4 silver linings to Dwyane Wade’s season-ending injury

1. Maybe sneak into the playoffs

Dwyane Wade is one of the best guards of all time, a three-time NBA champion, 12-time all-star, and a sure-fire lock for the Hall of Fame. However, Wade is also 35 years old and in his 14th season. Overall he’s having one of the least productive seasons of his career all while having a usage rate a shade under 30 percent, per Basketball-Reference.

Success in basketball, more than any other sport, is predicated by chemistry and fit on the court. The best teams have well-defined roles and a clear-cut alpha dog with everyone else falling in line behind them.

This season, Butler and Wade went back and forth for whose team it truly was. Wade because of his past achievements, Butler due to his current status as the best player on the team. Removing that ambiguity should lead to a better flow and the get others more involved. In a lot of cases, playing with someone who’s ball-dominant, sucks the energy off the court. This could all be an addition by subtraction and cause the Bulls to stampede into the playoffs. It’s not like any of the teams ahead of them are seizing the opportunity of locking down a spot.

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IF this all were to happen, as it stands, Wade has only been ruled out for the remainder of the regular season — meaning there is the possibility he makes a return should they slide into the playoffs. If they claw their way in, there’s a decent chance of the Bulls being pitted against the Cleveland Cavaliers. And while Chicago would be nothing but first-round roadkill for the defending champs, seeing Wade going at his old friend LeBron James would be a lot of fun. I’m feeling better about all this already, and Chicago fans should too.