Pat Riley had an incredible heartfelt response to Dwyane Wade deciding to leave the Miami Heat and sign with the Chicago Bulls
Dwyane Wade shocked the NBA world on Wednesday night when it was reported that he will leave the Miami Heat and sign a 2-year, $47 million contract with the Chicago Bulls.
While the move by the 34-year-old is not going to dramatically impact the balance of power in the Eastern Conference, it is a blow to the Miami Heat who have now lost the face of their franchise. Meanwhile, Wade is leaving the only NBA team he has ever played for and returning to his hometown.
There were reports that the things had gotten ugly between the Heat and Wade. Chris Broussard of ESPN reported that Wade and Riley were not even talking to each other during the negotiations. However, when reached for comment after Wade decided to sign with the Bulls, Riley sounded anything but angry.
According to Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald, Riley was "too raw" to talk about the decision at length. However, when asked how he was feeling, he had a great, heartfelt response that expressed mostly sadness. Here is what Riley wrote to Le Batard via text:
The Heat are now in dire straits. They missed out on the Kevin Durant sweepstakes, lost Luol Deng in free agency, and are not sure what they can expect from Chris Bosh who missed the second half of this past season because of a bloodcot. Now they have lost Wade without getting anything in return.
Riley is widely regarded as a recruiting mastermind and the Heat will eventually rebound. But for now, they are going to have find a way to piece together a roster without the one player that was the common link to all three of the franchise's championships.