MIAMI — Dwyane Wade knew he wasn’t long for Cleveland when he signed with the Cavaliers, because LeBron James wasn’t either.
“LeBron, first of all, he’s a guy who always plays his cards close to the vest, but I knew his ultimate goal was to be in Los Angeles,” Wade told The Athletic. “He recruited me and he talked to me about signing there (Cleveland), and I said, ‘listen, I know you might not be there long, you’re gonna be a free agent and there are some things that might happen, and we’ll have a conversation.’ I just thought I’d make it through the season first.”
So the scene last night, Wade hugging Channing Frye and whispering words of wisdom to Collin Sexton after Wade’s Heat thumped the bottom-dwelling Cavs, 118-94, it probably still would’ve happened.
Wade, who is 36, wanted to play one more season and, it’s true, he did want to retire in Miami, where he won three titles in his first 14 years. Outside of winning a championship with the Cavs and LeBron re-signing in Cleveland, there would’ve been little standing in his way of signing for the vet minimum $2.4 million the Heat is paying him for his final go around the league, or for him to score 10 points off the bench against his old team.
Nor would Cleveland’s path to the NBA’s worst record, to nine healthy players, counting two from the G League and a 19-year-old rookie, to hoping the Warriors don’t match a non-guaranteed offer sheet for Patrick McCaw been impeded.
But Wade’s actual path to the Heat he didn’t see coming. He signed in Cleveland in September 2017 to not only reunite with LeBron, but also to get back to the Finals one more time. He was one of six players traded by the Cavs at last season’s trade deadline, a move that’s never fully been explained, given the magnitude of who Wade is, his relationship with LeBron, his and the Cavs’ salary situations, and the purpose he was supposed to serve — closing the gap in depth among role players in a finals against the Warriors.
When Wade was traded, for a conditional, second-round pick in 2024, it came moments after Isaiah Thomas, the biggest name in Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving trade from the previous summer, was shipped to the Lakers. That trade took up some bandwidth. Also, Wade and the Cavs had their stories straight — he wanted to finish his career with the Heat and Cleveland gave him the chance.
But more than that, Wade wanted to go back to the finals. He didn’t want out from the Cavs.
“That’s why I signed there in the first place,” Wade said. “If I had known that was gonna happen (the trade), I wouldn’t have signed there. It’s gonna be an item on my resume that’s hard to understand, but it happened. I know I filled my role while I was there, as a veteran and a leader. At least I can say I made some really cool relationships with the people who were there.”
The Cavs were a heap of dysfunction last year. Wade’s arrival was hard on JR Smith, who (for three games) lost his starting spot to Wade. And Wade was at the center of the infamous January meeting that tore the team apart, when he and Thomas attacked Kevin Love for missing most of a game and a practice for an illness that was not disclosed to teammates. Love then disclosed he was suffering from panic attacks.
Cleveland also wanted to play rookie Cedi Osman, and intended to give reserve minutes to newly acquired Jordan Clarkson and Rodney Hood. In reality, the transformation to what you say today from the Cavs began then. By the time the playoffs arrived Osman was out of the rotation, and Clarkson and Hood both slipped in and out of meaningful minutes because they struggled under the pressure of trying to help get James to another finals in what could be his last season in Cleveland.
Wade, of course, was cut out for that. And he came to the Cavs believing James would likely leave for the Lakers, which is what happened.
Wade was also playing well for the Cavs, averaging 11.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and shooting a career-best .329 from 3-point range off the bench. In the playoffs, only James and Love averaged in double figures for points. Wade, in the Heat’s only playoff series, averaged 16.6 points off the bench.
LeBron and former Cavs coach Tyronn Lue both told The Athletic that Wade would’ve helped in the 2018 finals — in which the Cavs were swept but had near misses in Games 1 and 3 that could’ve gone either way.
“Of course that was my reaction,” Wade said. “I’m watching it like, ‘that’s why I went there, to play in this series.’ ”
Asked last night why he was traded, Wade said, “I don’t ask no questions.”
Wade has his own history with James when it comes to free agency. James didn’t tell Wade he was leaving the Heat to return to Cleveland in 2014 until Wade had already opted out of his own contract with the Heat, which cost him millions.
That experience was part of why Wade expected to be in Cleveland only one season. “But, you know, things can always change,” he said. “That’s why we were going to have the conversation. But it was supposed to be at the end of the season, after we made it to the finals.”
The two friends did have a sitdown, over lunch, the day Wade was traded.
“It wasn’t like he came out said ‘oh, you’re traded, I’m going to the Lakers,’ but like I said I knew where his heart was and what he was thinking big picture,” Wade said.
You think Bron ain't use that same leverage to Wiggins getting traded for Love? Same Bron that was playing 2k with Clarkson and Nance on the roster before we even finalized the trade. LeGM been at it for for years
" to "Yall can have Ingram, Kuz, all the picks, the ball boy.. fukk it, take everybody 
'. Bron is def applying pressure behind the scenes.