Miami Heat fans have dealt with the departure of Dwyane Wade before. They’ve already come to grips with the fact that the greatest player in franchise history (sorry LeBron, but it’s still Wade County) might not end his playing career in a Heat uniform. But China?
Yes, China. Wade has not made a decision yet on what he will do this season, whether he will continue his NBA career or even continuing playing at all. But now he could have another option, with Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald reporting that a Chinese team is willing to offer Wade a fortune to bring his skills and star power to the CBA:
A report out of China on Saturday morning suggested that the Xinjiang Flying Tigers are prepared to offer the guard “a monster deal” to get the 36-year-old, 12-time All-Star to play in the Chinese Basketball Association this fall instead of a 16th season in the NBA, with the Miami Heat.
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Wade, who has been in China on his annual summer marketing tour (his last day in China was Saturday), signed a lifetime contract with the apparel and sneaker company Li-Ning earlier this week. He’s been with the company since 2012 and there’s always been the rumor out there that he could one day play in China once he retires from the NBA.
Close friend and Heat teammate Udonis Haslem has been in China with Wade this week and said last month he would consider playing in China next season so he could get more playing time. Haslem played in a career-low 14 games and only 72 minutes last season with the Heat, his fewest in 15 seasons with the club.
Wade, though, still showed he had plenty left in the tank after the Heat acquired him at the NBA trade deadline last February.
Although he shot only 40.9 percent from the field and averaged 12 points in his 21 regular season games with the Heat, Wade shot 44.3 percent from the field and averaged 16.6 points in the playoffs in only 25.4 minutes per game. He also led Miami to its only win against the 76ers with a game-high 28 points in Game 2 in Philadelphia.
Wade told The Associated Press this week that he would wait until after he got back from his tour in China to think about his basketball future.
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