Dwyane Wade joined the Knuckleheads podcast with NBA veterans Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles and discussed the process of teaming up with LeBron James during the summer of 2010. At the time, Wade and James were All-NBA first-team performers for the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers, respectively. According to Wade, LeBron and his agent first contacted him about the idea of teaming up together. The two agreed on joining forces first, before deciding on where they should play the following season.
During the interview, Wade goes on to reveal that he and LeBron seriously considered joining Derrick Rose and signing with the Chicago Bulls. Rose would win the MVP award the following year while playing alongside Joakim Noah and Luol Deng. Adding James and Wade to the mix would have been extremely formidable. D-Wade also added that the Knicks were the other team under consideration. David Lee was the leading scorer for a Knicks team at the time that was one year away from trading for Carmelo Anthony. But in the end, Wade said that he and LeBron decided the superstar duo would be best complemented by Chris Bosh and Miami was the only team with three max-salary slots available.
"I sit here with you guys and I promise, I never thought me and LeBron would play together," Wade told Richardson and Miles. "I remember going to my agent's office and he was like, 'Yo, LeBron and Leon-at the time that was his agent-they want to get on a call with us.' I'm like, 'Okay.'
I remember talking to Bron he was like, 'Where your head at?' I said, 'My head is in winning, where your head at?' He was like, 'Same thing, let's rock together.' I'm like, 'Cool! Let's do it.'
When we was trying to make a decision of what city we wanted to play in or what we wanted to be, we had to keep our options open. Chicago was on the top of both of our lists. They had two max contracts and they had a young D-Rose. They had a Luol Deng, they had Noah, they had all these pieces. So I'm like, 'In Chicago, in one of the biggest markets?'
But listen, we thought about it. Then we looked at New York. And when it came down to it, Miami was the only team with enough money to get all three of us. Every other team only had two max contracts. When it came down to it, we thought CB was the perfect match. And ultimately bro, I just wanted to win."
During the summer of 2010, there were countless reports and rumors about where LeBron was going to eventually sign. Nobody knew at the time, however, that James and Wade had made an agreement to play together somewhere and that they were looking for that destination together. I'm not sure we ever knew that until Wade revealed it today.
It's also interesting to hear that Cleveland was never a plausible option for LeBron that summer and his three choices came down to Chicago, New York and Miami. If not for those three max slots that Pat Riley had made available back in 2010, the Chicago Bulls might have had the same type of run Miami did. But instead it was LeBron and D-Wade leading the Heat to four-straight NBA Finals, winning two, and etching their names in the history books forever.
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