Why Dwyane Wade's team was 'pissed' about Heat Big 3 team-up

07/19/2024 11:07 PM

In the summer of 2010, LeBron James decided to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency to sign with the Miami Heat, forming a big three with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the process. This ended up being one of the most successful team-ups between superstars in NBA history. They made it to the NBA Finals four straight times and won the Larry O’Brien trophy twice, but it wasn’t very smooth-sailing at the beginning.

In particular, Wade’s camp wasn’t too pleased about what teaming up with James meant for his career. He was so used to being the main man on the Heat roster that taking a backseat to a force of personality like James didn’t look too appealing. But Wade was so focused on making it work anyway.

“We had to be so lockstep because we knew, I knew everybody was, nobody wanted it. My team didn’t want it, my family didn’t want it. They were pissed, bro. Team, LeBron team didn’t want it. No one wanted that to happen. The game of basketball didn’t want to happen. So I made sure I linked myself with LeBron even more because I knew we had to be so tight or it was going to be a failure and I didn’t want to be a part of that,” Wade said.

At the end of the day, Dwyane Wade came through and was not part of a failed team-up with LeBron James. But it certainly took a concerted effort for them to play at a championship-level together for the Heat, as team-ups of this magnitude aren’t exactly as easy as some think they are.

Dwyane Wade and Heat overcome initial hesitations and win big

In an NBA offense, players tend to settle into a hierarchy. That’s simply how it works with one basketball on the court at all times. However, for the Heat, it was very difficult at first for two alpha dogs such as Dwyane Wade and LeBron James to co-exist.

“My personality, first of all, just how I am in life, it helps, know what I mean? You got to know who you are and so I knew that my personality, even though I have an alpha personality,” Wade added. “I got that ability to be able to sometimes take a break and look around, and see some people who are so great, they just looking this way and I got the ability to be able to stop and make a different decision. So yeah. Was it tough as hell? Yeah, it was tough but also too, I think I was the perfect person to play that role.”

2011 was a wake-up call that Dwyane Wade had to take a backseat. LeBron James may have stunk up the joint in the 2011 NBA Finals, but it was apparent that he was the better player at the time and deserved undisputed alpha status. And the Heat certainly benefitted from a clearer delegation of roles, with James emerging as arguably the best version of himself.

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