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AP Interview: Wade chooses to stay with Heat

MIAMI — After 12 years with the Miami Heat, Dwyane Wade needed a reminder of how much the franchise valued him.

Once he found out, any chance of him leaving vanished.

Wade accepted a $20 million, one-year deal on Thursday to stay with the Heat next season, ending his latest foray into free agency and wrapping up a weeks-long saga that had him seriously wondering about leaving for the first time. A pair of conversations, first with Heat CEO Nick Arison and then another with managing general partner Micky Arison, reminded Wade of what he meant to the team and from there it was a matter of just making numbers work.