NBA legend gives cold response to Dwyane Wade's bold Michael Jordan statement

Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade claimed last week that he was on track to be the next Michael Jordan before injuries caught up to his game.

He said that he was overlooked because people didn't understand his game, but he knew that he could've been the next Jordan. He made the claim on Carmelo Anthony's "7 PM in Brooklyn" podcast.

"They don’t understand my game. They don’t know what I did. I’m not the greatest shooter of all time, but I was great at so many things, so nobody knows how to break down my game, so they look over it. I did so many things in the game of basketball. When I had it, I had it. Before injuries, I’m like, ‘MJ I’m coming for you,'” Wade said.

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Fellow All-Star Jeff Teague respectfully disagreed. Talking on his Club 520 podcast, the former Atlanta Hawks point guard recalled that young Michael Jordan was something the league had never seen before, and no one has looked like that since.

"You go watch Michael Jordan when he was young, when he had hair, nobody in the world looked like that, bro," Teague said.

He wasn't the only former NBA star who shared a similar thought, as Stephon Marbury agreed with what Teague was saying.

"No contest!" Marbury wrote.

Dwyane Wade is still one of the greatest shooting guards of all time

Of course, none of this should be seen as a knock on Wade or his greatness or legacy. Most experts can agree that he's a top-five shooting guard in NBA history, with some even going as far as to put him at No. 3 behind Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Wade had an incredible career, helping the Miami Heat win all three of their NBA championships and becoming the greatest player in franchise history. He was a Finals MVP, Scoring Champion, 13-time All-Star, 8-time All-NBA, and 3-time All-Defensive.

He also holds Heat records for the most points, assists, and steals in franchise history, most points scored in a single season, and he's the only NBA player to record at least 2,000 points, 500 assists, 100 blocks, and 100 steals in a single season.

Wade deserved to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer and have his No. 3 jersey retired. As for being the next Jordan, we'll never know.

About the author

Ernesto Cova is a journalist at Sportskeeda with a PhD in Sports Psychology. His education helped him develop a clearer understanding of the sports world as a whole, including basketball. Ernesto has over eight years of experience in the field, working for Fadeaway World, The Inquisitr, NBA Blast, The Cold Wire and Bolavip, among others.

His favorite team is the Chicago Bulls because of the Michael Jordan era. Jordan is Ernesto's all-time favorite, as he changed the game forever. Ernesto's second favorite was Kobe Bryant because he embodied that same competitive fire and Ernesto watched him play throughout his entire career. Nowadays, Ernesto really likes Stephen Curry, who he believes to be the most influential player of the past 15 years or so.

Ernesto's favorite basketball moment was when Venezuela -- his country -- took down Canada to take home the 2015 FIBA Americas Cup.

When not watching or writing about basketball, Ernesto likes to read and is interested in photography.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash