It’s a well-known fact that LeBron James has a good relationship with several players in the NBA. However, when it comes to his closest of friends, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and Carmelo Anthony are at the top of the list.
In July of 2015, the group of friends decided to spend a bit of their off-season time in the Bahamas, where they were photographed on an inflatable banana boat. Wade and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, can be seen at the helm of the raft, followed by Paul and James. For whatever reason, Anthony was not on-board.
During a recent episode of Road Trippin’ on Uninterrupted, James and Wade joined Allie Clifton and Rafael Hernandez Brito to discuss the now-famous image.
Via Chris Fedor of cleveland.com:
“Jelly (Wade) definitely said, ‘This is not a good idea.’ But we have one friend who is the biggest gasser ever and that’s Chris Paul,” James said during the podcast. “Wherever we go, if it’s like climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, he’s like, ‘We’ve gotta do it.’ So he was the one who gassed us. Then Gab (Gabrielle Union) was like, ‘We’ve gotta do it.’ She was right there with him.”
Wade, a 12-time All Star and three-time champion, made it clear that he was against the rafting idea at the time. “Flash,” as he’s known, says he didn’t know one picture would lead to such publicity.
“We got on that boat one time and we’re known as the banana boat crew,” Wade said with a laugh.
Wade is right, though. Once the image hit the internet, the moniker became synonymous. Whether or not the Banana Boat crew will actually team up in the future remains to be seen, but it’s nice to hear the guys open up a little. To listen to the full episode, fans can head to this link.