CHICAGO – Together, they were as successful and compelling as any pair of teammates in recent NBA memory.
Apart, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are peers, competitors, friends always. And, in this third season since they went their separate ways, back to being rivals. In that good, respectful and wary way, the mongoose gives the cobra his due.
So which is better, teaming up the way they did in reaching four consecutive Finals with the Miami Heat from 2011 to 2014 and winning championships in 2012 and 2013? Or squaring off as they’ll do for the 28th time in their professional careers Friday night when James and the Cleveland Cavaliers face the Chicago Bulls at the United Center (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)?
“I love both,” Wade said Thursday after practice at the Chicago Bulls’ downtown facility. “I’ve always said it. Kobe [Bryant] and LeBron have always been my favorite guys to play against. There’s something about those games for me have always been something special.
“I enjoy playing against LeBron more than anybody else, just because I know what he’s going to bring to the game. And great people bring greatness out of you. He’s always done that for me, and vice versa — I think I’ve done that for him.”
Earlier this week, James reflected on their 14 seasons as foes and friends, the years more sharply defined — seven apart, four together, now three more on their own — than their relationship and the kinship between them.
Wade has told the story plenty: James was the high-school headliner who blew into the trainers’ room at the Chicago pre-draft camp one day and instantly got the medical staff’s attention, while the less-heralded Marquette product and others took a step back in the pecking order. But out of that, and a distant familiarity already packing respect, one of the league’s great “bromances” was born.
“I don’t know, I watched his performance in the [2003] Final Four, the triple-double he put up against Kentucky,” James said when the Cavaliers played in Milwaukee Tuesday. “I didn’t know him so I didn’t know what to expect. But then we met each other at pre-draft and it was almost like, sometimes you just know someone who you want to be friends with. I was already friends with Carmelo [Anthony] and CP [Chris Paul], but we just felt it.”
James’ group of school friends was tight and renowned. But in this instance, there was room for one more, never mind the 35-month gap in their ages and life experiences.
“It just came naturally. It didn’t matter the age,” James said. “We wanted the same things. To make our names in the NBA. To be respected. But we knew we had to put in the work. And we knew we had to help our two franchises, which weren’t performing up to their liking or the league’s liking.”
Three franchises in, they’re still helping. James rapidly turned the Cavaliers into a playoff team, than a title contender. Wade, with Shaquille O’Neal, needed only three seasons to bring the Larry O’Brien trophy to South Florida.
In 2010, they hooked up with Chris Bosh on the Team Fans Loved to Hate, with Wade consciously taking a step back among the alpha dogs — in ball assertiveness, in shots, in salaries — to facilitate the success. “We sacrificed points,” Wade said, “but what we gained was championships and friendships and brotherhood that lasts a lifetime.”
James left in 2014 to infuse his refined sense of winning back home (or nearly so) in Cleveland. The result: Two trips to the Finals, the stunning comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to claim the 2016 championship in June and, Thursday, individual acclaim as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year for making good on all the spoken and unspoken promises between him and his northeastern Ohio roots.
Wade? He stayed put for two more seasons. Then, in July, the 34 year old left in what looked to be a huff or a snit or whatever you’d term a disagreement over $7 million across two seasons between a proud organization and the equally proud athlete who might always be its face. Wade has cracked open the door only a bit to his thoughts and feelings on the split — “He is a guy who has the right to demand a certain amount of respect, and expect there to be reciprocation,” said Milwaukee’s Steve Novak, a former Marquette teammate — and, for all public consumption anyway, not looked back.
He did the hometown thing, too, signing with the Bulls and playing home games about 25 miles north of his old neighborhood in south-suburban Robbins. The Chicago team needed some buzz in the wake of trading Derrick Rose and, without bidding, watching Joakim Noah sign with New York. Wade slipped easily into Rose’s “From Chicago…” spot in the UC pregame introductions, and came back for a bundle of reasons.
Some focusing on the Bulls, some on himself and some on the city.
“I was proud of him,” James said. “Like he says, he’s not chasing rings. He’s not chasing anything.
“He’s trying to make a difference. We all know the struggle that Chicago has going on with their inner city. For him to feel like he needed to go back home and be a voice of change for people in the city, ya’ know, obviously I love that because that’s what I’m doing back in my hometown.”
They’re on significantly different paths now, owing mostly to their respective ages. Wade still is a formidable player, his per-36 minutes stats (22.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists) not all that different from in his prime; it’s just that he’s averaging 30.4 minutes rather than the 36.9 of his first 10 seasons. But he also is an athlete and entrepreneur in transition, pursuing opportunities away from the game while throwing himself fervently into community programs to lend his name and fame, hopefully, into a better life for young Chicagoans.
“It seems right that he’s in Chicago at a time like this,” Novak said. “It doesn’t seem that there are any strange motives. It’s very natural. He’s been a mentor already for Jimmy [Butler], who’s playing at as high a level as you can be in this game. And the way Dwyane has changed his game — you’ve seen that through his whole career. When LeBron came to Miami, he was willing to adapt. Now that he’s in Chicago, he’s adapted. When he was in high school, he was a ‘big man.’ … You’ve seen that that’s who Dwyane is.”
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg sees no disconnect between Wade’s late-career agenda and their team’s standard objective of winning as many games as possible. Fact is, Chicago is ahead of what many guessed would be a .500 pace, due in no small way to Wade.
“Dwyane’s been unbelievable for this group of guys,” Hoiberg said. “Not only for the young guys but the veterans as well. He’s provided such strong leadership for this group. You always see him with his arm around somebody, whether it’s Jimmy or it’s [rookie] Denzel [Valentine].
“He’s still putting up good numbers. He’s a guy you can give the ball late in the game and know he’s gonna get a good shot up. But more importantly, what he’s done off the court for this team as far as getting them together, the team-bonding activities. He’s just absolutely been a rock star in that area.”
James, who will turn 32 on Dec. 30, remains the NBA’s best player and its top off-court earner. Flirting with triple-double numbers on most nights, he is guiding Cleveland toward what many presume will be a Finals “rubber match” against Golden State. Will the Cavs repeat? Will the Warriors get payback?
Then there’s the matter of James’ legacy. He and Wade both have three rings but the sense is that James wants and needs more as he ascends into the NBA’s all-time top 10 or top five. Wade’s Hall of Fame credentials are secure and he feels no pressure to scale any Mount Rushmores.
It had to be asked: Might James envy Wade some of the calm, the absence of urgency and scrutiny compared to that with which the Cavaliers star copes every day?
“Nah,” James said. “Nah, I’m happy for him. It’s just smooth sailing. He can go out and play the game that he loves to play. Raise his beautiful family. And be as positive and motivating to the city of Chicago as he can be. Let the chips lay where they may at the end of it.”
For now, more than Bryant or Kevin Garnett, as much or more than Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki and Vince Carter, Wade — who figured to be physically broken based on recklessness and injuries early in his career — appears to be aging as gracefully as an NBA star can. He’s even hitting almost 38 percent of his 3-point attempts, unprecedented success for him.
“Absolutely,” said James, who will wear a complete Chicago Cubs uniform to the arena Friday, paying off a wager he and Wade made for the Cubs-Indians World Series this fall. “This is a guy who has dedicated his body, his mind and his soul to the game, and this game gives back to you when you’ve dedicated yourself.”
Now they get to renew the friendly rivalry or competitive friendship — take your pick — they savored before and after the shared Miami years. In 27 career meetings, 15 won by James, the Cavs star has averaged 28.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 7.1 assists in 40.1 minutes. Wade’s numbers are close: 26.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.0 assists in 36.6 minutes. They’ve both averaged 20.1 shots. And the Bulls’ new veteran has won three of their five head-to-head clashes since James left the Heat.
Besides the history between them, Wade said he was eager to use Friday’s game as a gauge for where the Bulls rate in the Eastern Conference pack.
“Say what you want about anybody else in our league but they are the measuring stick,” he said. “Any team that LeBron has played on in the last 1,000 years has been a measuring stick for the most part.
“For us, coming off a bad loss for us [at home to the Lakers Wednesday], I want to see how we respond as a team. It’s a long season, it’s very early in the season. How we respond as a team is going to tell me a lot about where we’re at today.”
As for tomorrow, it’s inevitable that media play that game in this era of super teams, extended careers and short contracts. Wade “went there” when asked Thursday, even though he didn’t really want to.
“You know what, I never thought I would play with LeBron,” he said. “I didn’t think it was a possibility at all. I mean, I enjoyed the All-Star Games, I enjoyed the Olympics. But I never thought we would play together.
“I look at it now, younger guys and the stuff they say. You never know what the future is going to hold for you. So just keep your comments to yourself on the future. … For me, I’m here and I’m happy to be here. But I was happy to be in Miami as well. So it just happened. You never know what happens in this game. People should never say ‘never’ on anything.”
He and his audience of reporters were laughing by now.
“That’s not saying I want to play with LeBron again,” Wade said. “Let me clearly say that. That is not saying that I want to be somewhere that I’m not. But I also understand how this league works.”
They’ll be together — and apart — again Friday night. Competitors, rivals and friends always. James will be the one in blue pinstripes.
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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