The Miami Heat just failed to clinch the NBA Championship, extending their title drought to 10 years after their last triumph came in 2013. The team was led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, who became teammates in 2010, but their run came to an early end after LeBron left in 2014 for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Dwyane Wade opened up to Shannon Sharpe about what led up to James leaving the franchise and whether he knew it was going to happen.
(1:25:31) “I didn’t know he was thinking about it right away. We just had a four-year run and that was not what I was thinking about, right? I didn’t think Cleveland was on the docket at all. When that letter came out four years ago, I thought it was over for them. When we went into free agency that summer, I didn’t think we weren’t coming back. I thought we were going to re-tool. That’s what teams do, they re-tool. Once I started hearing the noise from the outside and started seeing this, I was like, ‘Oh’. There is some truth to noise, there’s something in there. I didn’t know it was a thing because we never talked about it.”
Wade elaborated on how he felt after James told him that he was headed back to Cleveland.
“So, when I did get the information from him, I took it like I take everything else, I took it on the chin. I am not a selfish guy, I have selfish acts and moments, but my whole being is not selfish. If that man wants to do that in his life, I am going to support him in doing it. I have to figure out my life because I had a whole different plan for how mine would go. I told him in that moment, we were sitting outside the plane, and the camera crew might have caught us talking, I told him, ‘Everyone’s going to win no matter what you do. If you stay here, we all win. You go to Cleveland, Cleveland’s going to win.'”
The Big 3 Heat had an incredibly successful four seasons together, making the NBA Finals every single year. They won titles in 2012 and 2013 while losing them in 2011 and 2014. Their loss in 2014 cemented the end of the trio as they were hopelessly outmatched by the San Antonio Spurs with no obvious way to regain their form.
The Miami Heat Are Still Looking For Success
The four seasons of the LeBron-Wade-Bosh trio have to be the greatest years in franchise history. Even though they have remained competitive and made two NBA Finals since the trio broke up, they are yet to win a championship. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are great, but they’re not nearly the feared unit their counterparts 10 years ago were.
James averaged 26.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 6.7 assists in those seasons and won two regular-season MVPs and Finals MVPs. The team couldn’t compete without him and fell from relevance after his departure in 2014. Jimmy Butler has brought them back to some extent, but their 4-1 series loss to the Nuggets is going to be a big blow to their morale going forward.
Hopefully, the Heat can find the magic once again without having to orchestrate players leaving their teams to make a big three happen. Erik Spoelstra is still the coach and just led the team to a miracle Finals run. Anything is possible.
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