Miami Heat Legend Dwyane Wade Weighs in on the G.O.A.T Debate

Dwyane Wade gives his thoughts on the greatest NBA player in history

Who is the greatest NBA player of all time? 

That has been a debate for years. While most argue between Michael Jordan and Lebron James, there are many players who belong in the discussion. 

Miami Heat legend Dwayne Wade recently weighed in on this debate.

Wade said olders players are excluded as time passes. From generation to generation, younger players and fan bases are unaware of the impact of players before their time. That is the reason why so many young NBA fans consider LeBron James the greatest basketball player of all time because his level of play is all they know.

"Now it’s gonna be the younger, younger, younger generations, and they're gonna forget about Jordan like we forgot about Kareem.”," Wade said on an appearance with the Armchair Expert podcast. 

Wade mentions how this has happened to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the six-time NBA champion who won with both the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks. Abdul-Jabbar was a six-time MVP, 19-time All-Star, along with a list of other impressive accolades that made him one of the most dominant NBA players. 

Unfortunately, Abdul-Jabbar’s success was overshadowed by Jordan in the next era. Naturally, people began to harp on Jordan’s success and forgot about Abdul-Jabbar.

As the game evolves, so do the participants within the sport. For example, Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry is revolutionizing the game in a way that separates the style of play that was prevalent years ago. What some may consider a great player years ago may not hold up today.

“The game continues to move forward,” Wade said. “So we’re gonna continue to see things we’ve never seen before, and the eyes are gonna get younger.”

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at ayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him Twitter @jaydenarmant