Dwyane Wade is leaving the Miami Heat after 13 seasons, and local high school basketball players have plenty to say about it.
Oxbridge Academy guard Keidron Smith (right) said Dwyane Wade made the right move in returning to Chicago. (Post file photo)
The All-Star guard, who won three NBA championships with the Heat, is headed home to Chicago.
He made the right decision, according to Palm Beach Gardens senior guard Lachlan Bivins.
“He’s going back to his hometown to try and bring a championship just like LeBron did this year,” Bivins said. “He is a great player who’s having a great career, and wants to show some love to his hometown.”
Oxbridge Academy junior guard Keidron Smith also is supportive of Wade’s decision to leave Miami.
“He made the right move,” Smith said of Wade, who is expected to sign a two-year contract worth $47 million with Chicago. “The Heat didn’t pay him the money he wanted. And if the Heat really wanted him to stay, they would have done more. But he’s still my favorite player in the game.”
Palm Beach Gardens senior point guard Matt Pitter agreed that the Heat could have made a better effort to re-sign Wade, and should have prioritized his free agency.
“I think the Heat should have given Wade the three years last off-season with the money he asked for,” Pitter said. “The Heat also went for Durant as one of their top priorities for free agents, and there wouldn’t be any cap space for Wade anyway.”
Pitter said he wasn’t surprised that Wade left Miami. What did surprise him, though, was where he ended up.
“I thought the Knicks, Bucks, and Cavs would have been better,” he said. “The Cavs less, because he couldn’t get the money he wanted.”
