Back in 2011, a young LeBron James was excited to conquer his first NBA Championship just as the Miami Heat was advancing to that year’s Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
According to his former teammate and long-time friend Dwayne Wade, the foward was always overly-ambitious and thirsty for glory. As rival Dirk Nowitzki earned the Finals MVP award that season, the Texan club ultimately beat the Florida side and the 26-year-old LeBron was absolutely devastated.
Check out Wade’s latest interview with Showtime’s Rachel Nichols as he recalls how tough this defeat was for the current Lakers star:
“I was like, ‘This dude’s crazy.'” – Dwyane Wade on this week’s episode of Headliners, explaining how LeBron jumped off a balcony into a pool after losing the 2011 Finals. This story is, well, listen for yourself ⬇️
Full interview is on Showtime tonight & also available streaming pic.twitter.com/BnO14bP1Bf— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 27, 2023
The Heat legend told the story about how the players decided to take their wives Savannah and Gabrielle Union on a vacation in the Bahamas and try to keep their minds off their latest loss. As Wade tells the story, the young star looked down at a swimming pool from a balcony right after they got to their hotel.
As reporter Nichols was in awe of the anecdote and clearly understood that Wade was implying that LeBron wanted to jump off, she asked him if he was clear of the risks of this situation. The journalist knew James could’ve suffered an injury that would impact his career.
“He said how deep do you think that is? [I said] I don’t know, eight or nine feet? He said let me see. [He] took his stuff off, jumped in the pool from the balcony. I promise you … This dude is crazy,” Wade said.
Some time later, the all-time highest NBA scorer had talked about that infamous vacation in the Caribbean, saying that it served as a turning point for his career.
“They were just like, ‘Listen, you need to get back to who you are. We understand the portrayal of what they want you to become right now. That’s not you,” James recalled about a conversation he had with both Wade and his partner.
He remembered that on the first day of their trip he thought long and hard about his identity of a villain, and that he wanted to earn a better reputation for himself.
“You didn’t get to this point in your career by playing the game with the black hat and with that mentality of it’s me against the world,” he remembered.
“You need to get back to that Magic Johnson feeling, mixed with some other guys — that Penny Hardaway flair, but still that determination of MJ [Michael Jordan]. You need to get back to that because that’s just who you are. You are who you are. You’re no one else. Don’t try to be no one else.’”
James has always credited his friend Wade for shaping his unique career
Just to refresh your memories, take a look at this compilation of highlights of LeBron and Dwayne’s partnership on court with the Miami franchise:
“To accomplish what I really wanted to accomplish in this league, and that’s winning at the highest level, I needed him,” James said some time ago. “That’s why I made the jump. I appreciate more than I can express in words what he did for me when I went down to Miami.”
“We did it our way” James recalled with pride. “And it was a great unbelievable ride for 16 years.”
