Dwyane Wade’s Career Path Could Be a Harsh Lesson for Mavericks-Bound Klay Thompon

It’s starting to feel like deja vu. Klay Thompson unfollowed the Golden State Warriors online, removed the traces of his fellow Splash Brother, Steph Curry, effectively breaking that partnership, and went to the team that’s coming off a finals appearance. Klay’s exit from Golden State signals the team is going on a different track while he is prioritizing his championship window. He’s agreed to a sign-and-trade with Western Conference champions, Dallas Mavericks, and the entire situation is a lot to absorb. It’s a situation Miami has seen play out.

Dwyane Wade’s career was not how we imagined it either. So storied was his presence in Heat Culture, the city renamed itself Wade County. Then in a shocker to the city, he broke up with the Heat and went to Chicago. Another stint in Cleveland later, he returned but it was not the same. Could it be the same for Klay?

Dwyane Wade 2.0 or rewriting history?

After 13 seasons and four championships with the Golden State Warriors, Klay Thompson broke up the Splash Brothers and is heading to Dallas. According to two analysts, the Warriors prioritized staying under the tax bracket and Thompson prioritized his chances to win a title along with the perks of living in Texas. The Lakers failed to land Thompson too, indicating he’s done with California. He now joins a list of NBA stars who left the teams they rose to fame. That list poignantly includes Michael Jordan who went from the Bulls to the Wizards. Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Paul Pierce are others.

Other than Jordan, Dwyane Wade stands out in this list. In fact, the statement floating around social media is, “The Klay situation in Golden State looks eerily similar.” The factors surrounding Jordan’s exit from the Bulls were multi-faceted. For D-Wade, to leave the city he was revered in after 13 seasons, there was a primary reason.

Three championships in, Miami offered Wade a two-year contract worth $40 million. The Chicago native ended up taking a $47 million contract with the team he grew up watching go to six championships under His Airness. D-Wade would later express that he thought he’d play in Miami forever but, “I found out very quickly that this is a business.” 

It was business for the Warriors too. But teams restructure. Players rarely do. Jordan was still productive in Washington, but without Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, it didn’t matter. D-Wade was an ideal Robin to Shaquille O’Neal or LeBron James, but not the same without Udonis Haslem. He’d team up with future Heat star, Jimmy Butler in Chicago but injuries came in the way of his productivity. He still averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 60 games for the Bulls.

Before that contract ended, the Bulls agreed to a buyout with Wade. That brought him to the Cleveland Cavaliers, reunited with Bron. But the thing though, he was the villain in Cleveland to put it simply. In 2010, he and James were up for free agency along with Chris Bosh. Wade, Haslem, and others took a paycut to free up cap space so Miami could sign James and Bosh, forming the back-to-back championship winning Big 3 of the team. The result would be that Wade got booed every time he played in Cleveland and when he was officially part of the team too, he was never in. The treatment to his friend also baffled James.

Yet nothing could rectify it. Wade took on more of a bench role in Cleveland and in the limited games he appeared in, he averaged 11.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, clearly a sharp decline from his days in Miami. Wade and James would leave for separate destinations within the year and The Flash was back in Miami. Yet all was not the same.

Dwyane Wade a precautionary tale for Klay Thompson

There’s no way to predict how Klay’s transition from a ‘Dub for life’ to the Mavs will go. It could actually work the way Kyrie has brought much-needed championship experience to the team. Of course recreating the Splash Brothers is not possible without Curry and it would be foolish to expect that either. It’s not necessary that his numbers would fall either the way Wade’s did.

ESPN’s Zach Lowe is a lot like us. He painted a sentimental scenario where Thompson will mentor the youngsters like Luka Doncic and Dereck Lively the way Wade was to Butler. Lowe sees Thompson’s chances of adapting to a new team much higher than Curry or Draymond. The possibility of his return remains open and he could do what Wade did.

He played his final two NBA seasons in Wade County and retired here in 2019, as everyone always imagined. Miami retired his #3 jersey in 2020, was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2023, and will soon have a statue at Kaseya Center in his honor. Similarly, the Dubs already know they will retire Thompson’s #11 in the future, whether he comes back to end his career in the Bay Area, only time will tell.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.