Dwyane Wade is the newest addition to the podcast culture and his latest episode has already made some noise on YouTube. The release of ‘The Why with Dwyane Wade’, starring Miami Heat president Pat Riley, covered some interesting segments of the 3-time champion’s time with the organization. One such story was when Riley spoke about Wade’s prime years going down the drain because of the poor supporting cast. After his first championship in 2006, he was struggling to make an impact in the playoffs despite dropping some of the best numbers of his career.

However, Wade did not feel it until he called a screen against Kobe Bryant in a matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. He shared, “Having a ball and knowing you ain’t got a chance in a lot of games. I remember one game we were playing the Lakers, and Earl Barron was my center and I had these kinds of guys,” hinting at the poor supporting cast he had. 

He added, “Kobe looked at me. They was trapping me and I was like calling for help and he just started laughing at me. He was like, ‘Yeah, you about to go through it’. You know like go through what I went through.” 

This was a wake-up call for Wade and in the following years, the Heat managed to build a super team by bringing Chris Bosh and LeBron James into the organization. The rest is history! 

A comparison of Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant’s wasted MVP years

Both the shooting guards were in their prime in the middle of the 2000s. The Lakers took a huge dip after their three-peat in 2001. With Shaq leaving the team, they couldn’t find the right piece to win a championship. But Bryant did not stop his solo battle. The Black Mamba averaged an impeccable 35.4 points in the 80 games he played in 2005-06. This is one of the best seasons of his career, considering the numbers he put up. However, in the very first round of the playoffs, the Lakers lost to the Suns in a devastating game 7 matchup. 

Dwyane Wade averaged nearly 30 points in 2008 and 33.2 points in 2009 and took the Miami Heat to the playoffs single-handedly. Exactly like Bryant, Wade had his best season in 2009 in which he lost to the Atlanta Hawks, yet again in game 7 of the first round. This is how similar the ‘Flash’ and the ‘Mamba’s careers were. Bryant faced it first. When Wade it faced it later, the 5-time champion couldn’t help but laugh.