“I wanted to beat LeBron, Carmelo and CP3 more than anybody” Dwayne Wade buries all claims of not being able to compete against friends
Dwayne Wade and Erik Spoelstra
Dwayne Wade was one of the league’s most feared individuals during his time with the Miami Heat. Wade was also known for his personality and how he carried himself with others. On the court, players usually do not sit well with each other as they are competing for a common goal but on opposite teams. Off the court, the scenario is a whole other ball game.
During his career, Wade had the opportunity to play along with his best friends for the entirety of it. The 2003 NBA draft consisted of the league’s best individuals and they all happened to be close compadres as well. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Wade were very well-knit and they shared their friendships off the court too.
Dwayne Wade did not think friends could not compete against each other
Dwayne Wade and his entire gang would meet multiple times on the court as each other’s opponents. In many sports or tournaments, the notion states that friends cannot challenge each other in a competition. Wade on the other hand did not feel the same, he said, “I always laughed at the notion that you cannot compete as friends in the NBA like that is the silliest notion in the world.”
“Because most guys are friends, you know, it’s just the competitiveness, and you got to turn it off when you got on different jerseys. But you see guys can play together a year after they’ve had a scuffle on the court. Now in the media, we just blow things up. I wanted to beat LeBron and Carmelo and Chris Paul more than anybody in the NBA.
Dwayne Wade teammates up with his best friend
Dwayne Wade has fought battles against his brothers but mostly has a losing record against them. Wade is 15-16 against Bron, 12-19 with Melo, and the least wins against CP3 with 7-15. Out of the entire gang, Paul was the only one from a different draft class (2005) while the others entered the league together in 2003. All four have a very special place in the history books of the NBA as top-ranking players of all time.
Wade and LeBron had teamed up for a brief period and were extremely dominant during that phase. Wade would win his next two rings with the Heat along with the King and Chris Bosh. Wade was the first one to win a title among his friends as he did in 2006. He happened to also be the first player to retire out of the four back in 2019 averaging 22 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game to go down as one of the best shooting guards in NBA history.
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