Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are teaming up together on Wade's Miami Heat, the two free agents said Wednesday.

"We've wanted to play with each other and we have a golden opportunity to do that. We're going to take advantage of it," Bosh said on ESPN's "SportsCenter."

Wade, 28, said it was difficult to turn down the chance to play in Chicago, where he grew up. But in the end, an opportunity to play with the 26-year-old Bosh and build a title contender in Miami with the two in the prime of their careers won out over his desire to play in his hometown, Wade said.

"Now we can get on the pace of building a championship," he said.

It was not immediately clear whether Bosh -- who spent seven seasons with the Toronto Raptors -- will sign with Miami outright or join the Heat through a sign-and-trade deal. Bosh could earn $125 million over six years via sign-and-trade, but only $96 million in five without
it.

ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard first reported that Wade would return to the Heat and Bosh would join him.

Whether LeBron James, the kingpin of this summer's celebrated free-agent class, will join them in Miami or re-sign with his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers remains to be seen. James will announce his decision at 9 p.m. ET Thursday during a one-hour special on ESPN.

Wade does not know what the terms of the next contract he'll sign with Miami will be, nor when he'll sign the paper. Bosh doesn't have terms of his next deal done either. It's all contingent on what James says Thursday night, and Wade insisted he knows nothing about what the two-time MVP will say or where he'll be saying it from.

Contracts cannot be officially signed until Thursday.

Last season, Bosh registered career highs in scoring (24 points per game), rebounding (10.8 average) and field-goal percentage (51.8).

Asked why he didn't agree to a sign-and-trade that would have paired him with James in Cleveland, Bosh said he decided that Miami was the best choice available to him.

"I wasn't sure if LeBron was coming back [to Cleveland] and I just wanted to leave that decision up to him," Bosh said. "I wanted to choose the best situation for me and my family and Miami was the best decision for me."

Miami came into the free-agent period with around $44 million of cap space, not including $16 million or so earmarked for Wade, thanks to years of avoiding just about any deal where money would have been committed for the 2010-11 season.

"We want to build a dynasty," Heat president Pat Riley had told fans entering free agency.

Bosh and Wade would be a pretty good start.

"We are engaged in free agent negotiations with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh," was the only statement from Riley on Wednesday. "We intend to enter into player contracts with Dwyane and Chris once the moratorium period has ended."

Bosh's agent, Henry Thomas, reached out to Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo earlier Wednesday, after Bosh announced his decision, and now Riley and Colangelo are discussing a potential sign-and-trade, a league source told Broussard.

The two players, said it was not an easy decision, as Wade was courted by his hometown Chicago Bulls and Bosh called Toronto his "second home." Both also said the signing was not about the money, adding they were willing to sacrifice on that front to give the Heat the flexibility to build a contender.

"It was very difficult, one of the hardest decisions I've had to make as a professional player," Wade said. "It came down to Chris and his decision to play here in Miami -- I couldn't pass up on that decision."

"I couldn't make this an emotional decision -- I had to take my emotions out of it," he added.

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