Dwyane Wade's 2006 championship run with Shaquille O'Neal with the Miami Heat will go down as one of the finest moments of his career, and it's also in that run where his relationship with Big Diesel started.

Shaq was traded to Miami from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004 after losing in the NBA Finals to the Detroit Pistons. He faced a lot of drama at the time, on and off the court, particularly with the late all-time great Kobe Bryant. At 32 years old, he was looking for a fresh start, and he wanted to play second fiddle to Dwyane Wade, who was still in his second year at the time.

Wade recalled their relationship on the Club Shay Shay podcast, saying how much he loved how their relationship was so easy:

“Shaq is a very honest man to me. Our relationship is a one-two punch, he came in and he sat down just like this, it was very candid, it was very short he was like ‘Listen, Flash, this is your team, I’m gonna help you become one of the greatest to play this game, I wanna help you be a superstar.”

“When I ask for the ball, throw it to this hand'.” Wade raises his right hand to mimic Shaq calling for the ball in the post and laughs.

Shaquille O'Neal truly learned from his experiences with Kobe on how to play with a skilled shooting guard, and it led him to instill a great deal of confidence in Dwyane Wade, who he believes allowed his career to truly take a leap forward.

Their first season led the Heat to a 59-win regular season but Shaq narrowly lost to Steve Nash in the MVP race, as well as being eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals. But in the next season, Dwyane Wade took a leap that would turn him into the all-time great that he is, and the team went all the way to the NBA Championship, defeating Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks.