Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade had a lot of good memories in his career, but he also had to be honest about his former teammate LeBron James leaving him and returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014.

LeBron James joined the Heat in 2010 and began a short but incredibly successful period that has yet to be matched. Miami had a 71.8% win rate during that span, and it led to back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. This was a team that faced different kinds of adversity, from chemistry issues to media perceptions, and the team still came out strong.

But in 2014, after the Heat were defeated by the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, LeBron shocked the basketball world by making a return to the Cleveland Cavaliers with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Dwayne Wade recalls the memory, and how it affected him:

“I didn’t know he was thinking about it right away. I didn’t think Cleveland was on the docket at all. When I did get the information from him that [LeBron James] was headed back to [the Cavaliers], I took it like I’ll take everything else; I’ll take it on the chin. If that’s what that man wants to do for his life, I support him, I just gotta now figure out my life because I had a whole different plan for how I wanted mine to go.

I told him I said, “Man listen, everybody’s gonna win no matter what you do. If you stay [with the Heat] we all win. You go to [the Cleveland Cavaliers], Cleveland’s gonna win. Honestly, you got to do what’s best for LeBron. If this is what’s best for LeBron James, Savannah James, Bryce, and Bronny, you have my blessing.”

Wade was right, Cleveland did win.

It's pretty awesome to see the two friends have such respect and understanding for each other that they're able to have these difficult, career-altering decisions, be honest about it, and remain friends.

Dwyane Wade was vocal about how LeBron's decision ultimately changed the trajectory of the Miami Heat and Wade's own career for competing, given how he had to sacrifice for LeBron only for the latter to leave, but despite all this, their friendship endured, and it's going strong to this day.