Shaquille O’Neal is remembered for his outstanding performances with the Lakers to clinch championships, where he dominated rival teams and pushed the Lakers to the top. Formerly, he was associated with other teams. Like in 2006, he gave the Miami Heat an exceptional performance that led to the team’s victory.
The relationship between Dwyane Wade and Shaq is well known since they played next to each other for a while. Wade was in his second season with the Heat when Shaq was traded from the Lakers. He mentioned Shaq’s coming to the heat in his recent memoir.
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Dwyane mentioned that he brought a“sense of urgency” to the team. During a conversation with Draymond Green, veteran player Gary Payton shared a story about how he told Shaq to let Wade take over.
Against the Mavericks, Shaquille O’Neal’s understanding of the heat led him to victory
During an interview, the aforementioned stars discussed the conversation that Payton had with Shaq about Wade starting to play in the starting lineup. this was done in part to make Wade the offensive focus of the team. He also recalled telling Shaq not to be mad about not getting the ball in his possession.
“I said, “Man, we’re gonna make him be the first here. Period. You gotta do this for me. I told Shaq “Do this for me. Just let him be the first here. Let him go and do him. If we get you on the block just get there and score”. When he agreed to it and bit in, D-Wade, I ain’t ever seen nobody perform like this ever… He guided us all the way to that championship.”
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Recently in Wade’s stories, he mentioned adding the Instagram post stating, “When your vets are some of the greats and they move over and let you take the wheel… Champs forever.”
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Feel free to discuss what you think about Shaq giving Wade the opportunity for the team at that point.
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