Former Miami Heat teammate Caron Butler compares Dwyane Wade to Michael Jordan
Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade is often considered the third-best shooting guard in NBA history.
A former teammate recently gave him the ultimate compliment. Retired player Caron Butler, who played with Wade in Miami during the 2003-04 season, compared him to a young Michael Jordan. The subject surfaced while discussing ESPN's "The Last Dance" documentary about Jordan's career.
“It was crazy, Dwyane was so talented,” Caron Butler said during a recent podcast interview with Clutchpoints. “It was special for the Heat to acquire him and be on the same team because we knew he was special immediately when he came in. You’ve seen the story of Michael Jordan and how when Jordan came in, he was itching and fighting to be the best on the team immediately and he said he attacked the best player on the team. It was no different with Dwyane Wade."
Butler was the Heat's first-round draft pick the year before Wade arrived. They only played together one season before Butler was involved in the trade for center Shaquille O'Neal from the Los Angeles Lakers.
That season, the Heat lost to the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the playoffs. The young team was led by Lamar Odom and Butler, but Wade began showing signs of greatness as a rookie. He hit the winning basket in the closing seconds of Game 1 against the New Orleans Hornets in the first round. Two years later, Wade helped lead the Heat to their first NBA championship and became the signature face of the franchise before retiring last season after a 16-year career.
“Once he came onto the scene, people just knew that he was ‘it,"' Butler said. "Whatever ‘it’ is, he had ‘it.’ He came and he dominated and I felt like as good as he was at the collegiate level, the space of the NBA opened up and it was really fit for his game.”
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