Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade says he and president Pat Riley both wish he never left Miami for the Chicago Bulls in the summer of 2016.

Wade and Riley are back on good terms again, but things were murky back in 2016 when Wade left the Heat for his hometown Bulls after Riley didn't offer Wade a deal he liked.

“We got a great relationship,” Wade told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the All The Smoke Podcast, via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “That moment, neither one of us wished to this day that it happened. We dealt with it. We talked man to man, face to face.

“Pat knows how I feel about him. I have been very open about how I feel, very open about how that went down. Once I came back, I had more appreciation for the organization and… city and vice versa. Everybody says, ‘You should have been a lifer, that should never have happened.’ But it was the best thing that it happened. We saw each other in a different light once I wasn’t there, both ways.”

Related NewsArticle continues below
Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (4) controls the ball during the second half against the Orlando Magic at TD Garden.
Ranking 3 best Jrue Holiday trade destinations if Celtics make big changes
Dwyane Wade looks on from the media bench during the first half between Canada and Greece during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
Dwyane Wade puts Jimmy Butler on blast for Timberwolves series

Wade played one season for the Bulls. He then signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer of 2017, reuniting with LeBron James.

D-Wade only played 46 games with the Cavs before Cleveland traded him to the Heat, the place he never should have left. Wade is the best player in Miami franchise history. He won three titles in South Beach and will get his No. 3 jersey retired.