Players compete the hardest against their friends, according to D-Wade.

The modern NBA is often looked down upon by the older generation due to their views that the league has lost its overall competitiveness.

While there are a multitude of reasons they give for this, the main one they point to is that too many professional players are friends off the court, which reduces their desire to compete against each other.

There is every possibility that their sentiment is at least partially true, but former Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade is here to dispel that theory. Speaking on the subject on his podcast ‘The Why with Dwyane Wade,’ the Heat legend explained that there is a distinct difference between being friends and wanting to be the best at your craft.

“You’re friends but also competitors. I put it on everybody who’s listening. People like to make it because it’s the game of basketball, but I never understood that. I never understood that. There was a rule before I got into the NBA, and Pat Riley was a part of this, you don’t fraternize with the opponents because maybe it makes you look weak, and I respect it, and I understand it,” Wade said.

“Melo told another story when I couldn’t talk to him because of that, and that’s respect in the workplace, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the work, that has nothing to do with my job and me wanting to be the best at my job,” he added.

No friends during battle
Wade makes a great point about being able to separate his personal relationship from what he expects of himself on the floor while striving to be the best and win at all costs.

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The three-time NBA champion went one step further, calling out anyone who ever entertains the notion that being friends dials down competitiveness. According to him, if anything, he wanted to beat the ones closest to him more than anyone.

“What, I’m going to take less shots when I play you? Not hit you as hard? You know who I competed the hardest against? My brothers. I want to have my best games against my friends. You don’t think I wanted to hit the game-winner over LeBron in my last game in L.A.?” Dwyane explained.

“You don’t think I wanted that moment. That whole notion, that’s not real, that’s people who have never been in the heat of a battle with someone they love. I’m not letting go of nothing you gottah take it from me. To me, it was never a real thing,” he added.

An illogical point of view
NBA players are continually criticized for chopping it up after the game or working out in the summer together, but that viewpoint is largely baseless when it comes to their ability to compete at the highest level.

The great ones are able to separate their work from their personal relationships, and a strong argument could be made that the current era of NBA players are the most talented we’ve ever been because they make a conscious effort to work out with other professionals in the offseason, leading to exponential growth individually.

As Wade describes, he’s never believed in the theory that friendships lessen competition, and it’s clear that the naysayers have never heard the expression “iron sharpens iron.”