{"id":1344635,"date":"2021-03-31T12:09:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T16:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1344635"},"modified":"2023-07-21T12:25:29","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T16:25:29","slug":"lebron-james-dwyane-wade-best-friends-awkward-first-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/lebron-james-dwyane-wade-best-friends-awkward-first-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James and Dwyane Wade Are Best Friends but Actually Had an Awkward First Encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When NBA fans think of <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/lebron-james\/\">LeBron James<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/dwyane-wade-received-warning-udonis-haslem-about-o-j-simpson-his-woman\/\">Dwyane Wade<\/a>, they, of course, think of the championships they won together on the Miami Heat. They also, though, think of their close friendship. However, despite being best friends, the two future Hall of Famers actually had an awkward first encounter back in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-lebron-james-and-dwyane-wade-are-close-friends\">LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are close friends<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>LeBron James and Dwyane Wade entered the NBA together and ultimately became good friends while doing so. James was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft with the Cavaliers, while Wade was the No. 5 overall pick in that same draft with the Heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They then grew closer during LeBron James\u2019 first stint in Cleveland, which led to James joining Wade on the Miami Heat in 2010. Their bond, though, then became even stronger while playing together in Miami. This is due to the two stars ultimately being there for each other during some tough times &#8212; one being when Wade went through an ugly custody battle with his ex-wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;Thanks for pushing me to be greater than I knew I was.&quot; \u2013 Dwyane Wade to LeBron James. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xOfn4DYOOP\">pic.twitter.com\/xOfn4DYOOP<\/a><\/p>&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsCenter\/status\/1072379720321429505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 11, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c(Having LeBron as his friend) definitely was huge for me when I was going through an ugly divorce that I went through, and an ugly custody battle with the kids, to know that, \u2018Hey deal with what you gotta deal with; We got you on this end,\u2019\u201d Wade said to <a aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=erjqKQaXgsw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ESPN<\/a> in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They also had to overcome the challenge of losing in the NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks during their first season together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen we lost in the Finals in that first year, to be in those moments and be very vulnerable in those moments and not care that the other person see you in that space &#8212; that helps the relationship grow,\u201d Wade said to ESPN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two future Hall of Famers have certainly seen each other in some great moments and some difficult ones. However, although they have developed a strong friendship, James and Wade had an awkward first encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-lebron-james-and-dwyane-wade-had-an-awkward-first-encounter\">LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had an awkward first encounter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As mentioned above, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were in the same draft class together. This led to the two of them first crossing paths at a pre-draft event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"LeBron James and Dwyane Wade exclusive interview with Rachel Nichols | The Jump | ESPN\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/erjqKQaXgsw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/lebron-james-championships-dwyane-wade-teaming-another-friend\/\">LeBron James Won 2 Championships With Dwyane Wade but Potentially Discussed Teaming up With Another Friend Instead<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While at that event, Wade was in the training room, waiting in line for quite some time. He was then next to go when James came in and cut him in line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been there for a long time,\u201d Wade said to James and Rachel Nichols of ESPN in 2017. \u201cYou could\u2019ve came in and [been] like \u2018Nah, let D. Wade go first. He been here longer.\u2019 You just came in like, \u2018I\u2019m the No. 1 pick. This is my draft. Move out the way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wade said that moment was their first conversation ever. Despite it being awkward, though, it actually helped form their tight friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was just like an instant kind of, you've got a connection with somebody,\u201d Wade said to ESPN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two stars ultimately went from being those young athletes in 2003 to becoming NBA legends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Stats courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Basketball Reference<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are best friends and were teammates together on the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. However, their friendship started with an awkward first encounter. This is a look at their friendship, how the two future Hall of Famers first met back in 2003, and their respective NBA careers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":1575113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4857,4828,86460],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LeBron James and Dwyane Wade Are Best Friends but Actually Had an Awkward First Encounter - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LeBron James and Dwyane Wade ultimately became best friends and teammates on the Heat and Cavaliers. But they had an awkward first encounter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/lebron-james-dwyane-wade-best-friends-awkward-first-encounter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LeBron James and Dwyane Wade Are Best Friends but Actually Had an Awkward First Encounter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LeBron James and Dwyane Wade ultimately became best friends and teammates on the Heat and Cavs. However, they had an awkward first encounter.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/lebron-james-dwyane-wade-best-friends-awkward-first-encounter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"DavidWysong22\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-31T16:09:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-21T16:25:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/LeBron-James-and-Dwyane-Wade-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"887\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Wysong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"LeBron James and Dwyane Wade ultimately became best friends and teammates on the Heat and Cavs. However, they had an awkward first encounter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/LeBron-James-and-Dwyane-Wade-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DavidWysong_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Wysong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/lebron-james-dwyane-wade-best-friends-awkward-first-encounter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/lebron-james-dwyane-wade-best-friends-awkward-first-encounter\/\",\"name\":\"LeBron James and Dwyane Wade Are Best Friends but Actually Had an Awkward First Encounter - Sports7\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/lebron-james-dwyane-wade-best-friends-awkward-first-encounter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/lebron-james-dwyane-wade-best-friends-awkward-first-encounter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/LeBron-James-Dwyane-Wade.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-31T16:09:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-21T16:25:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/806b496832206b5b47429530659e1331\"},\"description\":\"LeBron James and Dwyane Wade ultimately became best friends and teammates on the Heat and Cavaliers. 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