Dwyane Wade made an appearance on the Underground Lounge podcast recently. When speaking about teaming up with LeBron James on the Miami Heat, Wade revealed that it was seeing Kobe Bryant win consecutive NBA championships that made Wade and LeBron want to team with each other. He noted that they needed each other to make sure Kobe wouldn’t eclipse them as superstars.
“Nah, that wasn’t even the mentality [of needing one more superstar]. I think we understand. When Pau Gasol went to the Lakers, it changed everything… They just gave him to Kobe. Kobe goes and gets two championships back-to-back. How are we going to compete with that? We gotta do our thing. Whatever our thing is, as everyone knows what it came to be.”
“I remember when Kobe went down… It’s a video from when they win the second one, the ball goes all the way down, coming into the camera. Kobe runs down, grabs it, he has his one hand in the air, he’s smiling into the camera. I turned my f**king tv right then. I was pissed.”
“Now, Kobe has five championships. I got one. Bron ain’t got none. He is leaving us in the past. So I’m sitting there like ‘Nah, this summer gotta be different.’ I needed some talent. Because I was just playing with less-than-average talent. The conversation happened, and it changed everything when I got the call from Bron.”
“In my mind, I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to go play with one more superstar. Or I’m going to Chicago and fit in with Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and [Joakim] Noah’… I needed to compete for championships. I want to win something.”
Just months after Kobe Bryant led the Los Angeles Lakers to a second-straight NBA championship in 2010, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh all joined forces on the Miami Heat. It was an era-defining move from LeBron James, who went from being a beloved hero to a hated villain in the NBA.
For many, it felt as though James was taking the easy way out by joining a superstar in Wade who had already won an NBA championship and Finals MVP. But it appears the trio felt they needed to get together, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to compete with the potential dynasty that Kobe Bryant was putting together.
In the end, much like in 2009, fans missed out on seeing LeBron James face off against Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals. In 2011, LeBron and the Heat faced the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, who eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals to reach the stage.
And while the Heat collapsed in an embarrassing fashion in 2011, it taught LeBron James that it wasn’t enough to be on a team with good players; he needed to step up and be the leader. And that is exactly what he did the following year and the year after that, leading the Heat to consecutive NBA championships in 2012 and 2013.
James’ time with the Heat was short, only playing with them for four seasons. But it proved to be an important place for him to grow as a player. And who knows, had it not been for Pat Riley taking away LeBron James’ cookies during his final year with the Heat, he would have stuck around for years to come.m
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We really appreciate your support.
