2023-08-12 07:00:00
This Saturday, August 12, Dwyane Wade will enter the NBA Hall of Fame. Iconic back of the Miami Heat, he has known everything with the Florida franchise whose jersey he wore for fifteen seasons. Between individual performances, injuries, failures and collective success, D-Wade’s career has not been a long, quiet river… but it has earned him a well-deserved place alongside of the game’s greatest legends.
February 27, 2019, Dwyane Wade climbs onto the scorer’s table at the American Airlines Center following scoring an improbable buzzer-beater giving Miami a prestigious victory once morest the Warriors, two-time title champions. “This is my house” then blurted out the back of the Heat, as he used to do to celebrate his many exploits during his career. This is the last, and it symbolizes the immense player that he is.
However, when he entered the NBA in 2003, Dwyane was far from being seen as a future NBA legend. In the shadow of the stars of his draft vintage LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, he tiptoes into the Florida franchise, which hesitated for a long time before selecting him with the 5th pick. He was also not the initial choice of Pat Riley, who preferred the pivot Chris Kaman. The Miami boss owes his salute to Tim Grover, a physical trainer who worked with the two prospects before the draft and whom he asked which one had the most chance of becoming a superstar. The answer ? Dwyane Wade.
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16 years ago: We were introduced to one of the most iconic draft classes in history ???? pic.twitter.com/b0GFV8xTTB
— ESPN (@espn) June 26, 2019
The latter will not take long to show her frankness that she made the right choice. From his rookie season, he put the Heat back on the path to the playoffs and became the new darling of the Florida public. In the post-season, he caused a sensation by helping his team win its first playoff series in four years, notably thanks to an ultra-clutch shot in Game 1. D-Wade isn’t just anyone, and the world is starting to understand that. Despite being eliminated in the next round, he came out of this first playoff campaign with his head held high and recognized as one of the best prospects in the league.
His franchise has a lot of hope following this great season which brought back a taste for basketball to the city of Miami. She finds great ambitions, and affirms them by formalizing the arrival of star Shaquille O’Neal in the offseason. He is the ideal teammate for Wade, who will learn and grow a lot alongside the legendary pivot, the origin of his nickname Flash. The rear enters a new sporting and media dimension, and sees new expectations placed on him. As in his first season, he will have no trouble answering it.
True boss of the Heat, Dwyane experienced meteoric progression during the 2004-05 season, both in his stats line and in his impact and leadership. His superb individual performances earned him a first selection to the All-Star Game…but it is once once more in the playoffs that he impresses the most. Building on his regular momentum, he carries his team, which starts its campaign perfectly with two sweeps (Nets and Wizards). Against the Pistons, the series is much closer but Wade holds the house… before being cut short by an injury which causes him to miss game 6. The Heat loses 4-3 following leading 3-2.
As frustrating as it is, this defeat is a source of motivation for Dwyane, who continues to progress on a personal level. Despite some internal turbulence, the Florida franchise returned to the playoffs… and the Pistons to the Conference Finals the following season. Driven by the spirit of revenge, the guard produced a high-level series and led the Heat to the NBA Finals.
These 2006 Finals are probably the greatest accomplishment of Dwyane Wade’s career. With his team trailing 2-0, he lived up to his nickname by donning his superhero costume to help Miami win the next four games and clinch its first NBA title. The stats of Flash on these four meetings? 40 points average at 50% shooting. Quite simply one of the best performances of all time at this stage of the competition. A feat that recalls the heyday of Michael Jordan, idol of the Chicago kid that is Dwyane.
In 2006 NBA Finals, Dwyane Wade had 43 points with clutch shots in Game 5 ⚡️ @DwyaneWade pic.twitter.com/9w67x7WRtX
— Misha Konygin (@gdfactoryclips) July 9, 2021
At just 24 years old and in his third NBA season, Wade won his first championship ring. He is logically crowned MVP of the Finals and establishes himself as one of the best players on the planet. A new status that he probably did not expect to experience so quickly, and of which he quickly understood the difficulty of assuming.
Between injuries, personal concerns and declining collective results, the following two seasons were not the best of Dwyane’s career. Despite everything, he remained successful individually, and was selected to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games. Like the nickname of the American team, the “Redeem Team” (the buyout team, in reference to the failure of 2004 and the famous “Dream Team“), he is competing in the competition with the aim of getting back on track. The United States easily reached the final, where Wade reminded the world who he was by scoring 27 points with disconcerting ease in a fierce battle once morest Spain. Team USA is back on top of the world, and Dwyane Wade is at the forefront of the basketball scene.
The Heat guard went on to produce his best season from a statistical point of view in 2008-09. He seems at the top of his game and ready to reconquer the NBA… but the Florida collective is far too weak for that. D-Wade can only see it when his team fails twice in the first round of the playoffs, once morest the Hawks then once morest the Big 3 Celtics. Dwyane doesn’t know it yet, but he is on the verge of a turning point in his career.
The story of the birth of the Heatles is far too short to be summarized in two sentences (it’s not for nothing that we made a book of it)… so we’ll do it in one sentence: in the summer of 2010, LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in Miami to form a trio of stars under the Florida sun. The NBA trembles at the formation of this new Big Three, which reached the Finals in its first year, but lost 4-2 once morest the Mavericks following leading 2-0. After this failure, Dwyane spent part of his summer with LeBron discussing the adjustments necessary to win the title. He then makes a difficult decision, but one that demonstrates immense maturity: to leave the keys to the truck he has been driving for eight years to his teammate.
“Stepping back (to leave the keys to LeBron), that was probably one of the hardest things for me to do. […]. But it was up to me to tell him, ‘Take the lead, man. You are the best player in the world. We are going to follow you.’ Once I said that, I think he freed himself a little. » – Dwyane Wade (via ESPN).
At this stage of his career, Flash is no longer there to perform individually, but to win titles… and he seems to have found the formula. Hampered by physical problems during the regular season, he can rely on an unplayable LeBron who was elected MVP. Despite difficultly won playoff series, the Heat returned to the Finals, where they faced the Thunder whom they beat without trembling, 4-1. In the role of luxury lieutenant, Wade wins his second NBA title. A coronation with a very particular flavor following the hardships he went through in previous years.
Wade then finds himself facing the biggest challenge of his career: achieving a back-to-back. To be in the best conditions, he gave up the London 2012 Olympics and spent his summer treating his knee. A wise decision which allows him to remain very good in an ultra-dominant Miami team (66 victories in the regular season). But in the playoffs, the story is different for Dwyane, who once once more experiences health problems and underperforms. Fortunately, he can count on LeBron James, who takes the Heat to the Finals.
Flash experienced a slight resurgence in form during these Finals once morest San Antonio, scoring 32 points in Game 4. The Heat came within a few seconds of elimination, but were saved by a feat from Ray Allen that we never saw. no more telling. After that, D-Wade is 48 minutes away from another title and the double he covets so much. And he rose to the occasion by signing 23 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks to allow Miami to win at the end of game 7. He won the third ring of his career, perhaps the most difficult following a grueling playoff campaign.
LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were selected 1st, 4th and 5th in the 2003 NBA Draft. 10 years ago today that trio won the 2013 NBA title for the Heat in a Game 7 win!
Ep. 7 of Four Years of Heat tells the story…
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— NBA (@NBA) June 20, 2023
This collective feat is the last in the career of the Heat guard, who failed to achieve a three-peat by losing to San Antonio in the Finals the following season. After this, LeBron left South Beach to return to Cleveland, ending the Heatles era. At 32, Dwyane faces a new challenge: becoming the boss of a competitive team once more. He showed that he still had something up his sleeve by having two good regular seasons and returning to the playoffs in 2016. Despite losing in seven games once morest Toronto, he had a very honorable campaign, including a 38-point match.
But it is now time for contract negotiations for Wade, who finds himself a free agent. Unable to reach an agreement with the Heat, he leaves the franchise to return to his hometown of Chicago, who offers him a nice, well-deserved check following years of individual sacrifice. Only a year and a half later following a stint with Cleveland, Dwyane returned to Miami in 2018 for a Last Dance.
He returns to the playoffs one last time before embarking on a farewell tour during the 2018-19 season. He was even invited to the All-Star Game by Adam Silver with his former rival Dirk Nowitzki, proof of the immense imprint that the two men left in the NBA. D-Wade enjoys his last moments with the Florida public who have acclaimed him for more than 15 years, and leaves as a living legend of the Miami franchise.
Four years following leaving the court for good, Dwyane Wade will receive the greatest honor for an NBA player this evening: an induction into the Hall of Fame. An ultra-deserved reward for one of the most notable players of his generation and the greatest in the history of the Miami Heat.
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