Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Wade is one of the greatest players still active in the NBA, at #2 among currently active players, and he has the accolades to prove it. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist, three-time NBA Champion, former scoring leader, and Finals MVP. In his thirteen seasons in the NBA, he has ranked as one of the top 5 players seven times.
Wade's career highlight came in his third season, when he led the Heat to their first NBA Championship as the team's best player, which earned him the Finals MVP award. John Hollinger rated his performance as the best in NBA Finals history, even better than anything that Michael Jordan ever did. Here are his numbers from those playoffs:
Wade - 28.4 pts, 5.9 reb, 5.7 ast, 2.2 stl, 1.1 blk, .497 FG%, .378 3P%, .808 FT%
In addition to the overall totals, Wade had some amazing performances in the Finals. In three straight games he scored at least 36 points, all leading to Heat victories, which were much needed after they began with an 0-2 deficit. There was no doubt that Wade was the reason they were able to overcome the Mavericks and win the title, even with Shaq, the most dominant player of the previous decade, playing beside him.
Wade spent a good portion of the next two season on the injured list, leading many to think that he was destined to become the next Penny Hardaway rather than the next Michael Jordan, but he bounced back strong, missing six games or fewer in each of the next three years and ranking in the top 5 players in the league for 5 straight years.
In 2010, Wade relinquished his role as the best player in Miami in order to bring LeBron James into the fold, and the move paid off, as Miami finally returned to the NBA Finals, losing in six games in a rematch with the Dallas Mavericks. Although he was only the #2 player on his team, he was also the #2 player in the league during the regular season, behind only LeBron, although in the playoffs, Wade regained his role as the best Heat player and was the biggest reason for their run to the Finals. Here are his and LeBron's stats for the regular season and the playoffs:
Wade (Regular) - 25.5 pts, 6.4 reb, 4.6 ast, 1.5 stl, 1.1 blk, .500 FG%, .306 3P%, .758 FT%
Wade (Playoffs) - 24.5 pts, 7.1 reb, 4.4 ast, 1.6 stl, 1.3 blk, .485 FG%, .269 3P%, .777 FT%
James (Regular) - 26.7 pts, 7.5 reb, 7.0 ast, 1.6 stl, 0.6 blk, .510 FG%, .330 3P%, .759 FT%
James (Playoffs) - 23.7 pts, 8.4 reb, 5.9 ast, 1.6 stl, 1.2 blk, .466 FG%, .353 3P%, .763 FT%
Overall, Wade played at almost exactly the same level in the playoffs as during the regular season, while James saw large dips in both scoring and shooting percentage, both very important categories for a team's leading scorer. The following season he was nearly as good, and this time the Heat were able to get it done in the playoffs, with LeBron earning his first title while Wade got his second, with a scoring average of more than 20 points per game in both the regular season and the playoffs.
He was still a decent player on the next year's championship team, earning a third title while LeBron got even better. They reached the Finals again the next season, but Wade's contributions had decreased, although he was still a solid star player. He has continued to score over 19 points per game, which he has done for 12 straight seasons. In all, he has reached 5 NBA Finals, with 4 of those coming while he was a superstar, and three of those coming with rings.
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