Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade Share Failed Plan To Team With LeBron James On Miami Heat
The Miami Heat found an abundance of success with LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade from 2010 to 2014, but they almost added a fourth All-Star.
Future Hall of Famer Chris Paul's career was at a crossroads in 2010, prior to his trade to the Los Angeles Clippers. During his tenure with the New Orleans Hornets, he was a four-time All-Star and one of the best guards in the NBA.
However, the Clippers weren't his first choice of destination.
Paul and Wade recently discussed they planed to team up in Miami in 2011.
"We was talking about me coming to Miami. We was talking about who was gonna have the ball in their hands, how it’s going to work," Paul said on 'The Why with Dwyane Wade' with iHeart Podcasts. "Then who was it? Was it CJ [Paul's brother] who said something about who was going to wear number three?”
Wade responded, “Bro, that’s what I wanted to get to. We talk about all of this, who gonna have the ball, how we’re all going to play together, no CP can have the ball. We done figured all that out. And then somebody said ‘Well who gon’ wear number three?’ Silence. Messed the whole trade up."
Paul, along with big men Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, made noise in the Western Conference for years but never won an NBA championship. Meanwhile, the Heat reached the NBA Finals in four consecutive seasons, winning twice.
“I don’t know what they was gon’ do. Since you was older, you could probably wear 33," Paul joked.
“I wasn’t older. I was prime! I was in my prime," Wade said. “...I’m saying [Pat] Riley didn’t pull the trigger because CP wasn’t going to be able to wear number three in Miami. And that ended the whole conversation…I remember when that question was posed I was like ‘What are you talking about? Just get another number.’ And CP was like no. Whole trade, all because of a jersey number.”
Although Wade and James benefited from their tenures on the Heat, Paul could have found championship success with them. Instead, he is regarded as one of the greatest players in league history without a title.
Anthony Pasciolla works as a contributing writer to Inside the Heat.
He can be reached at ampasciolla@gmail.com or follow him on Instagram @anthony.pasciolla.
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