Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade and Oklahoma City Thunder star Chris Paul are close friends off the court, but they never played together in the NBA.
As it turns out, the reason why is because the two players could never come to an agreement regarding who would give up the No. 3 jersey.
“I remember my brother was sitting over there on the couch,” Paul recounted. “And C.J. [Paul] was like, ‘That ain’t going to work anyway, because who gonna wear number three?’ C.J. said, ‘Who gonna wear number three.’ And then you was on the phone, you know what’s crazy? I sorta found out who you were then. Because when C.J. said that, the next thing that you was supposed to say was like, ‘Oh nah, it’s cool, we’ll make it work. I’ll give up number three.’ That’s what you were supposed to say.”
Wade then offered his reason why he could never give up the No. 3 Heat jersey.
“No, that was like my team, I couldn’t give up number three,” he said. “It was going to be retired there one day. I knew I couldn’t that.”
The three-time champ then came to the hilarious conclusion why the younger Paul was never moved to the Heat.
“For all the people out there that’s listening, C.P. didn’t come to Miami because we couldn’t come to an agreement on number three,” Wade said while laughing.
Last offseason, numerous rumors linked the Heat to the younger Paul. While no deal ultimately took place, it was likely not a jersey number that held up the trade.
It is primarily believed that the younger Paul was not an attractive asset in the Heat’s eyes because of his hefty contract paired with the fact that he is already 34 years old.
With that being said, the younger Paul has played incredibly well this season for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Prior to the stoppage of play, he was averaging 17.7 points, 6.8 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game. He also helped lead the Thunder to a strong 40-24 record on the year.