Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade once regretted going a bit too hard during the 2012 All-Star game. Facing a plethora of the league’s stars including Kobe Bryant for the Western Conference team, Wade committed what is still the only flagrant foul ever called in an All-Star game. The result was also that Wade ended up slamming his elbow into Kobe, who broke his nose.
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Regardless, during a recent appearance on the View From the Rafters, Rajon Rondo suggested that Wade also might have tried to injure him, on purpose, during the 2011 Playoffs. The clip of the confession was posted on Twitter by Noa Dalzell.
The Celtics, comprised of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Rajon Rondo were a fitting opponent for the Miami Heat, who had Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James to count on. With the Heat winning the first two games, the Celtics fought back in Game 3, which eventually proved to be their only win in the series.
However, Wade was involved in a tangle with Rondo during the game, which saw Rondo almost winning the ball. However, Wade fell to the floor and took Rondo along with him. He seemingly pressed against the elbow while getting up, which resulted in an injury that Rondo chose to play through.
However, he still believes Wade might have deliberately tried to hurt him. “That particular play, like I said, it was kind of a freak accident. We were teammates after that so there was no bad blood, but I think he broke it on purpose. Or tried. You know, he is a competitor,” he claimed.
Rajon Rondo went on to claim that while he was not accusing Wade of targeting him or deliberately taking him out, Wade was not careful enough despite not being able to make a play on the ball.
“I don’t think he knew jujutsu or anything like that, but he made a play. I don’t think it was targeting me or in the locker room there were talks to take me out or anything like that. He made a play on the ball, ended up making a play on the elbow,” he claimed.
When asked how he was able to play through the pain, Rondo claimed that he relied on adrenaline. The Celtics’ coaching staff wanted him to be withdrawn, however, Rondo decided to not heed. “Adrenaline. For me it was the mindset. They trying to tell me ‘I shouldn’t play,’ I said, ‘I gotta go.’ We can figure it out, a couple of weeks from now,” he revealed.
Hence, Rondo still suspects that Wade may have intentionally ensured that he also got hurt, even if the Heat legend was not trying to target him. The two went on to be teammates at the Miami Heat for a solitary season (2016-17) in a roster that also boasted of a young Jimmy Butler.
Dwyane Wade once had a hilarious retort to claim that he intentionally injured Rajon Rondo
Sportswriter Bill Simmons referenced the Rondo incident back in 2018 when Wade’s Heat were set to face the Celtics in the Playoffs once again. Simmons had hilariously claimed that Wade might already be preparing to injure another Celtics player, albeit ‘accidentally’, according to Complex.
“I’m already getting emotionally prepared for a Miami/Boston series with no Kyrie and no Smart plus the unknown Celtic that Dwayne Wade is going to *accidentally* injure,” he wrote.
In response, Wade had a simple warning, claiming that the Celtics fan himself might be his next target. Simmons, in response, said that he would be wearing an elbow brace just in case the Heat icon was not kidding. Even though Wade is as competitive as possible on the court, it seems hard to believe that he would do it intentionally.
