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Dwyane Wade humiliated Gilbert Arenas so bad, he quit trash-talking for good

Arun Sharma
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Dwyane Wade humiliated Gilbert Arenas so bad, he quit trash-talking for good

Dwyane Wade was just a kid in 2004 – Gilbert Arenas decided to pick on him.

2004 was a bad time for USA Basketball – Dwyane Wade included. The Olympics had become a black mark in the history of the team, and the young Miami Heat guard was one of the victims. Having only played one season in the NBA, Wade along with his future Banana Boat Crew headed out to Athens to capture the gold, as expected of a team captained by Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan.

But it was not meant to be, because the team suffered 5 losses, losing by 19 points to Puerto Rico in the opening stages. Wade, for all the hype, failed miserably. Out of his best friend trio, he played more minutes combined. LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony were rookies who had bigger names ahead of them but Wade was preferred over the other guards in rotation.

That faith did not translate well, because despite playing 17.6 minutes, he could muster only 7.3 points, shooting at a terrible clip. This prompted Gilbert Arenas to pick on him in the off-season because the Flash was labelled a poor shooter. Wade channelled his inner Kobe Bryant and ABSOLUTELY crushed the Wizards and Agent 0, potentially shutting him up forever.

Also Read: Magic Johnson’s ‘family first’ advice led to Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade understanding their daughter, Zaya’s, journey

Dwyane Wade went on to have a stellar career and a magical send-off – Gilbert Arenas on the other hand was shunned by the league

Having only played one season and an Olympics, it was unfair on Dwyane to be called a poor shooter. This coming from a man who would carry multiple “shooters” into a locker room, even worse. In the opening 5 games, Washington played Miami twice. In the first match, Wade obliterated Arenas, scoring 37 points on 68% shooting. Arenas on the other hand scored 27 but had a terrible shooting night. He missed 14 shots and made most of his points from the line.

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In the second matchup, No Chill Gil played better but still ended up on the losing side. Miami went on to a 4-0 start, while the Wizards slumped to a 2-2 record. After that altercation, Arenas swore off trash-talking before games. He even went on to say that he never meant it and apologized to Dwyane over the phone, but it was too late.

The damage had been done, and Wade now is worth a cool 175 million. Where is Gilbert Arenas? Videos like these, are irrelevant to today’s game. The Miami legend is almost 9 times richer than his Wizards counterpart, who is valued at a paltry 20 million.

Also Read: 6ft 4 Dwyane Wade’s hair-raising method to focus on getting the USA the gold in the 2008 Olympics

About the author

Arun Sharma

Arun Sharma

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Arun Sharma is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. A double degree holder and a digital marketer by trade, Arun has always been a sports buff. He fell in love with the sport of basketball at a young age and has been a Lakers fan since 2006. What started as a Kobe Bryant obsession slowly turned into a lifelong connection with the purple and gold. Arun has been an ardent subscriber to the Mamba mentality and has shed tears for a celebrity death only once in his life. He believes January 26, 2020, was the turning point in the passage of time because Kobe was the glue holding things together. From just a Lakers bandwagoner to a basketball fanatic, Arun has spent 16 long years growing up along with the league. He thinks Stephen Curry has ruined basketball forever, and the mid-range game is a sight to behold. Sharma also has many opinions about football (not the American kind), F1, MotoGP, tennis, and cricket.

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