 PST, Jul 5, 2016

Dwyane Wade is still searching for a team that will show him some love. Wade is a sure fire hall of famer once he retires from the NBA and the fact that he remains unsigned in the new era of free agency is not a mystery. Dwyane Wade simply feels disrespected by his potentially former team, the Miami Heat. As player after player keeps falling off the board, Wade is watching, waiting for his turn.

The teams that are in the running for Dwyane Wade are the Heat, Chicago Bulls and Denver Nuggets.

Of those teams, the Nuggets have the most money to offer Dwyane Wade, a veteran of 13 years. Wade has spent his entire career with the Miami Heat. No one expects him to leave the only place he has known as a professional. If he does leave Miami, it is a great chance that he will join the Chicago Bulls.

The Miami Herald reported that Dwyane Wade was going to test out the free agent market a week ago. He originally believed that any negotiations with the Heat, or any other team, would go smoothly.

“I hope everything for myself is quiet and everything works out the way I want it to, whatever that is. But I have no control over that as much as people would think. You have no control how that is necessarily is going to go.”

What Wade did not foresee is the Heat pushing contract negotiations with him aside in order to hammer out details on a new deal for center Hassan Whiteside. According to Pro Basketball Talk, Dwyane Wade was upset with the fact that someone else became a higher priority. And it was not just Whiteside whom the Heat went after ahead of Wade, but Kevin Durant as well. Opening contract talks with other teams is his way to vent.

Immediately, teams started to place fillers with Wade to see if he would be receptive to playing for them. The Milwaukee Bucks joined the Bulls and Nuggets with their interest, along with the Heat.

As the days have gone on, Wade remains unsigned. He does have standing offers from the Heat and Nuggets and he has canceled a meeting with the Bucks, effectively taking them off the list.

It is interesting that he has not accepted either of the offers he has received. The Nuggets are willing to pay him $50 million over two years, while the Heat is offering $40 over the same time period. Either Dwyane Wade is holding out for the Heat to improve their offer or he is waiting on another team to emerge. That is where the Chicago Bulls come in.

The Bulls do not give Wade a chance at an NBA title, but neither does the Heat or Nuggets. What the Bulls offer Dwyane Wade is an opportunity to play his last years in his hometown.

Playing in Chicago almost came true for Dwyane Wade in 2010. Many people thought he was using the Bulls and other teams for leverage, which may or may not be true. Similar sentiments hold true now. No one truly knows what Wade wants to do, but according to reports, the Bulls are a viable option for him.

Can the Bulls give Dwyane Wade what he is asking for, a two or three-year deal, worth more than an average of $20 million a season?

The Bulls would have to shed some salary in order to accommodate Wade. That would mean trading Mike Dunleavy and either trading or buying out the recently acquired Jose Calderon. Doing such would give the Bulls an extra $12.5 million to the roughly $13-14 million of space they already have available.

Any deals the Bulls make would be pure salary dumps that may or may not bring a useful asset in the future. In fact, the Bulls may do something similar to what the Golden State Warriors did when they traded Andrew Bogut to the Dallas Mavericks for a top-55 protected second round draft pick. In other words, the Warriors will get nothing for Bogut.

Dwyane Wade may wind up with a new team. If nothing happens with the Miami Heat soon, the future hall of famer will leave the only NBA franchise he has ever known. The Denver Nuggets are in play, but it is the Chicago Bulls who must be paid attention.

[Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images]

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dwyane wade Hassan Whiteside NBA Miami Heat Denver Nuggets Chicago Bulls Milwaukee Bucks
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