This offseason, Dwayne Wade has worked out with former teammate LeBron James and talked about his hopes to discuss his “future” with the Chicago Bulls’ front office, all while being the subject of buyout talks virtually the entire time.
Just weeks ago, he said he was prepared to start the season with the Bulls, but talks of an exit from Chicago still loom. Bulls GM John Paxson — in an interview today with “The Mully and Hanley” on WSCR-670 AM — said the team is open to buying out Wade from his deal … with some caveats.
K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune has what Paxson said, as well as some insight into what it means for the Bulls and Wade:
Speaking on “The Mully and Hanley” show on WSCR-670 AM Thursday morning, Bulls executive vice president John Paxson echoed the sentiment he stated during the offseason when he said any buyout talks would have to be “advantageous” for the franchise. Translated: Wade would have to give up a significant portion of the $23.8 million he opted into a week before his deadline to do so last June 20.
While the Bulls haven’t spoken with Wade directly, Paxson did say general manager Gar Forman has had dialogue with Wade’s representatives in recent weeks. Bulls training camp begins Monday with Media Day activities.
“Some dialogue is going on,” Paxson said on The Score. “We understand where (Wade) is at this time of his career. We’re more than willing to work with him. But as I said when we had the press conference to introduce the new players after the draft, we have to always do what’s in our best interest. So there has to be something that is mutually agreed upon. It can’t be something the player wins because that’s what he wants.
“We want to work with Dwyane because we respect him very much. If he doesn’t want to be here, then we want to do (the buyout). But again, the bottom line is always — and it has to be — that we have to do what’s in our best interest.”
A hypothetical for what would be advantageous for the Bulls would be for Wade to give back enough money for the Bulls to take on a significant contract in a future trade and try to acquire other assets such as future first-round picks by taking on the player’s money.
In an interview with the Tribune two weeks ago at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Wade said he planned to start training camp with the Bulls.
“The only thing I’ll say is right now my plan is to be in training camp,” Wade said then.
Wade wouldn’t address his future beyond that or the organizational decision to rebuild following the draft day trade of his close friend Jimmy Butler — other than to say he likely would in camp. He also chose not to answer whether he’d be comfortable in a mentoring role.
