Miami Heat icon Dwyane Wade recently caught some heat after saying that skin color was part of why the Heat’s legendary Big 3 received so much hate after teaming up in 2010.
The Big 3, of course, was made up of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.
During the 2010 offseason, a grand opportunity came for the draft classmates to play together in Miami. James, Bosh and Wade were selected with the first, fourth and fifth picks respectively in the 2003 NBA Draft.
Going into the Heat’s Big 3 era, Wade was the only member of the trio who had already played for Miami. He re-signed with the organization following the 2009-10 season. Bosh, a free agent at the time, also decided in the 2010 offseason that he was heading to Miami. James announced his intent to take his talents to South Beach in a television special titled “The Decision.”
The trio’s formation was thought of as an unprecedented move, and Miami immediately became a threat to win multiple titles once its Big 3 era began. That, as well as the way and fact that James and Bosh left their former teams, were some of the likely reasons for the criticisms that were thrown their way.
Even so, the Heat’s Big 3 experiment is still considered by many people around the league to have been a huge success. After all, Miami reached the NBA Finals every year during the trio’s four seasons together. The franchise won two titles during that stretch.
The Big 3 era in Miami ended when James decided to go back home. He returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2014 offseason.