Dwyane Wade is said to be on his way out of Chicago, but one former teammate says reports that he isn’t well-liked in the Bulls locker room are ridiculous. Wade’s exit from the Bulls has been reported as inevitable, but another report earlier this week stated many young Bulls players simply didn’t like Wade.
The reason given is that Wade is hypocritical in calling out teammates for not working hard enough, but former teammate Jimmy Butler warned on Thursday that disliking Wade is a harbinger of bad things to come for the Bulls. It’s not surprising that Butler would come in on Wade’s side, considering the two were highly critical of their teammates’ effort last season, leading to a locker room rift that hit its peak when Rajon Rondo ripped them on Instagram.
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times spoke to Butler on Thursday and said he and Wade are still “blessed” despite what the other Chicago Bulls players have to say about them.
‘‘Hell, probably some of them can’t stand or don’t like me,’’ Butler told the Sun-Times in a phone interview Thursday. ‘‘That’s fine. I’m still waking up fortunate and blessed every day, just like Dwyane is. He still has a fabulous family and a lot more important things to worry about than the opinions of others.
‘‘But if they dislike him because the guy wants to win, well, then that team has some serious problems on the way.’’
Butler also called the report that he and Wade had a beef “crazy.” He said the two were still close, and had a great line about what kind of argument the two might still have.
‘‘The only beef he and I could possibly have is who is a better dresser right now,’’ Butler said. ‘‘For that [report] to be floating out there is crazy. As many dinners as me and him have had out here [in California], the trips we’ve taken this summer, I don’t think people that argue would be around each other as much as I like being around D-Wade.
It’s clear that if he has to take a side when it comes to Wade and the other players on the Bulls, he’s taking Wade. It’s an easy call to make, really. Soon enough Wade will be just like him: no longer playing in Chicago.
