Dwyane Wade is back with the Miami Heat and he appears to be happy with that change of venue. In fact, Pat Riley and Gabrielle Union both seem quite pleased, and the Cavaliers have been framed as giving Wade a chance to return home in the form of a goodwill gesture after a change in personnel on the wing made his playing time less secure in Cleveland.
However, not everyone is on the same page in that regard, as there is some level of buzz that Wade was “the biggest issue,” at least in the mind of head coach Tyronn Lue, in the Cavs locker room before his exit. The report comes from Vince Grzegorek, the Editor-in-Chief of Cleveland Scene.
The Cavs can sell the Wade trade to Miami as a goodwill measure to get him home, and maybe that's part of it, but heard twice today Lue felt Wade was biggest issue in the locker room.
— Vince Grzegorek (@vincethepolack) February 9, 2018
Of course, it could be some combination of both and there isn’t much, at least on the record, emanating from Cleveland in a negative way toward Wade. Still, it is conceivable that Wade was something of a strange fit in the Cavs locker room, with his Hall of Fame-level skills diminishing to the point of only operating as a useful role player. Plus there was a report that LeBron James wasn’t happy with how Wade was received when he first joined the organization, so it is plausible that those negative feelings persisted.
Cleveland’s issues prior to the trade deadline were well documented and there is likely plenty of blame to spread around. Still, there is at least some thought that Wade’s exit to Miami wasn’t purely built on doing him a favor and that could be instructive in the overall evaluation of the maneuver.
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