The free agent departure of Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade was a controversial move that’s led to plenty of commentary and rhetoric since the veteran guard signed with the Chicago Bulls back in July. Some of that has focused on the often contentious relationship between Wade and Heat team president Pat Riley.
During the local hour of Dan Le Batard’s radio show on Friday, he attempted to pinpoint exactly when the Wade-Riley relationship reached the point of no return. In his opinion, that was during the lengthy recruitment of Kevin Durant.
“There was an exact breaking point on this relationship with Wade and Riley,” Le Batard said. “There were some issues about is Dwyane being a diva for a couple of years but the breaking point — and obviously if they thought it’d be that bad they wouldn’t have offered him two years $40 million and risked him accepting it even though it was in some part a public relations move to allow them to look they were trying their hardest — this whole thing broke apart on Kevin Durant. The whole thing.”
The breakdown took place, in Le Batard’s opinion, because the level of trust that Wade had with the Heat had faded. He then attempted to paraphrase Wade’s mindset at the time:
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“Wade was firm in ‘nope not helping ya, dont want him here and you’re not gonna have me making the sacrifices so you guys can prioritize someone else.’
“I’m done taking less and trusting so that you guys can take Kevin Durant because I’m not positive my trust is going to be rewarded like Dallas rewarded Dirk Nowitzki’s trust… Now I don’t agree with him on that. Pat Riley was telling everybody I’m going to give him his money at the end, we’re going to give him the Dirk Nowitzki golden parachute… clearly Dwyane did not trust that to be so.”
Le Batard also stated that the Heat was reportedly prepared to offer Wade a one-year baloon payment of $37 million at a later date. Wade’s lack of trust with the team, however, caused him to reject the offer, according to Le Batard.
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