LeBron James played last season with an injury that could require off-season surgery and eventually led to the Lakers' downfall, but Dwyane Wade believes that it was something that actually made the team better.

On February 26, James injured his right foot in a game against the Dallas Mavericks, and was told he needed surgery, but declined. He returned a month later and in time to get acclimated with a new Lakers team that revamped its roster after the trade deadline.

LeBron would go on to play with the lingering injury all the way until the playoffs, the foot clearly hampering his performance. This, along with the general inexperience of the young Lakers team, led to the team's elimination in the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets.

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Shannon Sharpe asked Dwayne Wade if he thought the outcome would have been different if James never sustained the injury: