Dwyane Wade ‘recently bonded’ with Dirk Nowitzki, buried beef before Hall of Fame induction

For nearly two decades, Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki were pinned against each other as rivals and were open about the fact that they did not get along. But now, as both players prepare to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, they have seemingly ended their conflict. Nowitzki went so far as to say the two recently “bonded.”

In a conversation with the Dallas Morning News, Nowitzki revealed that the events leading up to the Hall of Fame ceremony next weekend helped bring him and Wade closer. While in Houston in early April when the Hall Class of 2023 was announced, Wade and Nowitzki developed “a lot of mutual respect.”

"“Obviously we’ve gone through a lot, some ups and downs,’ Nowitzki told Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. “But at the end of the day he is one of the greatest players ever to play the game, so it’s an honor to have him in the class. … We sat together with his family during one of the dinners, and we talked. And so I think it’s going to be great. I think there’s a lot of mutual respect there now.”"

Wade and Nowitzki met in the 2006 NBA Finals, when Wade’s Miami Heat came back from down 2-1 and beat the Dallas Mavericks in six games as Wade orchestrated one of the great Finals performances in league history.

Then, in 2011, Nowitzki’s Mavericks dismantled the first iteration of the “Big Three” Heat. While LeBron James struggled, Nowitzki averaged 26 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists and earned Finals MVP. After Game 4 of those Finals, Wade and James were caught on camera fake coughing as a way to mock Nowitzki, who had been ill to start the series.

Later, Nowitzki’s former teammate J.J. Barea revealed that Dirk was bothered by that clip, telling “The Old Man and the Three” podcast in 2021, “He hated Miami. He hated LeBron, Wade, Bosh. He’s never going to say that, but he couldn’t stand it.”

During his final season in 2019, Nowitzki acknowledged their was “front times” between him and Wade but that, at that point, there was more mutual respect. Both players retired the same year and were given honorary All-Star appearances. During that season, they memorably exchanged jerseys.

The fact that Wade and Nowitzki will be inducted into the Hall together after their entangled careers is almost poetic. It also gives two all-time greats a chance to put aside any grudge and celebrate what they accomplished — sometimes at the other’s expense.