WNBA icon Sue Bird is now officially a Hall of Famer as part of the Class of 2025, and she had some fun during her speech at the enshrinement ceremony. Bird played at the 2008 Olympics with the U.S. women’s basketball team and spoke about LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh talking about teaming up at that time.
“I remember that Olympics well,” Bird said. “It was a great Olympics. Both teams hanging out, winning gold. I mean, it was kind of weird how LeBron, Chris, and Dwyane kept yapping about three-year deals with a player option, and where do you want to take your talents? Where do you want to take your talents? I don’t know. I tuned it out. I’m sure Micky [Arison] could probably tell you guys about that later.”
Two years after playing together for the men’s team at the Beijing Olympics, James, Wade, and Bosh would team up on the Miami Heat in 2010. It was a decision that was actually years in the making.
In 2006, James, Wade, and Bosh were all up for extensions with their teams and chose to sign three-year contracts with an option for a fourth year. That meant they all could hit unrestricted free agency in 2010 and team up.
Carmelo Anthony could have been part of this group, too, but he instead chose to sign a five-year deal with the Denver Nuggets in 2006. Wade wanted to advise Anthony to take a three-year deal, too, but he was a bit too late. By the time he reached out, the forward was already in the process of signing his extension.
Anthony has spoken about that decision in the past. He didn’t want to take a risk by accepting a shorter deal and prioritized financial security. Anthony would end up earning bout $262 million in his career, but never won a championship. He almost certainly would have if he had gone along with this plan.
Anthony revealed that James had always spoken about the four of them teaming up and added that the conversation got serious after 2006. They hadn’t decided where they would be going, with teams like the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls being viewed as potential landing spots.
James, Wade, and Bosh ultimately decided to form a Big 3 with the Heat in 2010, as Anthony looked on from a distance. They completely shifted the balance of power and became the dominant force in the NBA.
The Heat made four straight trips to the NBA Finals from 2011 to 2014, winning it all in 2012 and 2013. James had famously stated when they teamed up in 2010 that they were aiming to win quite a few championships.
“Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven … when I say this, I really believe it,”
You wondered when the Heat would stop winning after their second title, but that was it for that group. James was the one who broke up that trio by returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014.
Heat owner Micky Arison hilariously brought up James’ promise during his own Hall of Fame speech on Saturday. It would have been great to win more than seven titles, but they had to make do with two.
