NBA star Dwyane Wade feels accomplished in career with Miami Heat

Dwyane Wade may have rejoined LeBron James via the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he still looks fondly at his career with the Miami Heat.

Sometimes, it still feels surreal to see Dwyane Wade in anything but a Miami Heat jersey. Even more so, to see him in a Cleveland Cavaliers one.

In fact, just recently, head coach Erik Spoelstra commented on exactly that.

"“This is like the twilight zone. Every time he’s in a new uniform you’re like, OK, but not that team. It will never seem right. For me, I hate it.”"

And clearly, he’s not alone.

However, unlike a portion of Heat Nation that appears to have amnesia regarding how much Wade did for the organization, instead writing him off as a traitor, Spoelstra still considers him family.

"“The thing I’m most grateful for, I think of all the 13 years, for whatever reason last year I think was the closest we ever were. .. a deeper feeling, a deeper respect and a deeper love and not just basketball. I’ll cherish that.”"

Cherish it, but not dwell upon it.

Wade’s departure set into motion a new era of Miami Heat Basketball. One that may have started off rocky, with only an 11-30 record to show for. But that quickly had the entirety of the league talking. 11-30 became 30-11, and just like that, the team was back at .500, ending the 2016-17 season at 41-41. And despite missing the postseason by one game, ironically thanks to Wade and his Chicago Bulls, fans chalked up the year as a success. Because at the end of the day, who could have predicted that essentially, a group of former Developmental Leaguers and so-coined underdeveloped misfits, would go on such a run. Much less after only being thrown together during the summer.

But it worked. So president Pat Riley made sure to bring the majority of the unit back together. And on continued the new era. The Culture Era.

While some may still miss The Big 3 glory days, and others hold a grudge against Wade for leaving, the majority of fans understand that what’s done is done, and are excited to move forward onto bigger and better things with the current squad. Which includes wishing Wade nothing but the best, and treating him like any other former player.

It seems Wade has taken the same approach. Always and forever keeping his career with the Heat close to his heart, but having moved on, and focusing on his new role in Cleveland. Which now that he moved to the bench, is going well. Averaging 10.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists a game in 23.5 minutes, he scored 17 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field against his former team on Tuesday night.

Taking some time to speak on his time in South Beach following Cleveland’s win over Miami, it’s clear he will always feel a sense of accomplishment over what he achieved there.

"“Did I think it was gonna shake out this way? No. But I’m not sitting here crying about it neither. I understand that’s how things go. The decisions I made and I made the decisions so it’s fine. I look back on my 13 years and said, ‘Man, we did some special, special things.’"

"…I leave satisfied what I accomplished, what my team accomplished, what my teammates accomplished. So, if you worked hard to do that, if you worked too hard to do that I’m fine with it because we had to deal with success.”"

Quite a stark comparison to what Ray Allen recently had to say about his time with the organization.

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What will come next for Dwyane Wade is anyone’s guess, but he will never forget his time with the Miami Heat.