Former Heat player Norris Cole told the story of LeBron James talking trash to Pat Riley during Miami Heat practices on Jeff Teague’s ‘Club 520’ podcast. James would get the better of Dwyane Wade, the cornerstone of the Heat franchise, and go up to Riley and tell him that while Wade is the guy in Miami, he is just something different.
“Stuff that never made it to the court was OP. I remember one practice, he and D-Wade were going at it. We were like ‘Oh, here they go’. It was just those two playing 1-on-1 in practice, but there were just four other cats out there. It was him proving a point that he was different…”
“D-Wade would hit a couple. (We realized) ‘Oh, it’s about to be one of them practices’. Everybody is playing super hard, then he starts making shots nobody else can… He started shooting shots with the wrong leg, hook leg, layups… Almost like Michael Jordan’s layups. He’ll run down and look at Pat Riley like ‘I know. I know it’s different. I know D-Wade’s your boy but I know it’s different’.”
James is a highly competitive individual, and even in a practice setting with one of his best friends and closest teammates, James found a way to motivate himself to try and prove a point to Pat Riley, who had long sung the praises of Dwyane Wade as the cornerstone of the franchise.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Dwyane Wade took no offense to this interaction with LeBron at all. Considering the high-level, competitive athletes the two are, he would have done the exact same thing had he been in the same position as LeBron James.
LeBron James Has Done It All In His Career
Recently, during the Lakers’ media commitments, LeBron James was asked if he felt like he had anything left to prove in his career. The 21-year NBA veteran noted that he feels fulfilled and doesn’t have anything left to accomplish in his career, but did add that anything that comes after this is a bonus.
James has quite truly done it all in the NBA, winning 4 NBA championships, 4 Finals MVPs, 4 regular season MVPs, becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, making 20 All-Star and All-NBA teams, 6 All-Defensive Teams, and won the inaugural NBA Cup and NBA Cup MVP. From an accolades standpoint, James has truly done it all.
Perhaps this is why the competitive fire we saw from James in the story mentioned above has probably been dulled. Having nothing more left to accomplish in the league, James can soak up the adulation of the fans who get to see him before he calls time on his legendary career.
Given that James is still one of the best players in the world, and has a top player as a teammate, there will continue to be expectations of him till he retires. And if he can add to his massive list of accomplishments, it will only further add to his legacy as a basketball player.
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