Dwyane Wade, now retired after an illustrious 16-year career that saw him win three rings along with some of the NBA's best, revealed he's never had to pitch a player into playing with the Miami Heat, where he spend the vast majority of his career. Not Shaquille O'Neal, not LeBron James, not Chris Bosh.
The 13-time All-Star told Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated that no pitch was necessary to reel in the stars to South Beach:
“Never,” said Dwyane Wade. “I’ve never had to pitch a guy on Miami. I didn’t have to pitch Shaq, he came on his own. I didn’t have to pitch LeBron and Chris, it was more so about what we could do together, not necessarily where it was going to be at. If somebody reaches out to me, and asks me what I think, then I give them my spiel. But I’ve never had to pitch a guy on Miami. I think it’s just social media talk. It’s something for someone to write. It’s funny to me.”
Coming to Miami, paying no income taxes, and playing for one of the best-cemented organizations in the NBA kind of sells itself in a way.
Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Heat in 2004 for Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, and a future first-round draft pick, which later become Jordan Farmar in 2006. Two years later, Wade and Shaq would win a ring together, as the former flourished as one of the most potent scorers.
Wade, James, and Bosh became close friends from the time they were all drafted in 2003, along with their well-storied time with USA Basketball as part of Team USA. It's unclear if the decision to come to Miami was one LeBron James had in mind from the start, but it seems like Wade didn't have to do much convincing to help form one of the most dominant forces in basketball during the early part of this decade.
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