Chicago Bulls: 5 takeaways from Dwyane Wade buyout

4. Not much of a surprise

When Wade opted in for the second year of his contract back in June, the obvious reason was because of the opportunity to collect a $24 million paycheck. No one could blame him, considering the financial sacrifices he made during the four years he played alongside LeBron James and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat.

The caveat here is the decision to opt in was made prior to the Bulls trading Butler. Being that Butler played a significant role in recruiting Wade last season; this move sent a message to Wade that the Bulls were going in a different direction, even though vice president of operations John Paxson stated a few months ago that the only way the organization would allow Wade to pursue a buyout was if it would be advantageous to the organization.

"“As far as the buyout, that has not been broached,” Paxson told the Chicago Tribune. “I would say this: In this type of scenario, it would have to benefit us. Dwyane was a great pro last year, and he’s been around a lot of different situations. He was in Miami when they had a couple of rebuilding years as well. So right now we’re operating under assumption that he’ll be here.”"

With regards to being in the best interest of the organization, I guess it’s safe to say that Wade giving back approximately a third of the salary he was going to get for the upcoming season was enough of a benefit for the organization to grant Wade’s wish of wanting to compete for another championship.