LeBron James is a big football fan, which isn’t even a secret, and that side of him manifested again Tuesday after the Cleveland Cavaliers picked up a 119-116 road loss at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaking with reporters following the loss, James compared his partnership with Dwyane Wade to that of former San Francisco 49ers legendary quarterback tandem of Joe Montana and Steve Young, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
It’s actually a perfect comparison. While James leads the Cavs starters, Wade often comes off the bench to spearhead the team’s second unit. This is similar to those late 1980s Niners team in which Montana was the starter while Young would come off the bench to lend quality back-up quarterbacking services to the team. Together, Montana and Young would team up to win two Super Bowl titles with San Francisco.
Both signal-callers would also be named into the Hall of Fame, a surefire destination for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade down the line. Not in Canton, of course, but in Springfield.
James thought of the comparison with Wade scoring nine points in the fourth quarter of the Bucks game to help the Cavs erase a 15-point deficit at the beginning of the period. While it wasn’t enough to nail a win, Wade showed that he remains a very relevant component for the Cavs, albeit in a new role as a reserve.
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and the rest of the Cavs will look to pick up the pieces this coming Thursday at home versus the streaking Chicago Bulls.