Former Miami Heat legend and 2023 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Dwyane Wade won three NBA titles with the franchise throughout his illustrious career.
Two of Wade’s championship victories came as a vital member of the Heat’s unstoppable ‘Big 3’ trio, co-starring with LeBron James and Chris Bosh after both superstars famously made their way to Miami in the summer of 2010.
Though the three all-time talents were able to raise the Larry O’Brien trophy twice as teammates, Wade recently revealed during an appearance on Barstool Sports'”Pardon My Take” podcast that Bosh was originally hesitant to leave the Toronto Raptors and join the 2006 NBA Finals MVP in Miami.
“I think the one thing is, is that Chris Bosh was in Toronto,” Wade shared with Dan ‘Big Cat’ Katz and Eric ‘PFT Commenter’ Sollenberger on Friday.
“And so, once Chris Bosh got a chance to come out here and get, you know, everybody was throwing flowers at his feet, he wavered a couple times. Like, we didn’t know if he was going to be a part of the opportunity for us to play together.”
“So, it wasn’t 100%, but it was a conversation that we had going into free agency like, ‘Hey, we would all love to play together…but also you’ve got to go off and you’ve got to see what’s best for you, but ultimately, we would love to play together.”
Throughout his appearance on the show, Wade also told Katz of the uncertainty regarding James’ free agency meetings and discussed some other potential third star additions if Bosh were to have gotten cold feet.
Among the most notable candidates to replace Bosh, former All-Star power forwards in the Phoenix Suns‘ Amar’e Stoudemire and Utah Jazz‘s Carlos Boozer sat atop Wade’s list, as both were also members of a stacked free agent class in 2010.
While the possible addition of either versatile frontcourt forces would have altered the course of NBA history, it could be assumed that Wade remains satisfied with Bosh’s arrival to Miami in the long run.
