The best place to form a friendship in the NBA is on the battlefield alongside your teammates. Whether it’s a monumental triumph or a heartbreaking defeat, sharing a memorable moment brings people together. This was the case for Dwyane Wade and LeBron James during their time together on the Miami Heat. Wade and The King opened up about their relationship during a 2017 interview with ESPN.
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The dynamic duo looked back at their 2011 NBA Finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks, a time that both agreed was a dark time due to the expectations of “The Big Three” to dominate the league. “To be vulnerable in those moments and not care that the other person sees you in that space helps the relationship grow,” said Wade, claiming that the championship L brought him and LBJ closer.
Fortunately, Wade and James went on their famed trip to the Bahamas to cope with losing to the Mavericks. The fun didn’t necessarily begin right from the get-go, though. James and Wade revealed in the interview that they were dealing with some depression from their Finals failure.
“It was depressing,” admitted Wade with a smile. “We was just depressed for the first day.” “Yup,” added LeBron. “We just sat around the kitchen table and…man I don’t even like to think about it.” The good thing was that they were able to build, not only on their relationship, but their chemistry as teammates. “That trip got us going in the right direction,” said James.
That trip did seem to do a lot of healing. The Heat would return to the Finals the next season and finished the job so LeBron and Wade could call themselves champions together. They’d win it again the season after that, then return for a fourth straight Finals appearance in 2014. Funnily enough, that monumental run might not have happened at all because LBJ almost ended his career in the Bahamas.
LeBron James’ career nearly ended after the Finals loss, according to Dwyane Wade
LeBron was feeling a little blue after the 2011 NBA Finals loss and wanted to start his Bahamas trip out with a bang. Wade shared this story earlier this year during an interview with Rachel Nichols.
D-Wade told Nichols that as soon as James arrived at their house rental, he took off his clothes and jumped from the balcony into the pool. “He didn’t even think about that; he just jumped in the water,” stated the Heat legend moments after telling James that he guessed the pool was about 9 feet deep.
Why did James roll the dice on his career? As noted above, it’s because he was so distraught from coming up short in his first season with the Heat after he received a lot of pushback from “The Decision.” In the long run, James going to Miami created some very exciting basketball. He helped create a portion of his legacy there.
No need to be depressed, boys. You’re both going to be talked about in NBA circles forever.
