Dwyane Wade revealed a bit of previously unknown personal lore recently, and it was the fact that he nearly joined the Chicago Bulls during the famous 2010 free agency cycle. Of course, this news is likely to leave Bulls fans all over the place emotionally.

Wade would obviously join the franchise stationed in his hometown of Chicago a bit later in his career, donning the Bulls uniform during the 2016-17 season. Of course, this was when he was past his prime, and he wasn’t nearly the game-changing player that he was back in 2010.

So his impact on the franchise when he did join the Bulls, while emotional, wasn’t as much of a lift to the team in 2017 as it would have been seven years earlier. And now that we know he was considering the move prior to that, it leaves us with plenty of what-if scenarios in our heads.

Had Wade come to Chicago ahead of the 2010-11 season, he would have been Derrick Rose’s running mate while the Bulls’ superstar point guard would go on to become the youngest MVP award winner in league history that season.

Wade nearly joined the Bulls in the 2010 offseason

It would have been Rose and Wade along with talented role players like Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and Carlos Boozer. Had they remained healthy, it’s not hard to see that team winning a championship at all.

In speaking about his near-move to Chicago during that pivotal 2010 offseason, Wade mentions that joining the Bulls was one of the main things on his mind headed into the offseason. His thought was that he had won a championship in Miami and was ready to make the move back to his home. And why not? It’s every player’s dream to play for their hometown team.

Instead, it was the call from LeBron James that seemed to change everything. It seems Dwyane didn’t anticipate James joining him, mostly since he was one of his favorite players to compete against.

Now, Chicago Bulls fans are left to ponder what could have been. Every franchise has big what-ifs, but this one is definitely a tough one to swallow.