Dwyane Wade and LeBron James didn’t like the fact that Lakers legend Kobe Bryant won his fifth ring, so they teamed up on the Heat.
Thus, when time came for two of the biggest stars hailing from the 2003 NBA Draft class to hit free agency, winning a championship became one of their primary goals as both Wade and James teamed up on the Heat to avoid getting lapped by the Lakers legend in the legacy department.
“I watched Kobe Bryant grab the ball and celebrate, I was like, ‘[LeBron], so what you gonna do? That was our summer of free agency, they were dominating, like Kobe was winning all these rings,” the Heat legend said on the Skweek Show by Tony Parker. “I was like, ‘Wait, hold on. Now he got 5 and we got 1?’ Like no. […] That changed the league.
Change the league, the 2010 NBA free agency period certainly did. The Heat, from a middle-of-the-pack playoff team that won 47 games the year prior, immediately became one of the league’s most legitimate contending teams after assembling the iconic Heatles Big 3 of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh.
