“I know he feels I didn’t fight hard enough for him” – Pat Riley opens up about why he didn’t call Wade during his free agency period originally appeared on Basketball Network.
The NBA’s free agency period is a multi-layered and complex process, filled with negotiations, rumors and tough decisions. While some players get their due, finally landing that big-money deal they have been working for all their lives, others may feel let down by their respective teams.
Advertisement
Dwyane Wade, the Miami Heat’s all-time leading scorer and three-time NBA champion, knows this feeling all too well.
During the summer of 2016, after 13 years with the Miami Heat organization, Wade became a free agent. Many expected him to re-sign with the team he had helped lead to multiple championships. However, things took an unexpected turn when negotiations between Wade and the Heat’s president Pat Riley, fell apart.
In an interview with ESPN, Riley spoke openly about why he didn’t call Wade during that crucial period, saying he was merely honoring a request made by the latter’s agent.
Advertisement
A messy divorce
The concept of loyalty rarely goes both ways in the NBA. Superstars often make financial sacrifices to give their teams enough wiggle room to acquire players to improve the team. However, when it comes time for the team to return the favor, things don’t always work out as planned.
This was certainly the case with Wade and the Heat. Despite taking pay cuts in previous years to help them forge their formidable “Big 3” of him, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, which led to two straight NBA titles, Wade alleged that Riley didn’t even contact him when the free agency period began — something the latter didn’t even deny.
Advertisement
However, there was a good reason, Pat said Dwyane’s agent requested that they deal with the Heat’s owners instead of him; which is why he stood down. Hindsight, though, is 20/20 and looking back, the Heat lifer said he could have handled things differently.
“I know he feels I didn’t fight hard enough for him,” Pat stated. “I was very, very sad when Dwyane said no. I wish I could have been there and told him why I didn’t really fight for him at the end.”
Stuck between a rock and a hard place
Being a team’s shot-caller is never easy. At that point, the Heat were still reeling from the departure of LeBron James, a development that Riley took personally. With the team not wanting to lose another superstar, they handed Bosh a five-year, $118-million contract — a disastrous call given how he would only play 97 games over the next two seasons and retire not long after that due to a blood clotting issue in his lungs.
Advertisement
In a separate interview, Riley said he wishes he could go back in time and do more to show Wade how much he meant to him and the franchise.
“I have great regret that I didn’t put myself in the middle of it and immerse myself totally in the middle of it. Get in a canoe and paddle to the Mediterranean if I had to, you know? Be in New York when (Wade) arrived on (July) 6th and greet him at the airport. I didn’t do that,” Riley surmised.
After playing for the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Wade returned home when he was traded to the Heat in February 2018 and played his final two seasons in the league there before retiring in 2019.
Advertisement
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 17, 2025, where it first appeared.