Joakim Noah revealed that he once wanted to team up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. As some veteran NBA fans might be aware, Noah is a former NBA center who retired in 2020. He was best known for his time with the Chicago Bulls and remained loyal to the team for the bulk of his NBA career.
During Joakim’s prime, the Bulls were quite a good team and had a chance to win an NBA title. After all, they had a prime Derrick Rose and a young Jimmy Butler on the roster to help Noah. However, the team was never able to get the job done and make it out of the Eastern Conference.
Now that Noah is retired, he freely discussed his thoughts and the dynamics between the other stars in the league at the time. That said, let us take a closer look at what he had to say.
Joakim Noah wanted LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to join the Chicago Bulls
Fans who have been following the NBA for several years will know the drama that LeBron James created back in 2010. He finally decided to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and take his talents to the Miami Heat in order to win a championship.
At the same time, Chris Bosh left the Toronto Raptors and joined the Heat to form a superteam in the Eastern Conference. Joakim Noah discussed how he was led to believe that Bosh or the other 2 Miami Heat stars would join the Chicago Bulls.
“Yeah, Chris Bosh basically told me ‘Yo I’m coming to Chicago.’ If Chris Bosh came to Chicago. I mean do they go to Miami? Do they stay in Miami? I don’t know. I tried to recruit all of them. Like I didn’t care if…It didn’t matter Whatever it took to get the Bulls better I was doing it. Derrick wasn’t doing none of that sh*t I was doing all that. So I mean people don’t know that but I did try to recruit LeBron. Yes, I did try to recruit D-Wade….”
We all know that Noah’s hopes did come to fruition as none of those players joined the Bulls when he wanted them to. However, it might interest fans to hear that one of the Heat’s big 3 ended up playing for the Bulls at one point in his NBA career
Dwyane Wade played for one season with the Bulls
Although fans will associate Wade best with the Miami Heat, he has played with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls at certain points in his career. Wade played with the Bulls for the 2015-2016 NBA season. In his 60 games with the team, Wade averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3. 8 assists.
Unfortunately for Bulls fans, D-Wade was well past his prime at that point and was unable to do much other than mentor a young Jimmy Butler. If Noah had managed to get Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade to the Bulls during their prime, the team might just have been able to win an NBA championship.