Dwyane Wade Says Kobe’s 5th Ring Helped Land LeBron James

Dwyane Wade & LeBron James – Source: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images / Getty

Dwyane Wade says Kobe Bryant securing his fifth NBA championship helped him get LeBron James to come to the Miami Heat.

One thing podcasts have given us is unfiltered stories from legends across different industries and professions. In the sports realm, it seems everyone saves their best stories for their retirement. It’s almost like doing the interviews is therapy for the players more than entertainment for the listeners. According to Complex, Dwyane Wade was on Tony Parker’s Skweek Show and revealed how he lured LeBron James to Miami in 2010 with indirect help from Kobe Bryant.

At the time Kobe had just won his fifth NBA championship with the Lakers and not everyone was excited for him.

“I remember cutting my TV off as soon as Kobe ran and grabbed that ball I was like, ‘LeBron, so what you gonna do,’” Wade recalled. “That was our summer free agency. They [Lakers] were dominating. Kobe was winning all these rings. I was like, ‘Hold on, now he got five and we got 1? Like, no. That changed the league.”

Additionally, when you look back at what happened after that faithful summer everything changed. LeBron and Wade spent four seasons together and went to four straight finals. They ended up winning two rings together all thanks to the Black Mamba. If this never happened it would be safe to say the modern-day NBA as we know it might not exist.

You can watch the full episode with all of D-Wade’s stories below.