The Big 3 Miami Heat was expected to be the most dominant dynasty the game had ever seen since the Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan, even surpassing the Lakers of Shaq and Kobe. LeBron and Chris Bosh landed in South Beach to join forces with Dwyane Wade, but things didn’t start very well. They reached the NBA Finals but the inspired Dallas Mavericks beat them in five games in 2011.
That loss helped the team to figure some things out, including who was the actual leader of the squad. Former Heat assistant coach David Fizdale recently revealed that after losing the Finals, Dwyane Wade decided to tell LeBron James he was the leader of the team. At the time, Dwyane Wade was already a big deal in Miami, having won a championship with the team in 2006. However, things weren’t very clear for the franchise.
Joining Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson on the ‘Knuckleheads’ podcast, Fizdale recalled the moment D-Wade said it was enough and they need to address the elephant in the room.
"This is your team. I’m here to help you now."
David Fizdale retells the story of @DwyaneWade giving @KingJames full permission to take over the @MiamiHEAT.
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“D-Wade came to me before practice one day and was like, ‘Listen, I’m gonna tell this dude [LeBron] that it’s his team, because he obviously doesn’t see that it is his. And so I think he needs to hear it from me, cause I think he’s giving me too much respect.’
“He’s like, ‘This dude’s the best player in the world. He’s got to..this is his now,’” Fizdale said, recalling his conversation with Wade. “And so I said, ‘Hey, lay it on him. I think it’ll help him.’”
Wade didn’t have any problems dealing with the situation, acting as cool as possible, following LeBron’s lead.
“Bron comes into the gym, we’re shooting free throws and it’s just us three in the gym,” Fizdale added. “D-Wade kinda looks at me and LeBron shoots and holds the ball and he [Wade] goes, ‘Man. This is yours.’ Bron kind looked at him like…He didn’t know what he [Wade] was talking about at first.
“He [Wade] was like, ‘Bron this is your team.’ He was like, ‘I’m here to help you now.’“
Dwyane knew what was the right path to take and he did so without any problem. Bron took over and the next season, James would win his first NBA title in front of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“‘But at the end of the day, for the rest of the time we’re here together, this is your team and I’m gonna follow you and I’m gonna support you,’” Wade told LeBron, as per Fizdale.
“D was much more about winning than personal stuff,” Fizdale praised. “Just by him doin’ those little acts that no one really got to see, but we got to witness it on a daily basis. It would’ve never worked if he didn’t take that step back.”
This proves how a great teammate D-Wade was. He was all about the team and when he had to step back and let LeBron control everything, he did it and the results were two championships in three NBA trips.
