It’s easy to forget Dwyane Wade was considered perhaps the best player in the NBA at one point. No, he doesn’t have an MVP award to his name, and two of his three titles came alongside the greatest player of his generation. But Flash was an electric scorer and underrated defender, particularly before a 2002 surgery to remove the meniscus in his left knee that ended up robbing him of his athleticism when his peers were in their late prime.
His body’s deterioration isn’t the only reason he’s slept on at this point. So rapidly has the NBA changed to the current pace and space jubilee, we’ve overlooked perhaps the last great scorer who somehow never scared anyone from beyond the arc. The Spurs rendered Wade nearly unplayable during stretches of the 2013 and 2014 NBA Finals because of his abysmal 3-point shooting. But DWade slashed for buckets like the all time greats who came before him, and there are a number of moments, not to mention three rings, that prove that fact. For those lifelong fans watching with friends, phone-less in their living rooms, or for OGs in the media, or the diehards arguing at the bar—where loudmouth trolls are asked to leave or forced out sporting racoon eyes—Wade truly was a magnificent sight to behold.
His Hall of Fame career is winding down and this, his 16th season, will be his last. So as a reminder for older fans, or a disclaimer for newer fans who only know of the hobbled, 3-point-averse LeBron sidekick, here are 16 amazing moments you may have forgotten about DWade before he hosts his pal one last time in Miami Sunday.
Only the older heads remember Wade’s blossoming game when, as a junior—but really a sophomore (he was declared academically ineligible as a freshman)—he led Tom Crean’s Golden Eagles to the school’s only Conference USA title and their first berth in the Final Four since 1977.
To get there, they had to go through a Kentucky team featuring future NBA players Keith Bogans and Chuck Hayes that went undefeated in the SEC and 29-3 on the year for the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region. Wade dropped 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting (2-of-2 from three), along with 11 rebounds, 11 assists and—more on this later—four blocks in the win.
In just the third week of his second season in the NBA, Wade dropped 23 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, which in turn led to his career-high up until then (39 points) on a ridiculously efficient 15-of-21 shooting and zero 3-point attempts. Not only that, but with the score tied at 105, the Heat gave Wade the ball at the top of the key and let him go to work. A pump-fake—perhaps the best pump-fake in history—from 20 feet didn’t get Raja Bell (All-Defensive First Team a couple years later) to bite, but his ensuing jumper rattled around the iron before falling through for the game-winning buzzer-beater.
Wade’s all-court brilliance was on full display in his December game against the Pistons in his second NBA season. He scored 31 and added 10 dimes and 10 boards for his first career triple-double. While Russell Westbrook has taken a bit of the sheen off the statistical feat, it’s a good reminder of Wade’s all-around excellence.
In 2009, Wade reached a zenith of sorts when it came to scoring. Shaquille O’Neal was gone and Miami was fully Wade’s team. After injuries kept him out of 30-plus games in each of the previous two seasons, Wade started 79 games in 2009 and you could make the case there was no better scorer in the league at the time (remember, the 3-pointer still hadn’t shifted the geometry of the court yet). Wade scored 40-plus points in 10 games that season, and hit the 50-point mark in three others, leading the league in scoring at 30.2 points per game, on better than 49 percent shooting (stunning when you consider how keyed defenses were to stop him). His final time cracking 50 points came against the Knicks in the very last game of the season in Miami when he hit a career high 55—including a surprising 6-of-12 from deep.
That same 2009 season where Wade led the league in scoring, he also became the only player in NBA history under 6’5” with over 100 blocks in one year. While Wade only made the All-Defensive Second Team three times, including that season, he’s the only player at his height whose footsteps you could hear on a breakaway.
In February of the 2006-07 season, Wade separated his left shoulder and faced a decision: have surgery and miss the remainder of the season or rehabilitate and try to return in time for the playoffs. Wade chose the later and returned in April after missing 23 games to play in all four games against the Bulls before the Heat were eliminated in a sweep. Despite the fact he only appeared in 51 games that season, he became the first guard since “Pistol” Pete Maravich in 1978 to earn All-NBA honors (he was Second Team) despite missing at least 31 games.
That same season, Wade hit a second game-winning buzzer-beater against the Jazz from nearly the same spot in nearly the same way he did three years earlier. This time, it came against Deron Williams. It didn’t come after an epic late-game scoring run like the first time, but it did bounce high off the rim before falling through. Either Wade made a Faustian deal with the Basketball Gods, or he simply willed it through the iron.
1. Father Prime returns to shut Kevin Hart up in Philly
After a 2017 season in his hometown of Chicago and an aborted quarter season with LeBron in Cleveland to start the 2017-18 campaign, Wade’s best days were way behind him when he rejoined the Heat early in February last season. He had been back in Miami less than a month and likely still failing Pat Riley’s daily body fat measurement before reminding fans why they were so foolish to let him leave in the first place. He scored 15 fourth quarter points and the game-winning jumper over Ben Simmons to deliver a Heat win.
But Philly would continue to improve and, while the Heat were good enough for the playoffs, the Sixers had won 16 straight before annihilating the Heat in Game 1 of their first-round match this past April by 27 points. A 36-year-old Wade, on a janky knee and his third team in two years, didn’t care. In Game 2, with Kevin Hart talking smack from the sideline, Wade scored 28 points in 25 minutes off the bench, and blamed Hart for the motivation.
Wade’s clutchness was evident from the beginning. In his very first playoff game, a time when most rookies might be shook, Wade rose to the occasion and foreshadowed his Hall of Fame future. With the score tied at 79 and 11 seconds remaining, Wade got the ball with the floor spread in front of him. He went between the legs to cross over and get Baron Davis on his right hip before hitting the pull-up game-winner with less than two seconds remaining.
If you hadn’t heard of the rookie out of Marquette, you definitely knew him after that one.
Late in the 2009 season, the Bulls and Heat were locked in an epic battle that belied its regular season status. The back-and-forth battle reached the waning moments in the second overtime when Wade added to his legend in one of the more remarkable modern NBA sequences.
The score was even at 127 with six seconds remaining and cagey guard John Salmons had the slower Udonis Haslem guarding him at the top of the key. When he made his move, Wade snuck over on his blind side, picked his pocket, and raced the other way.
With the clock mere seconds from expiring, DWade jumped off one foot just outside the 3-point line, and a lofted runner left his hand just before the buzzer sounded. Swish.
Wade would jump up on the scorer’s table and scream “This is my house,” a rallying cry he’d uttered before and would again. But it felt particularly on point after his miracle steal and shot to win it in the final seconds.
Wade joined Michael Jordan (1997), LeBron James (2011), and later Kevin Durant (2017) by posting a triple double in the 2012 All-Star Game with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. But two years earlier, he captured the NBA All-Star Game MVP with 28 points (11/13 shooting), 11 dimes, six boards, and—as a tribute to when the players actually played on both sides during the mid-season exhibition—five steals.
There was a big difference between 2016 Wade and the rookie version who hit a game-winner to win his first ever playoff game. But he harkened back to his rookie season after the LeBron-less Heat had lost three straight to the Hornets and faced elimination in Game 6. Going into the fourth quarter of a close game, WOW-era Wade showed up down the stretch, scoring 10 of his 23 points in the final quarter, including the game-sealing jumper with 19 seconds left:
Even with LeBron on the team in 2012, Wade was still destined to play hero. Perhaps it was Wade’s seminal performances and LeBron’s only real choke job in the previous June’s Finals, but James had to learn to lead and Wade was his example. In a March contest against the rival Pacers (who would go up 2-1 on them in the Conference semifinals that spring) WOW (the silliest self-administrated nickname in the game) Wade dished the game-tying dime to LeBron in the corner for the 3-pointer to send the game to overtime. Maybe that was the confidence LeBron needed to storm through the playoffs and Finals later that year, but it was, again, in Wade’s capable hands in overtime with a chance to win.
Dwyane’s diabolical pump-fake got Paul George in the air, and—with PG-13 draped all over him—he hit the game-winning jumper with 0.1 seconds left:
James would take home his first Finals MVP later, but even in March of that year, coach Erik Spoelstra still put the ball in Wade’s hands with the game on the line. He didn’t disappoint.
Wade might not be venerated like Kobe or MJ, particularly in all-time pantheon discussions, but he possesses a similar type of bravado as those two when it comes to the final seconds of a close game. We’ve already mentioned his heroics against the Sixers, Bulls, Jazz, and Pacers, but here are three more of his game-winners you may have forgotten: a game-winner vs. the Knicks in 2005.
In that amazing 2009 season, Wade and the Heat were down two to the Nets when he came through again. Except, this time he nearly lost the ball while assessing how he would attack. The brief loss of possession actually placed him beyond the arc and allowed him to win it on one shot, with his 3-pointer pulling the Heat ahead. Bron really should share his MVP award with his Banana Boat buddy.
In 2006, Wade scored 17 fourth quarter points against the defending Eastern Conference champions, the Pistons, including the game-winning jumper with 2.3 seconds left. A more prescient observer may have foreseen this same type of moxie later in the year...
The top three moments of Wade’s career were his evisceration of the 2006 Mavericks. Rightfully pissed Dallas fans, earnest QAnon commenters, and anyone who has ever shared a drink with Mark Cuban unfairly chalk this title up to Tim Donaghy and some Pat Riley-as-George-Soros plot to screw the outspoken Mavs owner over. But the Mavs have no one to blame but themselves and Wade for what happened after they went up 2-0 in the Finals and were up 12 with under nine minutes to play in Game 3. Wade burnished his legend by scoring the final 12 of his 43 points in the last nine minutes to pull the Heat back from the brink of an insurmountable 3-0 hole with a 98-96 win.
The Heat won in a 24-point blowout in Game 4, as Wade added to his scoring total by dropping another 36. In a pivotal Game 5, with the series tied 2-2, he scored an ugly, whistle-heavy 43 points by knocking down 21-of-25 free throws. The last two came with 1.9 seconds to give the Heat a 101-100 win and a 3-2 series advantage.
In Game 6, he scored another 36, including four free throws in the final 30 seconds to extend Miami’s lead for a 95-92 win and earn his only Finals MVP.
