Dwyane Wade edges out LeBron James among the top leaders he’s partnered with in the NBA

NBA great and basketball analyst Dwayne Wade recently wrote a piece for The Athletic highlighting the three best leaders he played with in his career. The piece stays true to its Heat roots, as it highlighted Pat Riley, Shaquille O’Neal and Udonis Haslem.

But it was missing from the list LeBron Jameswho is often considered one of the NBA’s great leaders and was Wade’s teammate when the duo won two championships in 2012 and 2013. As for Pat Riley, Wade talked about Pat’s attention to detail and ability to remain calm under fire.

“Where Pat was great was his attention to detail. That’s something I try to pride myself on, even now… A lot of times, as a player, your mind, your emotions, your anxiety is all over the place. You make a couple of mistakes and you start thinking. He was that calm factor. Every time I went up to him during the game, he just gave me his hands and he gave me his hands.”

Speaking of Shaq, he talked about his ability to quit and the mentoring role O’Neal played in his early career en route to his first championship.

“He showed me the ropes. He showed me how to be a superstar on and off the court. He even gave me the nickname ‘The Flash.’ He sat down and talked to me about authenticity and whether my DNA was in everything I did. It changed the way I went into meetings, it changed the way I thought about my brand and myself.”

And for Udonis Haslem, whom Wade often praises when he talked about his Heat tenure, he talked about his capacity as a leader and the respect his voice carried.

“UD was never one of the top guys when it came to fame, but he still had the loudest voice in the locker room. When he talked, everyone listened because we knew it wasn’t coming from a selfish place at all. It was coming from a guy who would literally give everything in his body for you in any game. posted by Pat Riley Even when LeBron James and Chris Bosh came along, nothing changed.

The piece was less about on-field synergy and more about his unique experience with these locker room leaders. But Wade has spoken highly of James elsewhere, and James has been candid about how his partnership with Wade has been key to his career.

In December 2018, comments received after Wade and James’ last game against each otherLeBron talked about Wade and their successful couple.

“I think I personally would be very successful in this league without D-Wade,” LeBron said. “But to achieve what I really wanted to achieve in this league, which is win at the highest level, I needed him. And that’s when I took the leap, and I appreciate more than I can put into words what he did for me when I went to Miami. You have to think about how I spent the first 25 years of my life in Ohio, high school, and then I went through Akron. For seven years of my professional career, I still lived in Akron, Ohio, so that’s all I knew.”