Anyone growing up in Chicago in the 1980s and 1990s was enamored with basketball and the Chicago Bulls . They were the most exciting team of that era, primarily because of Michael Jordan . During that time, future NBA superstar Dwyane Wade was still a child who played multiple sports.
However, he and basketball finally began to love each other in 1991 when everyone in the Chicago area celebrated the city’s first-ever NBA championship led by MJ, Scottie Pippen, and head coach Phil Jackson.
“Growing up in the city of Chicago, I fell in love with the game of basketball at nine years old and that was when Jordan and the Bulls won their first championship,” Wade said on the Dan Patrick Show in 2016. “That’s when I really fell in love, that’s when I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I remember sitting on the floor, watching the TV, and saying that’s what I wanna be, that’s the feeling I want. I felt so much pride as a Chicagoan when they won that championship, and I wanted that feeling.”
Jordan will forever be Wade’s GOAT pick
Even if Wade is best friends with LeBron James, he will still pick Jordan as his greatest of all time . Dwyane grew up in Chicago, where Jordan was considered a hero. He was a different type of person in the Windy City because he put them on the sports map.
Chicago is a big city, but due to the struggles of other sports teams like the Bears, White Sox, and Cubs, they needed someone to push the sports teams forward. Thankfully, Jordan and his supporting cast worked hard to become title contenders. They finally broke through in the 1990s, exorcising their demons by beating the Detroit Pistons en route to winning their first title in 1991.
With his performances throughout his career with the Bulls, Jordan amazed everyone with his consistent brilliance. Most of the world got to watch him play, but the ones who had the closest look were the people in Chicago. Since D-Wade grew up in the city, he watched MJ regularly at the arena and on TV. That connection will never be severed because Dwyane is intrinsically linked to Chicago.
Wade ended up being an all-time great
While he looks up to MJ, Wade is not far off because he developed into one of the greatest-ever shooting guards. He loves his 2006 Finals MVP performance , an elite run towards a title, similar to what Jordan did during his Finals runs in Chicago.
Dwyane still thrived as he grew older, winning two more titles in 2012 and 2013. He spent most of his career with the Miami Heat , but he took a bit of a detour and played for his hometown Bulls during the 2016/17 season and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the following campaign.
Wade retired in 2019 after a superb 16-year career, living up to the dreams that started in 1991 when he was a youngster watching Michael Jordan light up the Lakers on national TV during the 1991 NBA Finals.
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