Dwyane Wade and LeBron James were close friends before James went to play with the Heat in Miami back in 2010. It only makes sense that their bond grew even stronger and into a brotherhood as they went on to four NBA Finals and two NBA Championships.
Wade has been hearing all about the so-called “best friend” drama between LeBron and Kevin Love, and quite frankly isn’t surprised. After all, he and the Heat team of 2010-11 were probably the most scrutinized team in NBA history.
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“I think it’s stupid,” Wade said prior to the final matchup between the Cavs and Heat this regular season. “It’s stupid. I guess there’s nothing else to talk about. But LeBron is used to it. He’s had the spotlight on him for a long time, so everything he’s involved with is gonna be a topic. He understands that. His comment recently was just to shut it down.
“People can’t expect you to be best friends with all your teammates. You know how many teammates we’ve had over our career? People don’t have that many best friends. You’re teammates with some guys, cordial with other guys, friendly with some guys — that’s just the way it is in everything. It’s a lot made of nothing.”
Wade can relate to the media circus that Cleveland is receiving in the midst of a very important transitioning season where they go from lottery-bound in 2013-14 to top two or three championship contender. It hasn’t been without its ups and downs, as the Cavs have had to endure a major injury to a key player in Andy Varejao, roster shakeups with Dion Waiters out and J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Timofey Mozgov in, as well as consistent coaching rumors coming out of the blue.
“When you’re going through a season like that, you don’t need it,” says Wade. “There are a lot of distractions already and this is just an added distraction that you don’t need at all. That’s all it is in Cleveland right now is a distraction over something that doesn’t mean nothing.
“It’s something you shouldn’t have to talk about. If you get enough of those, then it becomes a problem. It’s a distraction to have to sit down after wins or losses or whatever and have to talk about are you buddy-buddy with this guy and what’s y’all’s relationship. Why are we talking about that? Let’s talk about wins and losses and whether we’re playing well. It becomes a distraction, but at the same time, you’ve gotta find stories. Stuff gets boring. People gotta have stuff to talk about. What was the outcome? Are they friends or are they not friends? I didn’t watch the coverage.”
The Cavs and Heat are playing on two opposite ends of the spectrum, as Cleveland is close to holding on to the second seed in the East while Miami is close to missing the playoffs for the first time since 2007-08 when they had a 15-67 record. Cleveland defeated Miami Thursday night to further extend their lead over the Chicago Bulls for the second spot. A first round matchup between the two is looking likely if the teams finish second and seventh, respectively.
