Pat Riley issues statement on Miami Heat re-signing Dwyane Wade
By Jack Crosby
Last Friday when LeBron James announced that he would be leaving the Miami Heat and returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers, most people thought that team president Pat Riley was in some serious trouble. However, since then, the NBA power executive has rebounded rather nicely.
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First, he got Chris Bosh to agree to a monster deal, and then on Tuesday, he re-signed Dwyane Wade, making sure that be brought at least two-thirds of the Big Three back to South Beach.
Just a few hours after Riley re-signed the face of the Heat franchise for the last decade, he issued the following statement.
"“Dwyane has been the franchise cornerstone for this team since the day he arrived 11 years ago. He has shown his commitment to the HEAT many times over the course of his career and has always been willing to sacrifice in order to help build this team into a champion. This time is no different. I am ecstatic to have him back in the fold and I am confident that Dwyane, as always, will be leading this team as we look to contend for NBA Championships.” – Pat Riley"
That message, released by the team’s official Instagram account, was accompanied by this photo of the two together.
Wade re-signed with the team for what was originally reported to be in the area of $15 million per year, solidifying the fact that he would indeed take less money to ensure that Riley could go out and grab more talent for this organization.