Chicago Bulls center Robin Lopez expects that Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade will receive quite the welcome from fans on Saturday night when the two teams face off in Chicago.
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This is the final regular season game in Chicago for Wade, who has stated that this season will be his last.
The two teams are not likely to meet in the postseason due to the Bulls’ current record of 10-35. The Heat, on the other hand, currently sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 21-22 and have a 73.2 percent probability of making the playoffs, according to basketballreference.com.
Wade, a Chicago, Ill. native, played for the Bulls in the 2016-17 season, averaging 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals in 29.9 minutes per game. The three-time NBA champion had signed a two-year contract with the Bulls that was supposed to last until after the 2017-18 season, but he was bought out of his contract in September 2017.
Wade and Lopez were teammates on the 2016-17 Bulls, helping lead the team to a 41-41 record. The team made the playoffs that season, where they lost in the first round to the Boston Celtics.
Throughout his 16-year career, Wade has played 49 games (44 starts) against the Bulls. In those games he has averaged 20.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.
It will be interesting to see if the Chicago crowd does indeed give Wade the type of ovation that Lopez predicts.
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