What’s that saying about being careful what you ask for?
And so it is, Dwyane Wade, the man largely credited with recruiting LeBron James to Miami, is now having regrets about it all, suffering through buyer’s remorse about ever having ceded his South Beach kingdom to The King. Sure, on the surface, all may have appeared more than on the up and up as the Heat went about the biz of forever solidifying their legacy and that of the Big 3 by racing out to back-to-back NBA titles and four straight Finals appearances overall.
But all the while, Dwyane Wade insists he felt trepidations, struggled within knowing something was amiss, so much that even now, with James back in his native Cleveland, he still somewhat feels the need to set the record straight.
“It was everything we wanted from that standpoint, but sometimes throughout that run at certain times, it just wasn’t fun,” Wade told BleacherReport. “Individually, it was great having certain relationships, and having my best friend here with me, but all of us didn’t have fun all the time. I think now I’m at the point where I want to enjoy the game. I’ve won three championships and been so successful, you’ve got to have something to play for. And I want to be able to play for my teammates, and just the joy of the game.”
But at the price of cashing out on “The “Heattles?” At the price of realistically giving up on any additional here-and-now chance you may have earning another NBA chip? Many of James’ harshest critics still argue all his “going home” sentimentality more earnestly stems from his belief he now stands a better chance of adding more hardware by teaming with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love than anything else. That’s fine with Wade, mainly because it simply affords him the chance to go back to being himself
“I don’t know,” he added when asked when all the luster of being the league’s marquee team started to wear off and the appeal of just being Dwyane Wade again became the distinction that matters most. “It’s hard to say, man, because you want it. You don’t know exactly what’s going to come with it, but we put ourselves in that position. But sometimes you can put too much on yourself… and it becomes a black cloud. Last year wasn’t fun. It’s amazing we made it to the Finals. It’s just honest.”
But in Wade’s world, with lost expectations comes renewed commitment. “It’s not saying, ‘Oh, I’m excited this person left so I can do that,’” he added. “It’s more, ‘OK, it’s a challenge,’ and as athletes we not only love challenges, but we need them. Especially if we want to continue to rise.”
Dwyane Wade has and continues to make a life of staring down challenges lesser men avoid even facing. From overcoming an assortment of lingering knee injuries that once limited him to consecutive 51-game seasons to manning up to take sole, legal custody of his two young boys even as he faces the rigors of being a professional athlete, Wade continues to shine.
“I’m not only teaching lessons on the basketball court, I’m teaching life lessons,” he said. “I’m a father. I’m teaching lessons to my boys, life lessons of overcoming. Even when things look so good, there are things that happen in life that can bring you down in the blink of an eye. And how do you respond?”
The only answer Wade knows is by being Dwyane Wade, albeit preferably now the one that predates his James’ association.
“I want to continue to add to being one of the best players at my position in the game,” he said. “I’ve been put in the category of great players, and I want to hold up to that, whatever that is. When I’m right…I can be a dynamic player.”
With that, Wade turns his attention back to the fans of Heat Nation and the notion of preserving what they’ve come to expect from their heroes over the last four seasons.
“I’ve got a responsibility to being that leader and the person that has been here, and has been able to lead this franchise to success,” he said. “In different facets of my career. In different ways, since I’ve been here.”
