Wade-Riley Divorce Shows Loyalty Isn't Easy to Define in the NBA

It was Christmas 2006 in what Dwyane Wade would increasingly often refer to as "my house," AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami.

The Heat had won their first NBA title the previous June, and still basking in the afterglow was the leadership council of young Wade, veteran Shaquille O'Neal and commander Pat Riley.

O'Neal had declared that Riley was a better coach than Phil Jackson, who helped O'Neal to his first three championships and who O'Neal used to call "a white version of my father."

Jackson was in town that Christmas Day as the Los Angeles Lakers coach, and before the Heat beat the Lakers behind Wade's 40 points and 11 assists, I asked Jackson about O'Neal's proclamation of affection for Riley.

Jackson paused a beat and then said with a smirk:

"Love the one you're with."

It was a poke at the moody O'Neal, uncommitted in his ways and temporary on his teams.

But it is Riley—always a Jackson rival, too—who built a legend on being slick.

So it was inevitable that Riley and O'Neal would grow apart. It came early and ugly. O'Neal was traded to Phoenix barely more than a year later, sniping about all things Heat on his way out. It was a time Riley admitted left him so frustrated that he fell into a dark place.

That Riley-O'Neal divorce offers a proper context for what has gone down now, 10 years later, between Riley and Wade.

Riley drafted and helped raise Wade, same as he helped guide so many players to find the winner within over the years.

WILFREDO LEE/Associated Press

But there's a reason Riley is a renowned author and speaker in the business world. He doesn't see players as equals. He sees them as players in a game that he is orchestrating.

There was never any way Riley would give Wade all he wanted now to be sweet and grateful. It's why Wade has never gotten all he wanted, why he has never been the Heat's highest-paid player as Riley angled for the next crown.

And the thing is, Riley's not wrong.

He's not righteous here, but he's not wrong.

This is a business about angling for the next crown, not loyalty. It's not just that O'Neal is selfish or Riley is unforgiving. Everybody is schooled to look out for No. 1 now.

This isn't the same as the Los Angeles Lakers overpaying Kobe Bryant for his final two seasons; the Lakers had nothing to work with, so it was good business to maintain Bryant and the brand.

Riley has hopes of winning, which is why he was determined to give an immature big kid in Hassan Whiteside the money that could have gone to Wade and his proven work ethic.

This is, alas, a business of investing in the younger who can get stronger, not the older who will get weaker.

Garrett Ellwood/Getty Images

But free agency is the time when players get to rise up and make their own moves. They can be charmed by the smooth salesmanship of Riley and all the other executives, or they can strike out on their own—as LeBron James did just two years ago, enraging Riley.

Flash back to what Riley told Bleacher Report last year about James leaving Wade and Chris Bosh (and Riley) in Miami for Cleveland, recalling that dynastic time with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy in Los Angeles:

"

It would be like Magic and Kareem and Worthy, they weren't going to go anywhere. They had come at a time when there were free agents. They weren't going to go. You think Magic was going to leave Kareem? You think Kareem was going to leave Magic? You think Worthy was going to leave either one of those guys, or [Byron] Scott or [Michael] Cooper?

No, they knew they had a chance to win every year. And this team had a chance every year. So that was shocking to me that it happened. Now, could we have done more? Could they have done more?

They're all hypotheticals. That's all they are—hypotheticals. So it did stop. And soon as it did stop, we wanted to move on as quickly as we can to try to build another one. If, in fact, that team stayed together, yeah, I probably would have retired with that team somewhere. But that isn't what I think about now.

"

In no way does Riley believe that parting gifts for Wade should be the top priority. In all likelihood, Riley thinks James tore this thing down and that good buddy Wade was complicit in letting him—and Wade is just compounding the error now.

Riley is thinking it's generous enough on his part—even before the two-year, $40 million offer—to keep a ball-stopping, bad-kneed, 34-year-old shooting guard who made 15.9 percent of his threes when the right thing to do is maximize Whiteside, Chris Bosh, Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow and position for a free-agent-superstar cherry on top next year.

Some wonder why Riley wouldn't agree to dump Josh McRoberts' remaining two years on his contract to create the money to pay Wade more, but don't forget McRoberts is the player Riley believed in so much he thought landing McRoberts would help convince James to stay in Miami.

Joe Murphy/Getty Images

Loyalty is tricky in the NBA: We are more attached to teams than players. The difference isn't as pronounced as it once was, but franchise still trumps individual because the colors of the jersey and the city we live in do matter and connect us with those around us.

Great players, winners, can garner respect on their own. But even that is limited. When Dwight Howard or Kevin Durant or Wade jumps from one team to another, he's sure to fight an uphill public-relations battle for being unable to make it work wherever he was.

Only when there is a lockout does anyone sympathize with players, and even then it's touch and go. When there isn't a lockout, when instead there comes a massive influx of TV dollars cascading down on players, then free agency feels almost lustful.

Fans and front offices always get a little heated in the summertime as guys appear to be greedy or selfish, but especially so now.

For Wade to turn his back on a legacy in Miami that rivals only Dan Marino's because Riley isn't giving him a golden parachute might look worse than anything.

But Wade's not wrong, either.

It took a lot longer for a lot of different reasons, but Wade just got to where O'Neal once was with Riley...disrespected.

We have long lived in a society of divorce by now, so, of course, our standards of loyalty have changed. We are more understanding that people grow apart; they want different things.

This was a no-fault divorce. That's the proper response to Wade and Riley's breakup.

This is simply the world we—and especially they—live in.

Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.