Dwyane Wade’s homecoming to Chicago never worked out the way he and the Bulls envisioned.
After 13 seasons with the Miami Heat, Wade signed with his hometown team on a 2-year deal. He was excited about playing for Chicago, and they were thrilled to get a perennial All-Star. But Wade’s tenure with the team was brief and did not go well.
Wade was said to be at odds with many of his younger teammates, with the young guys upset over Wade’s practice habits. Now we’re learning that one of those players was Bobby Portis.
The New York Post’s Marc Berman wrote a feature on Portis, who has joined the Knicks in free agency. In the article, Berman says that the Bulls had a meeting after a loss in which Wade said the team didn’t play hard enough. Berman says Portis challenged Wade in response, saying that Wade wasn’t practicing hard enough.
That fills in a big blank.
Back in January 2017, Wade and Jimmy Butler called out their young teammates after a loss to the Hawks. They had a meeting after that and Taj Gibson revealed young players wanted Wade to practice harder. Rajon Rondo even seemed to call Wade and/or Jimmy Butler out on Instagram. Now we know Portis was one of the young players who challenged Wade on the point.
It was actually that friction that led to Wade’s buyout before the next season. A report later that summer said the Bulls’ younger players hated Wade.
Of course, on the other side, Portis did hospitalize Nikola Mirotic from their practice fight, so he hasn’t exactly been a model teammate either.
