As Dwyane Wade prepares to call it a career after this season, he’ll forever be tied to LeBron James
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Flash and The King. The kid from Akron and the boy with hoop dreams from Chicago.
When LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were drafted in 2003, they brought tremendous expectations with them. Both top-5 picks, the two were seen as a pair of the of the league’s next premier scorers and future all-stars – Greg Anthony proclaimed LeBron would “definitely be a Hall of Famer” a few minutes before David Stern announced his name.
They were also both seen as two of the more mature players in the draft. Wade was a new father and LeBron, who never knew his father, taught future prospects how to carry themselves for the majority of his high school career. Both came from single-parent homes.
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However, they didn’t just sell jerseys in other states or learn to be men at young ages, they also developed a friendship that will last a lifetime and could even carry over to their sons (who have some disgusting skills for middle schoolers, if I may add). In a brief interview last year, the two laughed about first physical interaction at the pre-draft camp with Rachel Nichols.
Sixteen and a half years later, the two shared the court for the final time last month, in a 108-105 Los Angeles Lakers victory over the Miami Heat and looked like two of the youngest based on their stat lines (LeBron was an assist shy of a triple-double while Wade had 10 assists to go with 17 points). In one of the closest games of the young season, both teams failed to build a double-digit lead but gave the Staples Center an absolute show.
While playing for the Heat, the duo combined with Chris Bosh, the fourth overall pick in 2003 – to form the first “Big Three” of the 2010s. They would run off four straight conference titles and brought the first two Larry O’Brien trophies back to South Beach since Wade did it with Shaq in 2006.
There are many moments that allow us to realize just how special Wade and James were together, whether it was on the same team or opposing each other. However, fans were never treated to the two facing each other in a Conference Finals or NBA Finals series. But if that can be looked past, we’ve gotten pretty lucky with these guys.
It’s games like that night’s in December, players like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and moments like Wade’s final attempt at the buzzer that so many love about the game.
Fans who watched MJ’s, Magic’s, and Larry Legend’s games on television have seen the game altar. The older generations of fans have told me stories of how mesmerizing the matchups between Wilt’s Lakers and Russell’s Celtics were.
As much as I would’ve loved to watch those Hall of Famers in their primes, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade more than make up for it. In regards to LeBron, Cai Owen stated it pretty well a couple of weeks ago in this stellar piece on how often we underappreciate greatness.
They brought everything to the court when they played each other for their 31 matchups against each other in the league. Their run in Miami is seen as one of the most dominant of the 21st century and gave us iconic moments that will never be duplicated. And they will forever be cemented in NBA history as two of the greatest to ever put on a uniform.