“Oohs and ahhs,’ they come before boos sometimes. I hope our fans are just appreciative of what he brought to this organization in four years.” Post his spell with the Miami Heat and return to Cleveland, LeBron James was a villain once again as the Miami Heat expressed displeasure. But it was Dwyane Wade who stepped up. After all, both were at the receiving end of the Cavaliers’ fans during their Big 3 era.

“We know it was going to turn into a hate.”Deep down D-Wade knew that partnership with his best friend would bring in some level of disappointment. But it would turn out to be something he had never experienced before. “I didn’t grow up in the times like where our parents can tell us about the hate that they experienced by being black in America. But I grew up in the times where I went back to Cleveland with LeBron and I’m going to tell you what I experienced,” Wade admits.

Both were free agents at the time, the Miami Dade county, even renamed it to ‘Miami Wade’ to convince their star player to stay. He not only stayed but bought in LeBron James and Chris Bosh to form the ‘Big 3.’ They ended up going to 4 finals and two championships in 4 seasons. But the Cleveland fans weren’t welcoming of the journey. Not that they had anything against Wade prior or after; rather, only when he went back to the city with Bron. Comments against his family were also something he had to deal with.

“I experienced hate about being black in America. That was crazy. Now mind you, I played in Cleveland, everything was cool when I went back there. But that moment dog! People who was talking about my mama in a way I ain’t never seen nobody talk about my mama.”

According to Dwyane Wade, even the hate for LeBron James was unreal. Cleveland fans would wear his jersey and write a message to display their anger: ‘Fu– LeBron’, yet the 39-year-old powered through all those times to deliver championships for the Heat franchise. For that, the OGs Podcast co-host had previously credited D-Wade with being a mentor to LeBron.

This was not the first time The Flash has spoken about his experience during the Big 3 era. Previously, he even criticized media for turning the narrative against the players.

Dwyane Wade wasn’t keen on being the villain

On Shannon Sharpe’s podcast, the 3x NBA Champion exposed the PR strategy of the organization that throws players under the bus. “How have organizations been able to convince the fans that whatever they do is business? Yeah, whatever the player does is out of greed, yeah, selfish motivation. I don’t understand that at the PR for the organization, they got the best PR person.”

That Club Shay Shay podcast appearance was in mid-June last year. A year on his own podcast, Dwyane Wade gave more details about his time alongside LeBron James with the Miami Heat. “I didn’t like it. I’m not a Villain, I don’t want to be that.” Dwyane Wade said, via The Wine Down. “I want to play basketball. I want to smile when I want to. I want to talk a little sh–.”

No doubt playing in the Miami Heat and the Big 3 partnership of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and LeBron James brought joy to lot of fans. But James’ infamous ‘The Decision’ did not go down well with the Cleveland fans. But he made up for it the second time, and when Heat fans started booing him, D-Wade stepped up for his best friend.