A Hurting Heat Nation Will Not Forget Wade, or Forgive Riley

There are going to be a lot of Miami Bulls fans next year.

Dwyane Wade leaving Miami doesn’t feel right for anyone. Not for Heat fans. Not for Dwyane. Not even, apparently, for the man responsible for pushing him out the door, Pat Riley. The tone for this breakup was set within hours of Wade’s decision on July 6 to leave the only franchise he has ever known. “SADDDDDDD!!!!” Riley messaged Miami Herald columnist Dan LeBatard, “SO saddddddd!”

Damn right, Pat. But Riley’s grief is self-inflicted, and it fools no one — least of all Heat fans who know what it’s like to lose a basketball icon. This is not LeBron James spurning Heat Nation in 2014. This is the face of the franchise, the heart of the community, and a son of Miami being told, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Business move? Yes. Smart business move? Doubtful. Pat Riley is known as the Godfather in Miami, and for over three very successful decades he has loomed over the NBA as a larger-than-life kingmaker. Perhaps he thought he could offer Wade a respectable 2-year/$40 million deal, walk away with clean hands, and leave Wade to endure the scorn of a “betrayed” fan base. Wrong.

Heat Nation has lived by the slogan “In Pat We Trust” even as relationships with Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal, and LeBron James deteriorated. This time he has gone too far.

By all accounts Riley did not even try to stop Wade: no meeting, no calls, no counter-offers. That’s not how you treat a twelve time All-Star that has brought your franchise three championships, five conference titles, and thirteen years of blood, sweat, tears, and oh yeah, loyalty.

Loyalty. Pat Riley’s favorite word and the foundation of Heat culture, La Familia, and the Heat Lifer campaign. Dwyane Wade, despite being the greatest sports figure in the history of South Florida, was never the highest paid player on his team. He took pay cut after pay cut to accommodate contracts for Udonis Haslem, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and even Luol Deng. You can only push a man so far, you can only ask for so much. It was Riley’s turn to repay his debt, but apparently with the Godfather, loyalty is a one-way street. As of July 6, 2016, La Familia is dead.

So now as Heat Nation sees and hears from a visibly shaken and emotional Dwyane Wade — a proud man that acknowledges how hard it was to leave, who admits “he is trying to get used to the idea of not being [in Miami],” who still says he is “a Heat for life” — we are left with the sad, empty knowledge that the prodigal son never wanted to “go home.” He already was home.

Dwyane never let Heat fans forget that American Airlines Arena was “HIS HOUSE.” It still is, Dwyane. So, yes, next season at the AAA you will see a lot of red and black jerseys with the number three on the back, but the name on the front will be all wrong.