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Pat Riley regrets neglecting Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh after LeBron James left
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- Pat Riley regrets neglecting Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh after LeBron James left
Losing a player like LeBron James is a huge blow for any team and Pat Riley experienced that firsthand when The King left the Miami Heat in 2014. At the time, Riley did the most rational thing a team executive would do and that was to look for immediate replacements.
What "The Godfather" did not realize was that he still got Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh , two future Hall of Famers who opted to stick around for the final two seasons of their contract.
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Despite the tough situation with James gone, Wade and Bosh have been very cooperative. D-Wade re-signed with the Heat for $31.1 million with a player option for the second year.
On the other hand, Bosh was reportedly being courted by the Houston Rockets , but the All-Star power forward chose to stay with Miami. CB then inked a new five-year, $118 million contract.
In hindsight, Riley knew he could've made better decisions to reward the pair's loyalty, especially their homegrown star, D-Wade.
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"If we ever had to do it again — and Andy (Elisburg, the Heat's Senior VP of Basketball Operations and General Manager) bang our fists on the table — if we ever had to do it again, when LeBron left (in 2014), we should have given Chris the max and Dwyane the max," Pat confided to NBA.com in 2016.
"And that was it."
"Instead of trying to say to Dwayne, I want to get another guy for you, but you have to sacrifice," he continued. "And that was wrong. I should have given him — we should have given him — that then. Now, that's a big second guess. But that's on me. If I could have pushed that and I could have pushed that. But I didn't. I said we need to get more talent for him. But somebody was going to sacrifice."
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Riley refused to recruit any of the big three back to Miami
Taking a quick trip down memory lane, Riley was definitely not in a reflective state after the Heat lost to the Spurs in the 2014 Finals. In fact, the Heat boss could sense that LeBron might consider leaving, but Riley firmly stated that he wouldn't beg The King or anybody to stay.
"I don't think we've got to recruit Chris, Dwyane or LeBron," Riley said at the time, via ESPN. "I'm not dropping rings on the table for those guys. They could drop their own."
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"It's not about options. It's not about free agency," he added. "It's about what we've done over four years. It's about looking around the room now and seeing who is going to stand up. Those four years we've had with LeBron, we're hoping to turn them into eight or 10. We're not walking around on eggshells anymore."
Because of not locking up Wade and Bosh with max contracts, Riley eventually lost his biggest star. Wade opted out and joined the Chicago Bulls after failing to come to terms with the Heat regarding his contract extension.
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Bosh , meanwhile, was forced to retire because of a rare blood-clotting condition.
At that point, Riley understood that everything had come to an end and it was too late to fix it.
Riley honored D-Wade and Bosh
Wade and the Heat eventually reconciled.
The All-Star shooting guard returned to Miami in 2018 to play the final season of his NBA career.
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To pay tribute to Wade and Bosh's impact and contributions to the Heat organization, Riley gave the two South Beach legends a well-deserved jersey retirement ceremony, respectively.
As for James, he is still an active player in the league and it is yet to be known whether Riley and the Heat would also retire his jersey once his playing years are over.
It's only logical to do so after LeBron was the MVP of the team during that back-to-back championship run.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 6, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
