After Brushing Off Individual Success for 13 Years, Dwyane Wade?s Special Moment With Boyhood Idol Compelled Him to Change Perspective

Dwyane Wade earned more accolades in the NBA than most of his peers during his time in the league. As someone who idolized the great Michael Jordan growing up, the Flash also showcased his skills on both ends of the court. And that got him major recognition. But his 13 All-Star selections were not something that he really cared about up until two years ago. In an interview last year, Wade opened up about the apparent flawed award system in the NBA and the one time in his career when he was happy about his individual accomplishments.

Individual awards didn’t hold much value to him, as he was always a team-first player.

The only time Dwyane Wade was happy for his individual accomplishments

During Wade’s appearance on the Point Forward podcast, Evan Turner congratulated the former Miami Heat star for making the NBA’s top 75 players list and being given recognition. Wade replied by saying that making the top 75 was the “most humbling individual moment” in his career.

Wade further stated that “everyone wants to do good individually.” But he fell in love with basketball because of the team aspect of the game. That’s what he always had in mind when playing the game.

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He didn’t understand the value of the awards back then, but he did that time because he got to share the stage with his idol, Michael Jordan, because of them.

Getting inducted into the top 75 is one of the only things he ever cheered about achieving individually. Sharing the stage with his idol made Wade change his thoughts on individual awards. However, he also opened up about the flawed award system in the league.

Wade talks about the flawed NBA award system

The Miami Heat legend talked about the time he tried to attain the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year during the podcast. He tried to get them both in the same season. But he came up third in both categories. Later, he was announced to be on the All-Defensive Second team. This confused him because he came third in the Defensive Player of the Year award but didn’t make the First Team in Defense.

He called the awards “stupid” and realized that it meant nothing to win an award. This made him take his attention away from looking for individual accomplishments during his playing days. This, in turn, allowed him to be a team-first player, and he was one of the best teammates to have on the basketball court.

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