“I Am a Fan”: When Dwyane Wade Thanked Skip Bayless for His Coverage

Who would have ever thought NBA analyst Skip Bayless would compliment an NBA player enough for them to admit being his fan? Well, people watching ESPN on a casual evening in 2011 found Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade doing just that.

Wade joined Bayless in a 2011 episode of First Take. Wade asserted that if it were up to him, they would already be in training camp. He explained that the NBA lockout that was occurring at the time was not the players’ fault but was, in fact, a result of team owners trying to implement a tough salary cap to ensure tougher competition in the NBA.

Later in the episode, Bayless gave Wade his flowers for being the great player he was. “I’ve said many times on the air. I think you are the best player in the NBA. You’re my favorite to watch. So, on a scale of 1 to a trillion, how great are you?” Skip asked.

Wade first laughed at the question, visibly a little embarrassed, and then thanked Bayless for all the good things he had said about him. “I do watch it, and I am a fan from afar,” he assured Bayless. “I appreciate it. I am as good as you want me to be, Skip.”

Bayless responded by calling Wade brilliant but then hit him with a question about his performance in Game 2 of the 2011 Finals. “I gotta ask you, felt like you let me and your fans down a little bit. … You make that 3 to go up 15 with about 6 1/2 minutes left. You held the pose for a second. LeBron looked like he wanted to come and celebrate. You looked like you didn’t.”

Bayless asked Wade if he regretted what happened that night and the series of events that transpired afterward. Wade’s answer was a resounding “no.”

“No, not at all, Skip,” Wade replied. “I am an athlete who enjoys playing his game … you see guys celebrate, get excited, emotional about the game of basketball, about a great play, about a dunk, about a shot … It wasn’t about that shot. We had a breakdown … and hopefully we will grow from that.”  

Wade certainly seemed to grow from that moment. He is widely considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Although, it would be farcical to get into the ranking aspect of it at this point, 3 NBA championships, 13 NBA All-Star selections, a finals MVP and an Olympic medal, among other accomplishments, speak for themselves.

In recent years, Bayless has also claimed that without Wade, LeBron James would have never managed to control his emotions and win a championship. Whether or not that’ss true remains up for discussion.