Dwyane Wade talks about how LeBron James choosing the Miami Heat in 2010 gave rise to the player empowerment movement.
Advertisement
LeBron James may have heard every last bit of the ‘LeGM’ jokes over the past years but that is only because his part in roster construction on every team he’s on is something that makes up the identity of those front offices. Not even basketball goliaths like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, or Julius Erving had the kind of power James holds over certain decisions.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were contractually obligated to run certain decisions by LeBron James in terms of acquiring talent in his second stint with them. As for his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s clear that obtaining Klutch Sports Group clients will always be a priority as long as ‘The King’ reigns over Los Angeles.
Of course, LeBron didn’t always have such power. While he came into the league dubbed as ‘The Chosen One’, he was merely an 18-year-old kid who had the weight of a tanking franchise placed on his shoulders.
When it was obvious that Dan Gilbert couldn’t surround him with talent, James jumped ship seven years later in 2010, and the league was never the same.
Dwyane Wade on LeBron James helping kickstart the player empowerment movement.
Dwyane Wade was the man who LeBron James wanted to play with once he realized back-to-back MVPs meant nothing when you don’t have a championship ring to show for it. Given their storied history all the way from high school ball to getting drafted together, the two knew they would develop an on-court chemistry similar to that of their off-court one.
Chris Bosh joined the fray that same summer too, making up the Miami Heat big 3. While hearing of a superstar leave his team in pursuit of a title may seem of the ordinary in 2022, it wasn’t quite frowned upon over a decade ago when James did it.
You had many players prior make moves or try to make moves better their careers, everything from Hakeem wanting out of Houston and moving on to the Raptors for a better contract to Kobe wanting a trade from the Lakers to the Clippers.
However, what LeBron James did and the spectacle he made out of his free agency that summer of 2010 made him a ‘villain’ for years to come in the eyes of NBA fans.
Dwyane Wade sees the move a bit differently. In a segment on the 8th episode of ‘The Icons Club’, Wade tells Jackie MacMullan that James’s move helped give players, and in particular black men, the power to decide their fate upon establishing themselves in the league.
“Yea there was lot of power in that moment, 2010. It shifted a lot. To be able to be to be three young black men and be able to make a decision that many considered to be a selfish decision, I thought it was selfless. We decided to not make it just about us individually. This was a moment where we were like, ‘Listen, all that individual stuff, it’s not fulfilling.’” [at the 12:40 mark]
