Hall of Fame former Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade hasn’t loved what he’s seen out of his former teammate LeBron James and his new Los Angeles Lakers colleague, Luka Doncic, during their 1-1 first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
James, who won two of his four NBA championships alongside Wade, has been performing at an elite level in the six years since the 6-foot-4 Marquette product retired in 2019.
On his podcast “Time Out with Dwyane Wade,” the 13-time All-Star and three-time league champion issued some words of rebuke for James and Doncic in their battle for series supremacy against All-NBA Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards.
Funnily enough, Edwards — a formidable, dynamic two-way star — reminds many of a young Wade, albeit with a more developed 3-point shot and without quite the same defensive intensity.
“I want to see them be the two baddest motherf—ers on the planet together, I don’t want to see nobody be badder than you. It’s as simple as that,” Wade said. “When I’m watching basketball and I see Luka and LeBron, if they lose, ok you can lose, but I want you too to be the two baddest motherf—ers on the planet together.”
Wade, who lives in L.A. to support the career of his movie star wife Gabrielle Union, wants that dynamic duo to have the most swagger and confidence in the series, but realizes that Edwards has at times claimed the crown.
“When you’re watching that game and you see Anthony Edwards be the baddest motherf—er on that court, I don’t like that,” Wade said.
Through his first two games, Doncic has been on a superlative scoring tear, logging averages of 34.0 points on .500/.389/.950 shooting splits, 10.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.5 blocks at home.
But Wade still thinks he needs to do more in this series.
“It ain’t just about points, it’s just sometimes about the way you walk, the way you talk, it’s about the way you get up after you fall, sometimes I need to see it,” Wade opined of Doncic. “I didn’t see that, I saw them playing basketball.”
James has taken something of a backseat as a scorer in the series so far. The 6-foot-9 pro has been averaging what would be a career-low scoring mark of 20.0 points on .432/.200/1.000 shooting splits, along with 8.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals a night.
Still, Wade chastised the Lakers stars for their approach to the matchup.
“JJ [Redick] said it, they came out with regular season energy,” Wade said. “When you see LeBron in playoff mode, you be like, ‘That’s the best player on the court, that’s the best player in the world.’ Did I see that the other night? “I need to see that from him and Luka, it’s the swagger, it’s the way you walk, the way you talk to people, it’s the whole thing.”
The Lakers are next slated to tip off against the Timberwolves at 6:30 p.m. PT on Friday night, at the Target Center. The bout will be broadcast on ESPN nationally and Spectrum SportsNet locally. It will also be streamed on Spectrum SportsNet+.
