The Denver Nuggets secured a last minute meeting in this summer's free agency with Dwyane Wade.
At the time, many felt Wade was just trying to pressure the Miami Heat to up their offer when he chose to meet with other teams, driving up his price tag.
No one believed Wade would ever leave Miami, but stranger things have happened (and did happen).
Head coach Mike Malone and the Nuggets took full advantage of their meeting Wade, and they eventually put a two-year, $50 million offer on the table. Wade turned it down, but only after some deliberation.
Although the Nuggets failed to sign Wade, they still saw value in the meeting and walked away from the experience feeling even more confident in their future than before.
Malone spoke with The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski, explaining how just having the meeting with Made was a positive for the franchise.
When you sit down with a Hall of Fame player, it doesn't matter who it is, that sends a message that you are serious and want to get things turned around quickly. It also shows you we are headed in the right direction, the fact he was willing to sit down and speak with us.
The Nuggets knew their chances of landing Wade weren't the highest, and he eventually signed with his hometown with the Chicago Bulls. Still, Dwyane left the meeting with nothing but good things to say about the Nuggets organization, even tweeting about them:
@nuggets I wanna thank U guys for WOW-ing my team and I. The future is bright for your organization. Much respect and this decision was hard
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) July 9, 2016
Wade even left his vacation in Europe to attend the meeting with the Nuggets, and he was completely open to what they had to offer, according to Maline.
It wasn't just a run of the mill meeting. He had done his homework, he had just gone on vacation with a couple of players I had coached and had good relationships with.
The Nuggets don't have a superstar player on their team, and they usually have to build through the draft (not many big-name free agents want to play in Denver). However, they have started adding young talent to complement their veteran players, and they hope to compete in a tough Western Conference.
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