Getty LeBron James and Dwayne Wade embrace after going head to head for the last time.
LeBron James made history Wednesday night when he passed Michael Jordan for fourth place on NBA’s all-time scoring list.
Heading into Wednesday’s game against the Denver Nuggets, James was 12 points behind Jordan and scored his 13th point on a driving bucket just past the midway point of the second quarter to pass MJ.
James finished the game with 31 points for a career points total is 32,311 points in 1,190 games and 45,970 minutes. Jordan scored 32,292 career points in 1,072 games and 41,011 minutes.
In his 16th season in the NBA, and still very active in the NBA, James’ lasting legacy will probably be how he managed his brand and how he was able to fit on other teams while taking shorter term contractual deals.
His move to the Miami Heat symblozied that the most. James was part of the big three trio of Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and himself that won two NBA championships. “I think when he got to certain levels, he was like, ‘oh, okay, I thought I was going hard, I gotta go this hard,'” Wade’s former Miami Heat teammate, Quentin Richardson told the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“And I heard him say something like: ‘I thought I had been going hard, then when I started playing with LeBron, I saw how hard he worked, so I had to start doing this.’
LeBron would later return back to the Cavaliers, the team that drafted him in 2014 and won a championship with the Cavs in 2016. But while ‘Bron and D-Wade were in Miami, they got busy.
Wade also let LeBron be LeBron. “So the thing about Dwyane is that he’s that type of person that he’s able to be humble enough to see that, ‘it’s also another level I could go to,” Richardson told the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“Even when I’m at this level, i’m still not doing it the best, so i’m still not working the hardest, and this dude over here is going like this, so i’m gonna take this from him and take that.’ And he’s the type of person to continue to add, he’s not going to settle for where he is.”
Wade had stints with the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers before finding his way back home to Miami in a trade last season.
Wade’s return to the Heat last season was a full circle moment after the future Hall of Famer left M-I-A in 2016 when the Heat refused to pay him what he thought he was worth.
Wade got the world’s attention in game one of the Heat’s first round playoff series against the New Orleans Hornets in 2004.
With 1.3 seconds remaining and tied at 79 apiece, Wade hit Hornets point guard Baron Davis with an ankle breaker crossover and drove to the basket making a running jumper amid the outstretched arm of Hornets center Jamaal Magloire. The basket gave the Heat a 81-79 victory and Miami would end up winning the series in seven games.
“I knew he was a special player even back then,” Wade’s former Miami Heat teammate, Rafer Alston, told me.
Wade, a three-time NBA champion is averaging 14.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists in his final NBA season.