Dwyane Wade Is ‘Leaning Heavily’ Towards A Reunion With LeBron In Cleveland

Dwyane Wade’s free agency may not last too much longer. After reaching an agreement on a buyout with the Bulls on Sunday night, the star guard became the most sought after free agent on the market, and there were reports that he may take a little time to make his decision on where to go next.

That decision has been reported to be between four teams with the Cavaliers, Spurs, Thunder, and Heat all vying for his talents. The general consensus has been that Cleveland is the frontrunner due to Wade’s relationship with LeBron James and the opportunity to possibly start for the Cavs.

That isn’t stopping Paul George from diving into Wade’s DMs and text messages to try and bring him to Oklahoma City, but according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN and Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, the decision is pretty much already made in Wade’s mind.

Dwyane Wade is leaning heavily toward the Cavaliers as his new team once he clears waivers and may have already decided on a reunion with LeBron James, league sources with knowledge of Wade’s thinking told cleveland.com.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Wade could potentially sign in Cleveland by Wednesday.

This isn’t a surprising move in the slightest. Wade and LeBron are great friends and have a history of playing well together from their Miami days. Cleveland also has a need for backcourt help and Wade can likely take a starting role and move J.R. Smith back to the bench unit. With Isaiah Thomas being out until January or later, the Cavs could use another ball-handler and playmaker on the perimeter, which Wade can still do.

As to whether adding Wade makes Cleveland more competitive with Golden State, the answer is probably a little bit, but not tremendously so. Wade will certainly add depth and more scoring punch to a Cavs team in need of that in Kyrie Irving’s absence, but he’s not a floor spacer nor is he a good or great defender at this stage of his career.