As Luka Doncic gets integrated into the Los Angeles Lakers’ rotation, the wild takes and predictions have only gained steam, and Dwyane Wade is ready to put a stop to them.
When the Los Angeles Lakers shocked the sporting world and traded for Luka Doncic, somehow fleecing the Dallas Mavericks out of their best player, predictions started to run wild.
Not only was Doncic, a top-five active player, teaming up with LeBron James, one of the best NBA players of all time, but they were doing so on the Lakers, which is easily the biggest basketball team in the world. Even if Doncic and James weren’t able to coexist perfectly, the expectation was that the Lakers would be dangerous and build another dynasty as Doncic continues to enter his prime.
Since the All-Star Break, the Lakers are 8-4 but are a perfect 7-0 when their two best players suit up.
Doncic is already being touted as James’ best teammate ever, which is a pretty impressive feat, although one rival in that conversation thinks fans are getting ahead of themselves.
Out of James’ marquee teammates–Dwyane Wade, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Doncic–only “The Flash” has won multiple rings. The two played together for four seasons with the Miami Heat, making the Finals all four years and winning two rings side by side.
When it’s all said and done, Wade should be remembered as the most talented teammate of James’, only overshadowed by James’ excellence during that four-year stretch, which was arguably his most dominant.
Davis and Wade are the two best players ever to share the court with “The King.” Doncic might be more talented, but the sample size is simply too small to make any definitive arguments, or that’s at least what Wade would believe.
“They was having this conversation about Luka being LeBron’s favorite teammate,” said Wade on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. “I’m like, they played six games. That’s crazy.”
In total, the duo has played 11 games together and is 9-3 during that stretch. The Lakers have gone from a middling team to the fifth seed in the West, but James is currently injured, and they are expected to make a postseason push.
“The game is just so different,” Wade argued. “And everybody immediately, every time LeBron plays with somebody, they want to go right back, ‘He better than this, better than Anthony Davis.’ What happened to Anthony Davis? We forgot about him? Because not too long ago, Anthony Davis was the best player LeBron ever played with.”
While Wade and LeBron won two titles together, James winning his fifth ring this season at age 40 would be one of the most impressive accomplishments in league history.
“Can he win a championship at this time with Luka at 40-something years old? Then that’s going to be incredible,” conceded Wade. “If Luka is able to help him win a championship at this age and this stage in his life.”
While Wade will admit he “hates” the conversations surrounding the LeBron’s Best Teammate debate, he understands he might have to pass the torch this season or the next.
“I hate the comparison because it’s unfair to Luka, first of all,” Wade finished. “But LeBron continues to play through different generations. And the game has continued to change.”
There’s a sizable chunk of NBA fans who don’t remember a league without James playing at a high level, and he continues to play and dominate with players who are emblematic of different eras, which is arguably his most impressive feat.
