D-Wade on 'LIVE with Kelly' on joining Bulls: 'It's still surreal'

Mere hours after finalizing an agreement on a two-year, $47.5 million deal to leave the Miami Heat, the only professional franchise he’d ever known, and join the Chicago Bulls, the hometown team of his childhood, Dwyane Wade suited up to discuss his stunning change of course with Kelly Ripa as the co-host of the day on her syndicated morning talk show, “LIVE with Kelly.”

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“Last night was a long, long night for me,” said Wade. “[…] I mean, it’s still surreal and I’m still numb. This decision that I had to make last night — I mean, I’ve been in Miami for 13 years. I mean, 13 incredible years. And you get a week to decide, you know, what you’re going to do. And I didn’t get no sleep. I lost probably five or 10 pounds, you know, just not being able to eat.”

After praising the Heat’s “phenomenal” fans for embracing “this little shy kid from Chicago” when he came to Miami out of Marquette in the 2003 NBA draft, Wade turned his attention to the future by reaching deep into the past he referenced in a Wednesday night letter to The Associated Press in which he wrote, “I have never forgotten where I came from.”

“I’m born and raised in Chicago,” he told Ripa. “I had a house there until like 2000, until I got married again, when I had to get rid of it, because it was bachelor pad. And I’m excited to go back to the place that I’ve always envisioned playing basketball. You know, being a kid, growing up, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were the team for us. And I’ve always, like, envisioned myself being in the backyard, always had a Bulls jersey on, always envisioned Dwyane Wade’s name being called in the United Center. And I get an opportunity to live that dream now.”

And along with that name, Wade will apparently hear his long-time favored uniform number called, too, thanks to incumbent Bulls shooter Doug McDermott:

“Deadstock,” McDermott wrote in an Instagram post early Thursday morning. “It’s all yours D Wade. #welcome”

It’s an awfully kind and respectful gesture by young Mr. McDermott. It remains to be seen whether the 34-year-old Wade, fresh off that $47.5 million payday, elects to give his new teammate a little something for his consideration.

Then again, maybe all Wade will need to offer is his services in devising crisp new handshakes for Dougie McBuckets and the rest of his new teammates. As he showed Ripa, he’s quite good at that.

It very much remains to be seen how Wade will fit alongside recently signed point guard Rajon Rondo and entrenched All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler, all of whom do their best work with the ball in their hands and none of whom profile as plus shooters. Whatever the on-court result, though, Wade’s homecoming stands as one of the most shocking developments of an offseason full of them, making the fact that he went straight from the negotiating table to a seat alongside Kelly Ripa to discuss short shorts, outie belly buttons and dap no less surreal, but somehow perfectly appropriate.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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