Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James believes that Dwyane Wade, his long-time friend and newly-acquired teammate, should be the front-runner for this season’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
“He’s probably the No. 1 candidate,” James told Joe Vardon of cleveland.com after Saturday morning’s practice. “Not even being biased, that’s one of my best friends,” James continued. “Just looking at the teams. Eric Gordon has had to start a lot this season because CP (Chris Paul) was out. (Andre) Iguodala’s been out a little bit, you look at Manu (Ginobili), you look at Jamal Crawford … those are sixth man guys, right? D-Wade would probably be leading that right now, but there’s a long way to go.”
Though the season is young, there can certainly be a case made for Wade winning Sixth Man of the Year. When he first joined the Cavs, it was unclear what sort of role he would play. In fact, it was unclear as to whether or not he’d even be a starter. Now, as the voluntary leader of Cleveland’s talented bench squad, the former Marquette Golden Eagles stand-out is making waves.
In his 21 games played for the Cavs this season, Wade, now 35 years of age and in his 15th year of NBA service, has turned in averages of 11.1 points on 43.5 percent shooting from the field (34.6 percent from beyond the arc), 3.9 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and just under one block (0.9) in 23.4 minutes per contest.
Wade has managed to rack up double-digits in the scoring column in each of Cleveland’s previous five games. Over that stretch, the three-time NBA champion has averaged 15.8 points and an outstanding 54.5 shooting percentage from downtown — all while blocking 1.2 shots per game.
Let’s see if Wade can continue this excellent level of play. He and the Cavs, winners of ten consecutive games (longest active streak in the NBA), will square off against the Memphis Grizzlies inside Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports South having live broadcast coverage.