There already was an All-Star berth, and Dwyane Wade is not about to get greedy.
Besides, this "One Last Dance" never was about personal hardware.
So, no, even as he checks in first nightly among Miami Heat reserves, and even with leading his team in scoring 11 times and in assists 14 times, Wade insists there hasn't been a thought about the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award.
"No," he said with a smile, "because I always thought of myself as a starter."
That hasn't been the case this season, by mutual decision between team and icon, even when coach Erik Spoelstra instead has had to turn to players such as Duncan Robinson. Wayne Ellington or Tyler Johnson as spot starters.
And yet, at 37, Wade went into the weekend as one of only five players to average at least 14 points off the bench in at least 55 appearances as a reserve.
"You don't really think about winning it. You don't really think about that," Wade said. "And I never even this year or even last year coming off the bench, it's never like, 'Oh, let me go for Sixth Man of the Year because I'm in the sixth-man role.'
"It's never really been my mentality."
Among the NBA's top 20 in bench scoring, Wade's 25.5 minutes per game entering the weekend placed him 16th. So perhaps the ultimate title might be most-efficient sixth man of the year.
Many on the list, however, are career reserves, unlike Wade, whose apprenticeship in the role came at the start of his 15th season, with the Cleveland Cavaliers, before joining the Heat at the 2018 NBA trading deadline.
So while he is approaching the finishing line, he, in many ways, also is at the starting line of this career changeup.
"It's just a little harder at 37 sometimes," he said. "I've tried. I'm comfortable in my role. I know around the time I'm coming in and what I need to do when I get in there and some nights I can do it and some nights it's not the same. But I'm pretty comfortable in it."
The Heat never have had an NBA Sixth Man of the Year in their 31 seasons, with the award instituted in 1982-83. Last season, Wade placed in a tie for 10th in the media balloting, with Ellington, then still a Heat teammate, fifth in the 2018 vote and current teammate Kelly Olynyk sixth.
Last season's award was won by Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams, who again stands as the front-runner. Williams on Tuesday became the NBA's all-time leader in bench points, passing Dell Curry's 11,147 bench points.
"He's like the next Jamal Crawford," Wade said, with Crawford a three-time winner of the award, a number Williams could match this June.
Of Williams, Wade said, "I think what I appreciate is a guy who's had the success that he had, as you see, he can score with the best of 'em. He can play with the best of 'em, but he's accepted his role in the NBA of, 'I'm going to be the best at this.'
"And that's not easy for a guy to accept. And it's not saying that a bench role is diminishing, but a lot of guys, they want to be starters, they want to have that starter tag. And he's said, playing in Philly with AI (Allen Iverson) that was kind of his niche. That's why he's respected the way he is. So I respect him for it."
The top three finishers in the media balloting conducted at the end of the regular season then will be invited to the league's annual awards show, with the winner to be revealed June 24 in Los Angeles.
While Wade received ample support in fan voting for the All-Star Game, the media support was not as strong. As it is, beyond Williams the list of front-runners includes his Clippers teammate Montrezl Harrell, as well as Domantas Sabonis, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dennis Schroder and perhaps Terrence Ross.
"Probably not," Wade said of receiving an invitation to the awards show, with ample alternative options for his summer. "They deserve it. They don't need to call me."
