At the age of 24, Dwyane Wade won his first championship in 2006. It was also the Heat’s first-ever championship in franchise history. Apart from D-Wade, Shaquille O’Neal also gets a lot of credit for helping the team reach that championship level. However, there was another veteran in the team who wanted The Flash to take over. Gary Payton knew about Wade’s potential and wanted Shaq to take a step back. Recently, in his top 5 list, there was a place for Shaq, not for D-Wade, thanks to Kobe Bryant.

“I’mma put Kobe at the two, Shawn at the three, Karl Malone at the four, and Shaq at the five.” On the Knucklehead podcast, The Glove chose 4 former players alongside him for a hypothetical scenario. So, the host followed it up with the question for excluding Dwyane Wade. GP explained his reason. “I can’t put D-Wade over Kobe, I can’t do that, and then you got to understand…”

For many, the best two-way guard of all time is usually Michael Jordan. Following MJ, it’s Kobe Bryant who gets that spot. That’s why for Payton, there was no place for the Bulls legend, but they couldn’t exclude the Black Mamba. If you think, could Dwyane Wade make his place replacing anyone on that 5-man list? Then, GP once again provided the reasoning.

“Shawn was a beast man. He was a beast. Shawn was a beast.” Payton played with Shawn Kemp for the Supersonics for 7 seasons. That’s why there is a special bond there. “And then Karl Malone was a beast in his prime, and I cannot not do Shaq; you know I can’t do.” Individually. Malone and O’Neal dominated those positions for years, so it would have been unfair as per GP to replace them with Dwyane Wade. The only way the 3x NBA made the list was in place of Kobe Bryant, which Payton was not going to do.

Still, the 17-season veteran previously praised Wade for bringing in the title. In fact he spoke with Shaquille O’Neal to share the role, so Wade could flourish. “You guys lost the Eastern Conference Finals. That’s why Pat Riley brought all of us together. To win a Championship. We’re here. You’ve got to make him be the first tier. Just let him go do him.” It helped the team as Heat got their first championship in their history, and that was also Gary Payton’s first and only trophy in his career.

How did Dwyane Wade pull Miami out of the jaws of defeat?

In the previous season, the Miami franchise fell short in the Eastern Conference finals. A loss to the Detroit Pistons dashed their hopes of a championship, but the next year turned out to be their year. However, even that part was filled with uncertainty as the Heat succumbed to 0-2 in the NBA finals led by Dirk Nowitzki.

Dwyane Wade struggled against the Mavs as he shot a horrendous 38.6% from the field in 2-straight losses to start the series. But ended up being the finals MVP and led his team to their first trophy.

After leading the Heat to the Finals, averaging over 27.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 2 steals per game in the season, Wade struggled to get going in the first two games against the Mavericks. He would score 42, 36, 43, and 36 in the last 4 games of the series to win it 4-2. Plus, he earned the Finals MVP by a landslide, averaging 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.7 steals per game.

So, the faith of Shaquille O’Neal and Gary Payton proved to be fruitful for their careers. Shaq wanted to prove something after his Lakers stint, and GP won his first championship.