Hall of Famer Tim Hardaway Sr. has made some wild comments regarding Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James in recent months, and he was at it again on the latest episode of his Crossover Podcast. Hardaway claimed Dwyane Wade was better than James in their respective primes.
“LeBron has longevity,” Hardaway said. “… I’m taking Prime Flash over Prime [LeBron].”
Despite being told that James’ fans would kill him for such a comment, Hardaway wasn’t backing down.
“They don’t know basketball,” Hardaway said. “I know basketball. I’m a Hall of Famer… Look at the facts.”
Well, let’s take a look, shall we?
Wade’s prime was arguably from 2005-06 to 2010-11. He averaged 27.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game over those six seasons.
Wade won the scoring title in 2009 and finished third in MVP voting, the only time in his career that he found himself in the top three. He also won the championship in 2006 and was named Finals MVP for averaging 34.7 points per game for the Miami Heat against the Dallas Mavericks. That was a pretty incredible stretch.
Now we get to James, and it’s hard to pick his prime, as he was so ridiculously good for so long. To be fair to Wade, let’s look at a period of six seasons from 2007-08 to 2012-13.
In that time, James averaged 28.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game. He won the scoring title in 2008 and was named MVP in 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013.
James also won back-to-back titles with the Heat in 2012 and 2013. He was playing with Wade at the time, but he won Finals MVP, not his good friend. There is no doubting who was the driving force.
It’s pretty obvious when you look at all this that James was better than Wade in their primes. He posted better numbers and earned more accolades.
James also has Wade beat in terms of longevity. These two came into the NBA together in 2003, and while the latter retired in 2019, the former still has gas left in the tank.
There is a reason why James is widely regarded as the greater player of the two by a fair bit. The 22-time All-Star is in the GOAT conversation, but our podcast co-host here doesn’t believe he should be.
Hardaway doesn’t have James in his list of the five greatest players of all time. He has Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Shaquille O’Neal all ahead of him, and there might be more.
This also wasn’t the first time that Hardaway claimed that someone was better in their prime than James. He picked both Penny Hardaway and Grant Hill over him.
Hardaway has claimed he isn’t trying to disrespect James, but it sure comes across that way at times. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, some of this is a bit ridiculous.
Wade wouldn’t pick himself over James. In his latest take on the GOAT debate, he called his former teammate the greatest player he has seen. Jordan remains Wade’s GOAT, but he didn’t get to see him up close. He could only watch him.
