Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul wasn’t among those shocked to see Dwyane Wade leave the Miami Heat and sign with the Chicago Bulls.
“I wasn’t that surprised [about Wade],” said Paul on Monday, per Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald. “You’re talking about one of my best friends. I’m just happy for him. Chicago got not only a great player, but a great guy. For him to be coming home, you guys got a treat.”
Paul may have had some level of input on where the 12-time All-Star ultimately landed, revealing he, Wade and LeBron James have a frequent dialogue: “We talk about everything. It doesn’t matter if he asks for our advice, me and LeBron (James) are going to give him our opinion all day long.”
After spending 13 years and winning three NBA titles with the Heat, Wade joined his hometown Bulls. According to ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne, Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst, citing the Bulls’ figure from the Associated Press, Chicago offered Wade $7 million more than Miami.
Speaking at his basketball camp on July 9, Wade said he doesn’t hold any ill will toward Heat president Pat Riley regarding the circumstances of his Miami departure, per ESPN.com’s Michael Wallace:
It’s going to be a lot of stuff said about me and Pat. First of all, I love Pat. He has a job to do. He has a different hat to wear. That hat sometimes is not to be my best friend. That hat is to be the president of the organization and to be a businessman, and that sucks. You love each other, but the business side comes out, and you have to deal with it.
Wade’s arrival will inevitably build some buzz around Chicago, but Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg might have a hard time integrating him into a team that already had Jimmy Butler and added Rajon Rondo this offseason as well.
No matter what happens, the Bulls will be among the league’s more intriguing teams to watch next year.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
