In a move that many, including members of Dwyane Wade’s family didn’t expect, the longtime face of the Miami Heat franchise has opted to play for the Chicago Bulls next season.

The move is surprising, but at the same time, it makes sense. For his entire career, the cornerstone of the Miami Heat franchise had never been the highest-paid player on his team. After helping lead the Heat to their first title in 2006, Wade suffered due to Pat Riley’s moves (or lack thereof) to save cap space for LeBron James’ impending free agency, wasting some of the best years of his career.

Wade had taken a pay cut in 2010 in order to make room for the Heat to sign LeBron and Chris Bosh. Although it was easier then to do so back then, with the prospects of bringing multiple titles to South Beach, along with having two other guys leave $15 million on the table. That’s an easier bullet to bite, even though he took the biggest cut in his city.

This offseason was much different. Wade is going to be 35 years old in January, and is about to enter his 14th season in the league. It appeared that this could be the offseason when Wade would finally get his money, and — at least for him — what a better time than now when the salary cap had taken a spike? After his contract from 2010 ended, Wade took yet another paycut in 2014, worth up to $11 million. But Riley and the Heat front office had bigger fish to fry in their eyes, and their first move was signing Hassan Whiteside to a max deal.

The Heat were also one of a handful of teams to land a meeting with Kevin Durant, although in comparison to other options he had, Miami might have been the least attractive destination from a basketball standpoint. Yet on top of Whiteside, Durant also came before Wade did. Surely that’s a big part of what ultimately turned Wade away from Miami. It just so happens that the only team he would be willing to play for outside of Miami was his hometown Chicago Bulls, who really have no direction at the moment, so (in their minds) why not sign Wade?

Those were the things that ultimately led to Wade leaving. He gave a lot to the franchise, both on the floor and off of it in sacrifice. What he wanted was respect in the form of getting paid to essentially finish his career with the Heat, and the team wasn’t willing to meet his demands.

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For Pat Riley and the Heat, it was a tough move, but one that’s probably better for the future of the franchise. It’s unfortunate to see Wade leave Miami, whether you’re a Heat fan or not. It would have been similar to seeing Kobe Bryant leave the Lakers — it’s just strange to see him in a different uniform. But a huge contract at Wade’s age, and with his history of injuries could have really hurt the Heat.

So from a business perspective, it’s easy to see why Miami lowballed its franchise player. That’s exactly the type of thing that makes Pat Riley good at his job. He realizes that loyalty and trying to hold onto something that isn’t totally there anymore doesn’t work. Riley wants to win, and it’s one of the reasons why the Heat have had success in their 21 years under his watch. It’s not pretty, but it works.

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see how Wade and the new-look Bulls mesh. They’ll likely make the playoffs in a very weak Eastern Conference, but don’t expect them to contend for an Eastern Conference crown. As far as the Heat go, they now have a pretty big void to fill in at the shooting guard position after the back and forth with Wade in free agency, but they’re once again playing for the future and undoubtedly have confidence in Pat Riley’s abilities to build the team back up.

The break-up is unfortunate, but the love between Dwyane Wade and the city of Miami will always be there.

About Harry Lyles Jr.

Harry Lyles Jr. is an Atlanta-based writer, and a Georgia State University graduate.