Dwyane Wade is widely recognized as the 3rd best shooting guard of all time, and he’s had an amazing career with multiple All-Star and All-NBA selections. However, there is one thing missing from his trophy cabinet, and that is the MVP award.
When speaking recently to Ben Golliver of the Washington Post, Dwyane Wade revealed that he thought that he should have won the MVP and the DPOY award during the 2008-09 season. However, not getting the award led him to stop caring about individual stats, as he “realized that didn’t mean anything”, and that he simply wanted to win.
It was a different time. For me, it was about championships at that point of my career. I didn’t care about individual stats. I just came off a year in 2008-09 where I thought I should have been MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, and I didn’t get either one of them. I stopped caring about individual stats because I realized that didn’t mean anything.
What I did love and enjoy the most was winning. If winning means that I had to get talked about on TV because I didn’t average 27 points anymore because I was down to 22, then so be it. It was just about finding my role and how I could best help this team and keeping my confidence and my swagger where it needed to be. Everyone has a role to play, and you’ve got to master your role.
Dwyane Wade averaged 30.2 PPG during the 2008-09 season and was the scoring champion for that year. However, the MVP was won by his future teammate LeBron James, who also had a great case for the award.
There is no doubt that it is unfortunate that Dwyane Wade hasn’t won an MVP. However, he does have some championships to his name, as well as a Finals MVP. He is also one of the best scorers in Miami Heat history and a Miami Heat legend with multiple MVP-caliber seasons in his resume regardless.
