Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade: ‘I want to be here’

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade has the opportunity to become a free agent in the summer by opting out of the final year of his contract.

Although he and teammates Chris Bosh and LeBron James will likely opt out to sign new contracts, Wade has no interest in leaving the Heat.

“I want to be here,” Wade told David Aldridge of NBA.com. “I think that’s always the things I’ve always said and I’ve always expressed. And after that, I want to win. I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m starting over and I’m rebuilding. I want to win. And I want to be on a team that has an opportunity to do that, and feel like I’m a big part of that. This is where I want to be. But as players, [having] options is good. Because you don’t know what is to happen or what is to come. So for us, I think we’re in a great situation. Guys have options as players, and they can exercise those options. Who knows what that means? But right now, for us, we’re on a very good team. We enjoy each other. We enjoy this city and we enjoy playing for this organization, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”

Wade is averaging 19.0 points, 4.8 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game this season.

He will not play when the Heat host the Charlotte Bobcats Monday in order to rest.