In the late 2000s, there was a hot debate about whether the best basketball player in the world was Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. At that time, Bryant was royalty, as he led the Los Angeles Lakers to back-to-back NBA championships while putting up his usual stellar numbers.
But James put up even better numbers for the Cleveland Cavaliers, leading some to believe he had surpassed the Black Mamba, especially since he was named the regular season MVP in 2009 and 2010.
Buy Lakers TicketsAt the same time, Dwyane Wade was playing at an unreal level for the Miami Heat. He averaged 30.2 points, which led the league, 5.0 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.3 blocked shots a game during the 2008-09 campaign, yet he finished third in the MVP balloting behind James and Bryant.
Wade told Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe on “Club Shay Shay” that he, and not James, should’ve won the award that year (h/t The Sports Rush).
“Of course,” said Wade when asked if he should’ve been named the MVP in 2009. “But I also understand why LeBron won it. I think they won 67 games and he averaged roughly the same. Like I understand it, but as an individual player, that was my MVP year.”
Wade never won an MVP in the regular season, while James took home four such awards. But the Marquette University product did win three world championships, including an NBA Finals MVP award in 2006. Of course, two of those rings came after James took his talents to Miami to team up with Wade.
Wade’s performance in the 2006 championship series rivals that of anyone else in league history, and that includes anything Bryant or James, or for that matter, Michael Jordan, ever did on that stage.
