Spoelstra reflects on bounty he once put on Wade, sort of

CHICAGO — The emotions are different now, with Dwyane Wade back in Miami Heat colors.

But as coach Erik Spoelstra prepared for Friday night’s game at the United Center, he revealed there essentially was a bounty on Wade when he spent 2016-17 with the Chicago Bulls.

“We had so many battles with the Bulls, I wasn’t buying that whole hometown thing,” Spoelstra said with a smile following the morning shootaround. “And then to prepare for him, I put a $5,000 fine for anybody that went for a shot fake or fouled him on any one of his tricks.”

Which meant a fine for . . .? “Guys under 25. They still owe me money,” Spoelstra grinned.

With Wade rejoining the Heat at February’s trading deadline after starting last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers following his year with the Bulls, Spoelstra said all is as it should be against for these visits to Chicago.

“I texted him the first time I saw him in a Bulls uniform,” Spoelstra said. “I told him, ‘This doesn’t look right. This is wrong. I don’t care what anybody says. I don’t care where you’re from. That just doesn’t look right.’ ”

For Wade, 36, Friday night’s game meant one of two final trips to play back home, barring the unlikely event of a playoff series.

Yet while he has rejoined the Heat for what he proclaimed is his “One Last Dance,” he admitted not being comfortable with the term “farewell tour.”

“It’s not a farewell tour,” he said. “It’s just me saying goodbye. I don’t want to say ‘farewell tour,’ even though that’s probably what it means. You know, for me, it’s just playing this last year and, from a basketball standpoint with the guys, just giving them some leadership, some knowledge on the way out the door and some fans that have never gotten the opportunity to see me play or fans that have been there from day one, just giving them the opportunity to say goodbye.

“And that’s all that it is for me. You go out there and try to continue to play well and continue to help this team.”

LYNNE SLADKY/AP Dwyane Wade was briefly a Heat foe for games in Chicago, which led to some high-stakes gamesmanship.