 Welcome to the complete collection of Dwayne Wade's great stories. Thank you to everyone who was super patient for this episode, this one took me a long time to edit and produce, 33 minutes for all of you guys to sit back, relax and enjoy. If you have missed any of the other episodes within this series, there is a playlist link on the top right corner of your screen and in the description box down below. If you click on that link you will find all the episodes within this series. Thank you to everybody who mentioned I should do an episode on Dwayne Wade. If you have any other player suggestions be sure to comment them down below and you might see those players in the next coming episodes. With that further ado all I ask is that you hit that like button if you do enjoy this series and this episode, subscribe if you are new to NBA content just like this one. With that further ado, welcome to the complete collection of Dwayne Wade's great stories. People try to write him off but he's one of the best players of all time. Probably the hardest guy I've ever had to guard of my career. He married just probably one of the best two guards to ever play the game. He was faster and quicker than what it seemed like. Like you know like you can watch somebody on TV and you're like okay. But when you get him in real time, like wait a minute hold on. I was a victim of one of them. Trash, that was definitely one of my top heroes of all time. For whatever reason never goes into consideration in the NBA. In every story, Act 3 is the most important chapter. The Miami Heat are on the clock. With the fifth pick in the 2003 NBA draft, the Miami Heat select Dwayne Wade from Marquette University. If I can do it all over again I would love to go five once again to Miami because it's a place where I feel I belong. In other words, Act 3 is where that hero becomes a legend. My name is Flash because I think he's the fastest guard in the NBA. Oh what a... In Act 1 of your story, you took the lead by storm. 04, because this would actually stop my trash talking towards players. So 04, they started the season off 3 and now we 2 and now, you know, and they asked me a question like how are you going to stop the heat? Stop the heat? Nobody worry about the heat. So we haven't seen him yet. I did it. Nobody worry about the heat man. I said, listen, they can't shoot. We're just going to sit on the zone. We good. Boop. Right? So I hear about what Gilbert say, you know, I'm not reading the papers, but someone tells me and I go look and I'm like, dang. So you know, like we got Brennan Haywood and Reed and it was like, ooh. He said, ooh. He's like, you said this? I said, say what? You said the way he couldn't shoot and I was like, nobody reads the paper. Okay. So I'm Mark on the counter watching the Wizards game 4. Big circle. Right? So and then like my first three games, I'm already probably like, I'm balling. Like my Arizona probably 30 at this point started the season. I was like, nobody reads the paper. You don't think he read it, do you? He was like, we're about to find out. I'm in my hotel the day that we're playing Washington. And I've been like, I've been using this, this quotes that he said to start this season and I'm actually just, I'm, I'm so ready for this game. Like I can't sleep. And my phone rings in my room and I'm like, I've never got a call in my room before. So I picked the phone up. It's Gil. You're right. I did call. Gil called. He say, uh, you know, man, you know, the media, you send the shit, you know how they, you know how they spend things, man. You know, that's not what I meant. So far, so on. Whatever was said. And I'm like, I think of the phone like, no, not about to throw me off my, not about to throw me off. I'm going at Gilbert today. That's in my whole mindset. It was a Gilbert. It was about Gilbert. So this is what I've been waiting on all summer. I just remember because I'm looking three and oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, no, I got to diffuse this. Yeah. But I waited at the end to get that wait. I just remember I did call. I had no alias at the time. I wasn't like, nobody was checking for me yet. We go out of the game. And we are underway in Miami. Larry Hughes goes out for two minutes. He scores 16 points or I go to the bench. I think he read all of that. Do not, do not put me on that man. No more brother. I am not. I done learned my lesson. He was faster and quicker than what it seemed like. Like, you know, like you can watch somebody on TV and we're like, okay, but when you get them in real time, like, wait a minute, hold on, hold on, why am I, why am I guarding him? He's too strong. Like y'all was making it seem like he was 205, that is not a 205 like, I don't know what that is. That is not, this is not to say you don't have to put the big get back in here, Larry. So once Larry Hughes go out the game and they put Gilbert on me, I say, here we go. Gave us 37 in like 27 minutes. I was close to the 220. Yeah, I was like, Larry, you're too skinny for this man because I remember there was one play where we was pushing, so we was like, all right, we're going, he's killing us going middle, pushing baseline, like, all right, push me, we're going to push the baseline. Be there. All right. You go baseline and you spin out of that. So when people spin out of stuff, you didn't really, you didn't really know what to do. So he went baseline and spit, boom. He can dunk off spins too. What is this? He's spits, dunking off spins. He's dunking off splits. Y'all can't guard this man to the basket. Y'all can't guard. Look, I'm fine with my man, but listen, I said some shit and he's making y'all pay for it. Okay. I learned my lesson. I want to read a quote to you. This is Pat Riley talking about the combination of Shaquille O'Neal and Dwayne Wade. Dwayne respects the fact that Shaq respects and embraces him. That's where Dwayne is so different. A lot of young players come into the league and have no respect for greatness or for great players who have done it. Their relationship has flourished because of both of them cooperating to be part of each other's games and to look out for one another. It's become a very dynamic duo. So three championships, three finals, MVP you spoke to, if you ever got to the finals, you was going to dominate, you did that off to South Beach. What's that experience like with a young Dwayne? So when I got to Dwayne, I was like, I know you heard all the stories. It's your team. So we ain't lightly problem. You're the man, you're the CEO, I'll be the consultant. For me to be a dynamic duo is Shaquille O'Neal and people to see it happening so fast. I mean, it's only our second year playing together and it happened so fast between both of us because we both have came in and said we're going to do whatever we can together to get one thing and that's to get a championship ring. How do you and Shaq, I mean, I'm assuming and I pretty much know, I mean, y'all are very, very close. How did that happen? It's easy, man. You know Shaq. Everybody knows Shaq, man. It's easy to get along with him. But the one thing that we did have, we sat down when he first got to Miami and I first came back from the Olympics, we sat down and we had a conversation for an hour and talked about everything happening in LA. Why was it important to you to be so open about the issues you and Kobe had coming into that situation? Because when you don't know a person, you have to go to what you hear or what you see. So, you know, he don't know me. You just know that I got a problem with a guy that takes shots. He takes shots. So I said, listen, that's how it goes now. First of all, he's a nice, humble kid. Second of all, I don't think he knows how good he can be. First of all, he listens and he's a great player. I know in his leader, in order to win our championship, you have to have a great one-two punch. You hear those words from Shaquille O'Neal. How do you feel? You know, it means a lot. But imagine that as a young V Wade here in this motherfucker's head. I'm on your team, but it's your team. You know, whenever he mentions my name and that kind of light, you know, just makes me feel, you know, like I'm doing something right. That's crazy. I didn't even... It's not that I don't pay attention to guys. I just don't care. I got my own thing going on. I was the type of player that never paid attention to other players. So right before the playoffs started, Miami Heat was playing Charlotte. I didn't even know who he was. So while we were in the playoffs, I'm watching him go at Baron Davis' tonight. Who was this? I was like, damn, this kid's nice. And I just kept watching him. So when it came time for me to be traded, knowing that I couldn't do it by myself, I needed a Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant type player. I wanted him to say, OK, I'll let you trade me, but I'm going to play with D-Way. I'm going to go back and forth. Oh, they gave you that chance. They gave you that opportunity? Yeah. Yeah. So I want to go play with him. So as soon as he got there the first time, I said, look, man, you heard this, you heard that. Me and you ain't going to have no problem. You the man. But went on with me and the last guy that could never happen with me and you. I'm going to help you. You're going to help me. And he said he had some differences over there that's something that we will not and cannot have down here, and I absolutely agree with. And he just emerged as a great player. And then we had our first argument during the finals. The only time we had an altercation was when I had to check everybody during the finals that year. Was everybody waiting? Going into the finals. You were already in the finals. No, no. Versus dollars. When we went down 0-2. Yeah. So I wasn't having a great finals. Everybody was looking for me. And I was like, why are you all looking for me? I don't know. What was going on? But we were down 0-2. So I flipped it. What you going to do, D-Way? I got three people on me. Flash. What you going to do? I got four people on me. What the hell y'all going to do? So that was my way of getting it. And then we just three game, bing, bing, bing, bing. When we took a time out, Pat brought us all back. He said, I know you guys don't want to end your season like this. Come on, guys. Come on. Come on. First thing came out of Dwayne's mouth was, I'm not going out like that. He drives left baseline. And he got to the rim and able to score with a ball on down. Gribbles to the free throw line. The jump shot. And he's got it. Dwayne to within five. And he brought us back. Then he brought us back, you know, single-handedly. And he's got it. Wide left beyond the stripe. Wade left baseline. Wide open. The jumper goes. And the Miami Heat right back in the NBA finals. I just felt so proud walking off that court. And I didn't show it. You know, I went in the locker room. I got to do it every day. I felt so proud. Wade had done more than win one game. He had changed the series. Dwayne Wade all the time. Dwayne Wade rose to a level that we have never seen here with the Miami Heat. Miami up this series. We haven't found the right solution to deal with Wade yet. It was as if whatever Miami needed, Wade would provide. And of course Wade coming off that spectacular 43-point center court. The officiating crew led by Steve Javie. Harry is the leading scorer for the Mavericks in these finals. His Wade picks it and a foul. Wade with the jumper on a mound. Wade Wade knocks it down. Four and a half minutes without a point. Did we have another run? Wade put on the drive. Blocked by Wade. Wade. Touch shot. Backs it in though. Wade backs it in. Stop. Wade spinning. Falling away. It's good. And Dallas Gattayan was a three-pointer. Terry, eight seconds. I'm seeing him come down the court. I'm seeing him go up in motion. I'm like, he can't hit this shot. It's not scripted this way. And it's my moment. Terry, high-right shot. Terry puts it up. The shot goes like, hey, Wade, go up there. Go up to the front. I'm like, for what? He's like, for the MVP or what? I'm like, oh. You know, I guess I was. Took all finals in MVP. And from that point on, he just, you know, emerged as probably one of the best two guards to ever play the game. The funniest, the funniest, most embarrassing thing was, so we get smacked during regular season, y'all. And then we beat Chicago, right? Mm-hmm. And the crowd starts chatting. Mm-hmm. We want the heat. Over a second, Romani, he took a chance by throwing it into the crowd. We want the heat. We're watching the game, by the way. We're all together watching the game. As a team, we're getting ready. You know, we're watching who our next opponent is going to be. They beat Chicago. It's a big thing. They like celebrating. They got a T-shirt. They got the whole thing, right? And it was a big moment for them. So we get it. And then the crowd starts going, Big moment for you guys. You know, we want the heat. Yeah. Our fans are screaming, we want the heat, right? So, you know, we have, we do have characters on our team that's realistic. And you guys are like, do we do that? Do we do that? Do we do that? Like, I'm like, oh, they, so we turn the TV off. They want us. They got us. They got us. Let's go make this quick. They made it quick. Here goes Wade. Wade against Hughes. Washington owner A. Poland. Dwayne Wade off the drive. So we, we played him. Go down there. Smack, smack. Dwayne Wade. Jamison goes out about. They keep saying, keep them in front. And they don't. And they deal with Dwayne Wade. You have to try to direct them in the area and then you go if you react to him. And that's what Larry Hughes did on that last. Come home, smack. We're in game four, right? Getting smack. I'm on the sideline like, oh my God. Can we just win one? And I look up in the stands, right? And it says, big old sign. We're at home, big old sign. You wanted the heat. Now you just got burned. Oh, that's cold. Bill, here go a key part to that story that Gilbert did not say. Once we got to DC, no shack. You don't know what kind of confident boost that is, you know, coming from, you know, our best player, the most dominant player in the NBA telling me, take over the game is your game to be, to win is your game to take over. And I mean, I, I try to do it, you know, I don't want to let him down. And that's what he told them, stop fooling around and take over the game. We want to win this game. And we want to win it with me on the sideline. In, in Miami, we had shack. No, no shack in DC. So now no shack. They at home. Took it up a notch. I think we was the only team that got swept there in the second round. You know how bad you got to be to get swept in the second round. But it's just, first of all though, Gil, it's just bad luck. You get the draw of shack, me and early in my prime, you get LeBron a couple of times in the playoff. Like you just got a bad draw. Sometimes it's just match up. Hanging around that full five area. That's the wrong place to be. Yeah, man. I got to ask you this, because I've watched this matchup for years. The dynamic with you and Cove, can you go in a little bit about, just to back and forth. I know y'all have a true friendship, but I do know y'all have a very spicy competitiveness. Could you talk a little bit about it? Well, you didn't seem too nice to Covey. I mean, y'all were on the court together. That was after the tip-off. We both competed. We both are fierce competitors. Covey's one of the fiercest competitors that ever played a game, and I'm a competitor also. So we both compete, and that's at 737. When Shaq first came to Miami, people would look at the way in and sort of like, keep their eyes on you, wondering how you'd look at Covey, how you'd interact with Covey on the court while going against him, simply because Shaq's your boy now. Oh, yeah. And you know their relationship wasn't ideal at the time. So how did you feel about Covey at the time when Shaq first came to Miami, and you had to go up against him? I don't know what I'll do now. You know, you respect the player. You respect his greatness. You know, you respect that, you know, you got to be ready when you play Covey. You got to get your rest. You know, you got to come in and bring your A-game. You know, but it's the same time. Shaq wanted you about that? Shaq didn't have to. Well, ho hum, just another spectacular move from Dwayne Wade, flipping it over the Laker defense with that left hand. You know, obviously coming into the NBA, I was in a Covey was like, you know, the two that I was like, I wanted to be on the court. So it went from like my rookie year, like excited to play against, you know, one of my idols to my second year. We going at it. Right. You know, I mean, we getting scuffles. And that's when Cove started to respect me when he realized, like, I'm not backing down. And it's not that attention. It's just who I am. It's a little strange guarding him after you guys spent the last two summers together, you know, playing alongside, winning gold together. No, not really. Not really strange. Yeah, I think it's more fun, you know, because they know each other. And, you know, he's, he did a couple things the night that he picked up from me this summer. And, you know, I was able to pick up a couple things from him this summer as well. So it's fun. I enjoyed it. I think we all enjoyed it. We all have a connection for the rest of our lives. You know, I've never talked to Covey the night before we played the Lakers in my previous five years. But, you know, last night we talked, you know, numerous times, because we have built that relationship as teammates, you know, forever. It's like, you know, brothers forever, because when we see each other, it's like a party that nobody else is invited to. What would you describe the conversations you were having towards the end of the game? Good natured? Oh, yeah, good natured. Just fun stuff. You want to write by you on the free-throw? Yeah, yeah. Always telling me, you know, come on, miss one, make one interesting. You know, this is where I make my money, man. I'm not missing anything. Do they fall away? You know, you're right in the space is that one of your tricks? Yeah, no, he picked up a couple of things. You know, defensively as well, he picked up a couple of techniques that we kind of joked about a little bit. And it's good, it's good. One of the coolest moments for me in my career was I'm out of the playoffs and Covey's in the playoffs and he calls me. And he said, D, they guard me like this. I know you great at picking roles. You great at splitting. What should I do? We got to do a better job keeping them in front. I mean, he's, it might be the best in the league I used to screen roles. He does a great job splitting them, you know, and going into the outside corner. So we got to do a much better job corralling them, keeping them in front. So I give him my hold. This is what I, this is what I, this is what I look for. This is what I do do this now. Being able to split the defense, a lot of it is split second. Wait, getting the screen from B. So he splits the double team away. It's about, you know, reading the defenders, reading the game. Man, I get off the phone. I lost it. I'm like, oh, just call me. You know what I'm saying? In January of 2009, Dwayne Wade took himself to another level, leading the NBA and scoring with 28.1 points per game. In Phoenix, the chatter around the league of whether Dwayne Wade should be considered an MVP candidate involved into a buzz. He definitely has to be in contention for the MVP. You can't leave him out of the equation. Signing saw the critics about him being back and being back to flash. It's the best basketball. I've seen him play since the finals. I mean, he's unbelievable. He's doing everything, getting to the line, making outside shots. He's defending. He's rebounding. If he's not talked in terms of the MVP, then I think they, you know, they really are not giving an affair assessment of the MVP. I think no matter what you can say about his team, you take him away from his team. I'm pretty sure they will not be as successful as you take away LeBron and you take away Kobe. You know, I'm pretty sure those teams will still be competitive. Not to speak down on his teammates. Just in terms of how much he represents offensive and defensive in their team and the leadership, you know. So, that, for whatever reason, never goes into consideration of the MVP. And I think, you know, that should have some real hardcore understandings that, you know, this kid, each and every day, if he's not playing, they don't have the chance of winning. And when he does, then they can be anybody in the team. I think Mike will retire to here before I came to lead. Statistically. So, I'm going to tell you my mindset in 2010 when I was a free agent. For me, it wasn't about money. It wasn't about nothing, but winning. A lot of people don't believe this. A lot of people think we had this already set up. LeBron called and said, what are you thinking? I said, bro, I want to win championships. I'm tired of getting knocked out in the first round. This sucks. And then it went from there and I thought, let's do it together. Act two of your story brought change. To be here with DOA, to be here with CB, I understand now that I've made the right decision. As new characters were introduced to your narrative, identities were altered. Then force through fire, hammer and anvil. Pressure like that couldn't have hindered you. But instead, it hardened you. Then you reached the top of the mountain twice more. Different cast, same conclusion. To the last second! To the last man! Trash as a f***ing hero. That was definitely one of my top heroes of all time. It's all good. Because, listen, what you gotta know, that's probably the top five, one of the most tired I was. Oh my God. Now you see me. When you first got to the league, who was the first person to bust your ass? Oh, that's easy. My first welcome to the league was LeBron, D-Wade and Chris Bosch, and that Miami Heat team. So, it was the pre-season game, but I still considered it as my welcome. You feel me? So, we played in Kansas City. Kansas City is the site for the Washington Wizards, and Miami Heat in exhibition season, and the crowd gets to see, yeah, that man, Dwayne Wade. And in the first quarter, right, 20 seconds into the game. There he goes. D-Wade, I'm reading the scouting reports. Scouting reports is, stay down on punfakes. First thing he do, spin, uh, punfake, right into my ribs. And I said, ah, okay, yeah, this is, you gotta, you gotta lock in. You got a long way to go. So, different level, right? They stole, they were still in the ball, throwin' lives left and right. And it was, I'm like, okay, yeah, this is real. So, that was my welcome. It was the first, my first time stepping over the floor was my welcome to the league, and that Miami Heat team. Big three era. Amazing era for Miami Heat. When I look at this photo, what I see is I see something of legend. We didn't really talk about scoring titles and covers of magazines and all the things that we ended up doing. We just talked about winning the championship. Took some sacrifice to do that. But ultimately, we achieved our goal. Playing basketball with those guys was amazing, but I think the relationship that we built away from the game was special. It changed everything. For me, for Brian, for Chris, for this organization, it put us in a different light. We was able to go to finals four years in a row, and it went to, and it was hard. But I think we all learned something about ourselves. Speaking of Twitter, that purple, the hornest fan in purple is kind of, and you and we're trying to get at each other. Get at each other? Yeah. You guys were trying exchange words. I'm not giving him any more attention. He got enough. Here on ESPN, a sellout crowd in one of the biggest nights in the past 14 years for this franchise. Charlotte with a chance to advance. Miami, trying to stay alive. Game six, coming up next. What do you have on your all-time two-guard list? I had him behind. Michael George and Kobe Bryant. Fakes back up to Wade, a rare three. It's good! Wade, another three. It's good! Dwayne Wade from downtown! Dwayne Wade knocks down a huge three-pointer for the Miami Heat. But that's greatness personified. It leans in, forming away. Puts it in! Dwayne! And Charlotte has to call time out to knock down big shots. Purple shirt man have a seat. Mama, there goes that man. Your second act saw your arrival as one of the most respected athletes on earth. And your departure from the home helped you get there. I know in the back of your mind you already thinking about, you know, Boston Days, you know, the similarities. What you got to take into account is, you know, the history between, you know, you and Dwayne coming into that. You've gone against Rajan in playoff settings for years. Hated him. Wade and Rhino, they're still chatting with each other. What are, right now, what are either one of them thinking about? Oh, dirty plays that you've seen him play in the past, so that's what it is. Wade came out from underneath him as he knocked him down. Wade in the post. More out of frustration than anything. And a technical foul has been hit. As Rondo and Wade go chest to chest. Why didn't get involved in this stuff? Were you giving away points and taking a chance of, that's one technical, getting a second one. They did a pretty job keeping on the wraps of who they were trying to get. So, actually, once I committed, you know, I wanted to know who was the guy and I was excited that it was Wade. And when you come up on a guy like doing Wade, I don't think you can pass with opportunity. Yes, I've talked to Wade. Like I said, we've talked text. When you talked to Duane, did you guys have any fun with what happened in 11 and 12, your guys history? I know that's part of the seat of the battle stuff. Do you guys touch on that or talk about it? No, we didn't touch on it. We just, we're older, we're wiser and we're moving forward. And like I said, to play with a guy like that, I know I've battled against personally, it's always a great time to have a guy like on your side. No, but how, how odd was that? That first time going against the heat? Yeah, it was terrible. Like, we had a back-to-back too, right? We come from Atlanta, we get in Miami. I don't have a lot of time to do nothing, but just go to my house and I, and once I get off the bus I'm trying to like, okay, it's a regular game. It's a regular game. I get off the bus and immediately I knew it wasn't a regular game. Fans of the Miami Heat, it has to be a strange sight to see Dwayne Wade in the uniform of the Chicago Bowl. It was just, it was crazy. And I walked to the, to the visitor's locker room. I've never been in the visitor's locker room. Like, unless it was like a concert, but it looked way different. So you never really got a chance to experience it. And everything was just weird. Like, even that my shoes didn't fit right that day. Like, nothing felt good that day. And I go out there and I'm seeing all these familiar faces that has been rooting for me and they still rooting for me. But it's just, it's just weird because I'm on the opposite side of the court. I couldn't wait to get that game over. I definitely wanted to get a win. I told my team, I said, listen, don't worry about feeding me the ball all game and trying to make this Dwayne comes back to score 30 plus. Like, let's just get a win and get out of here because this is the, this is the one of the weirdest feelings I've ever had. It's back. Well, it's a dream come true for Heat fans. My eyes and the heart was always here. I said that from the start, it's always here. I mean, me personally, I would have been very successful in this in this league without Dwayne. But to accomplish what I really wanted to accomplish in this league and that's winning at the highest level, I needed him. And that's why I made the jump. You understand how important he's been to the game throughout his career. No matter who you root for, throughout the league you respect greatness in terms of what he's been able to do throughout his entire career. He's got a loud name, but he has some pretty influential plays. And it seems like he's got a lot more to take. That's what I told him after the game. I was like, are you sure? I know you got a lot of stuff going on off the court, your family and all that. You sure you have a couple more years left in there. That is a jersey exchange to remember. Two of the game's all-time great players. Coming to Dwayne, man, you, you were one of the best fans. So entertaining, so exciting for us to watch. Definitely one of the best two guys to ever play the game. Turn inside to Wade down the middle. His toughness was undeniable. How hard he played, how many times he hit the floor, got right back up, kept fighting. I was always a big fan of him. I still am. I'm seeing everybody treat him the way that he's supposed to be treated on his way out. It makes me proud of all the fans and organizations that's seen in the way the way he should be. Competing against him, can you try and put into words what he's meant to the game? Man, he's done so many great things. I mean, I think everybody's so honored to have played against him. I don't know him as well as the guy on the other end of the table, but I've had a lot of battles with him and just talking with him, going against him. You know that when you step on the court against him, you have to bring your A-plus game. I've had many battles with him. We talked the first pre-season game on through the season and to our last game. Just remembering the good times and I'll tell you what, he's one of the best two guards that ever played this game. So you're there for his final home game of course in the Sixers uniform. Talk about how that atmosphere influenced you to want to sign with Miami. The love that he got well deserved at that, but the way that everybody came out to support him knowing what he's done for the city, for the culture, I mean I want a piece of that love too. Not saying that I can compare to Dwayne Wade because I don't think anybody can, but I think what he's done for this city, I want to try and pick up where he left off. Every moment from your career is going to come back you know, fast into your mind and for me just a kid with a dream man, I had a dream of playing a game of basketball and now I can walk Wednesday high school, NBA, Jersey Tire. You know what kid? You did alright. And if you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to hit that like button, subscribe if you are new, hit that notification button and comment down below which player you'd like to see next. I am out and I'll catch you next time. Peace.