Miami Heat icon Dwyane Wade has never cared for individual honors throughout his career. However, being a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary team is different, with Wade taking great pride in the recognition.
Speaking on the Point Forward podcast, Wade opened up how important it was for him to be one of the 75 greatest players to ever step foot on the NBA. He described it as “one of the most humbling individual moments” of his career, noting that it was the first time he actually cared about an individual honor.
“I didn’t know it, I didn’t know it was gonna be. We all want to do well individually, but I’ve never played sports for the individual. I’ve always played from what I fell in love with it, with the team aspect. I’ve always been okay with not getting an award. I remember when I was trying to get MVP one year and I was going off for Defensive Player of the Year the same year in ’08 and I came third in both of them,” Wade shared.
“They just proved to me again that individual awards meant nothing, and so the 75 was probably the first time since then that I really cared about something individually.”
True enough, while MVP awards and other annual accolades are great, the NBA 75 honor hits differently. After all, only a few can really say they are among the greatest that ever played in the NBA. Furthermore, it is something that can never be taken away from them now.
For what it’s worth, though, Dwyane Wade definitely deserved to be a member of the NBA 75 team. He has done it all in his career, and he has inspired many others to pursue the game they love. Soon enough, Wade will be in the Hall of Fame as well.
