Dwyane Wade’s five greatest moments for the Miami Heat
By Roje Smith
2. The Big Three
The summer of 2010 is one that will always be remembered in the NBA. It featured coveted free agents such as Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson. However, nearly all of the basketball world’s focus was on the three premier free agents: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Most of the attention was really on James since rumors were going around that he could possibly sign with the New York Knicks or the Chicago Bulls. There was also a strong chance that he would simply re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Heat were also in the running, but it wasn’t clear how good of a chance they had. As for Bosh, his future destination seemed focused on Miami, Chicago and Texas teams. He also met with his soon-to-be former team, the Toronto Raptors, but many felt that he wouldn’t return to the team.
On July 7, Bosh decided to join Wade in Miami and it immediately made them a better team on paper. However, no one knew where James would sign until the following day. On July 8, the words “I’m taking my talents to South Beach” were spoken by LeBron and chaos would soon follow. Many criticized the formation of the “Big Three” since it seemed like it was an unfair alliance. It also made many fans feel that they would start to stockpile championships in Miami. There was also some chatter about each player’s individual legacy, especially LeBron’s, being tarnished because of the decision.
The championships didn’t come right away as they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals. However, they would repeat as champions in 2012 and 2013 before losing in the 2014 Finals to the San Antonio Spurs. The alliance didn’t win as many championships as they expected, but it was still a success. It added two more rings to Wade’s resume and was very close to being his top moment as a Miami Heat player. Only one achievement in his South Beach tenure was greater than this.