You read that correctly: Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, who just agreed to sign with the Miami Heat, appeared on ESPN to speak to Michael Wilbon about their hopes, dreams, and decisions. And they didn’t even need a self-promoting hour-long special to do it!

The interview was generally a typical exchange about how happy they are to be playing together and how they’ll try to win championships and bring honor and goodness to South Florida. But there were also some important moments.

The most interesting involved comments by both Wade and Bosh that this wasn’t about the money. That’s old hat for an athlete who agrees to a new contract, but these two might actually mean it. Here’s Wade:

“This decision right here is about winning and it’s about winning multiple championships so as we came out and said earlier, this is not a money situation, I’m not opposed to taking less money than what’s that max number. ”
There are a few reasons for this statement. One is that if both players sign max deals, the Heat will only have about $12 million to sign roughly eight players for next season. It’ll be tough to find championship-level role players with that little cash, so Bosh and Wade might have to take less money.

It’s also about LeBron James. Wade and Bosh clearly understand the potential of that superstar trio, and they’re willing to do what’s necessary to get LeBron to South Beach. They still want something close to the max, I’m sure, but that doesn’t mean they can’t sacrifice a few bucks to make amazing happen. A sign-and-trade could also happen, but Bosh suggested that Toronto is unwilling to work out such a deal.

It’s a brave new world for the Heat, and it could get even more exciting tomorrow with LeBron’s announcement. Either way, though, Bosh and Wade look pretty darn happy to be together in Miami. May their first child be a masculine one.

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