Dwyane Wade has been a go-to guy throughout his NBA career. So when word came down that Wade approached the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ coaching staff and wanted to come off the bench, it was something of a surprise. The move meant that Wade was going to become the team’s sixth man while J.R. Smith regained a starting job.
Wade has thrived coming off the bench, as he has put up better numbers in his “reduced” role. Additionally, the team has been playing its best basketball as Wade has gotten used to being a sixth man, as Cleveland is 14-1 over its last 15 games.
Maybe the most surprising part is that Wade didn’t struggle with the realization that the best move for himself and for his new team would be for him to come off the bench. Wade explained this to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports, saying that his ego didn’t want him to become a bench guy even though he knew that was for the best.
“Look in the mirror man, and that’s what I did,” he said. “Even my ego saying, ‘I’ve been a starter, and I’ve had this kind of career,’ I still wasn’t going to make the best of it just by being in the starting lineup because of my ego.
“So for me, I was, ‘OK, where can you be your better self and how can you enjoy playing the game and be happy playing the game?’ To me, it was just about making the best of my situation and understanding where I was going to be best at.”
Wade is a veteran, and across all sports, it’s really common to hear older guys express discontent with going from a focal point to an ancillary piece of a franchise. But Wade is different, as he seems like he knew this was an inevitability and that he was ready to accept this whenever it happened during his career.
As he told Zillgitt, this is something he would discuss with Erik Spoelstra when he was still on the Heat. Wade says that Spoelstra would always ask “Can you re-invent yourself?” He’s kept this in mind in Cleveland, and so far, the answer has been a resounding yes.
