Dwyane Wade is the last household name standing in the Bulls' locker room, but it sounds like he might be gone from Chicago before the regular season tips off.
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ESPN reported Thursday (AEDT) that the Bulls are "expected to reach a buyout agreement" with Wade in the coming months.
While the 35-year-old guard is far from the transcendent player he was during his younger days in Miami, unloading Wade on the heels of the Jimmy Butler trade would eliminate any notion that the franchise is looking to win now.
That would be the point, of course — maximizing the Bulls' positioning for the 2018 NBA Draft, with Marvin Bagley III now added to the list of possibilities to be selected No. 1 overall next spring.
Two days before this year's draft (and the Bulls' move to trade Butler to Minnesota), Wade exercised his $23.8 million player option for 2017-18. He is set to make $23.2 million this season.
Wade averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 60 games last season, playing 29.9 minutes per game. That scoring output in his first season in Chicago was his worst since his rookie 2003-04 campaign with the Heat, and his 43.4 percent shooting from the field was the worst of his career.
