The Down Years and Injuries
The following season, Wade’s ensuing health problems began to hurt the Heat, as he missed 31 total games due to injury in the 2006-07 season. Even then, Wade was elected to his third consecutive All Star game and received All-NBA honors.
Despite Wade’s brilliance, the Heat found themselves at a pedestrian 20-25 heading into February. With both Shaquille O’Neal and Pat Riley returning, many thought Miami would find their groove in the second half of the season, until Wade dislocated his left shoulder and was assisted off the court in a wheelchair during a game against the Houston Rockets. Instead of going with surgery which would effectively end his season, Wade chose to rehabilitate the injury with intentions of rejoining the team in the playoffs.
After missing a total of 23 games to recover, Wade would return to the Heat against the Charlotte Bobcats, putting up 12 points and 8 assists in 27 minutes as Miami lost 111-103 in overtime.
For the season, Wade put up averages of 27.4 points, 7.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 steals while shooting 50 percent from the field, all while leading the league in Player Efficiency Rating.
Entering the 2007 playoffs, the fourth seed Heat took on the fifth seed Chicago Bulls, a series Miami would lose 4-0 despite Wade averaging 23.5 points, 6.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds over the four games.
Despite the moderate success, Wade would undergo a pair of offseason surgeries to repair both his left shoulder and his left knee.
Wade would return to the court on November 14, 2007 after missing both the Olympic Qualifying Tournament and Miami’s first seven regular season games. He would battle knee ailments throughout the entire season while being elected an All Star for the fourth straight time. With that being said, the Heat held the worst record in the entire NBA, which led to Pat Riley deactivating Wade for the final 21 games so Wade could have OssaTron treatment performed on his left knee.
In 51 games played, Wade put up averages of 24.6 points, 6.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game.
Next: Comeback season and First Round Exits