Does Dwyane Wade regret signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017

The Cleveland Cavaliers tried to build a super team in 2017 with Dwayne Wade.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a really interesting 2017 offseason. They traded Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics for Isiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the draft pick that would become Collin Sexton. They also added Derrick Rose and Dwayne Wade, two massive moves that would seemingly set up the team for a massive amount of success, and an eventual showdown with the Kevin Durant-afied Golden State Warriors.

By the trade deadline, everyone but Zizic would be gone. Crowder and Rose would be shipped to Utah for Rodney Hood, Thomas, and Channing Frye were dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers for Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson, while Wade, the most surprising disappointment of all, was traded back to Miami for a heavily protected second-round pick.

It was a disaster of an off-season that saw the Cavs add a league MVP, an NBA Finals MVP, and one of the most dynamic scorers of a time, and by February all three were gone. And Wade apparently wished it never happened.

Speaking to The Athletic in 2018, Wade spoke candidly about his time in Cleveland, saying;

"If I had known that was gonna happen (the trade), I wouldn’t have signed there. It’s gonna be an item on my resume that’s hard to understand, but it happened."

Dwayne Wade joins a list of odd superstars who have played for the Cleveland Cavaliers

Wade spending half a season with the Cavs is as peculiar as it gets when we talk about NBA legends who have played in Cleveland. Sure, people remember Shawn Kemp, but he played for the team for a good few years. Peopel already are forgetting about Wade’s time with Cleveland, as well as Rose’s.

Yet, they join a weird list of playres who have played for the Cavs who have spent just a small amount of their time with the Cavs. Like Shaquille O’Neal, who spent one year in Cleveland the year before he ended up retiring. As a Boston Celtic, no less.

Wade’s time with the Cavaliers was supposed to see the Cavs chase down their second title in three years, but he, and the other recent additions to the team at the time, were just not the type of players the team needed.

Many of them couldn’t score without driving to the paint, making it very hard to space the floor. Yet, even though they struggled in Cleveland, the franchis can still claim to have had one of the all-time greats on their roster for a time.