Dwyane Wade is not just one of the NBA’s greatest players of all time but probably its best young player ever. The 6ft 4’ guard came into the league in 2004 as the 5th overall pick by the Miami Heat and played for that franchise for most of his 16-year career.
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Although he missed out on winning the Rookie of the Year award which went to that year’s #1 pick LeBron James, he made it to the Playoffs earlier and played better in it than any other picks of his draft.
The Flash proved he was different at the earliest. Although it took the Heat a certain Shaquille O’Neal to get themselves a championship, it was D-Wade’s game that actually brought Shaq to Miami.
And even coach Stan Van Gundy was a fan of that game since Wade’s rookie season.
“Dwyane Wade is the best end of the game, last shot guy, ever!”: Stan Van Gundy
Dwyane Wade went on to have one of the most successful careers for a guard after debuting in 2003. The then-Heat head coach, who also made his debut as an HC with Wade, had seen that coming in the rookie season of the Marquette star.
The 12-year head coach who last coached in the NBA (New Orleans Pelicans) in 2020-21 talked about Wade’s first-ever Playoffs game recently with Quentin Richardson on the Knuckleheads podcast.
“He [Dwyane Wade] is the best end of the game, last shot guy, I’ve ever seen,” said Van Gundy.
The legendary NBA announcer claimed he could argue with anybody on that take of his given Wade’s ability to hit the last shots with no time for the opposition to do anything.
Wade had several game-winning shots in his career
We all might remember one of them quite clearly. The one which came against the Golden State Warriors in 2019, Wade’s last year, which came out of nowhere with the Dubs having a 2-point lead and four-tenth of a second remaining in the game clock.
That shot and him standing on the announcers’ table iced forever in the memories of fans but it was no fluke.
Wade is one of the game’s most clutch players of all time.
