Miami Heat guard Dwayne Wade has high praises for teammate LeBron James, but he isn't ready to put James in that Michael Jordan category just yet.
"I don't know if (James) has the ability to surpass (Jordan) or not," Wade told ESPNChicago.com on Thursday during a promotional event for his Wade's World Foundation. "That's yet to be seen. My version as LeBron being on par with Michael is this: They're both on the golf course. Michael's on the 18th hole. LeBron is somewhere on like the fourth hole. He's got a long way to go, but he's on par to get to the 18th hole.
"I think everyone knows that (James) is a phenomenal, phenomenal player. He's one that we haven't seen, with the makeup of a 6-8 guy who runs as fast as any point guard, jumps as high as any center, and has the ability that he has to do so many things. But Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time, that's who everyone shoots for. So it's going to be hard to surpass that."
James capped off a remarkable year earlier this month becoming the only player since Jordan to achieve league MVP honors, a finals championship, finals MVP honors and a Olympic gold medal all in the same season.
"I'm not (surprised)," Wade said of James. "Because there's a certain period in your life and a time (in) an age group where you're going to continue to get better. You see players like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, they're good now but they're going to be better. And it's not saying how many more points you can score, it's just being better as an overall player. And LeBron is at that point; he's 27 years old.
"He's now playing with that confidence, that swagger that you need, and he's right in the smack of his prime. We've all seen it from all the best players in this game, all the future Hall of Famers, that age -- 27, 28, 29 -- that's like the best years, and then after that if you stay healthy, then you have even more great years like a Michael Jordan, like a Kobe (Bryant) has had, when they reach their 30s."
As the Jordan-James debate continues to heat up, Wade believes the Heat have the opportunity to become a dynasty as long as they stay healthy.
If you're a team that's lucky enough not to have major injuries along your run, then it can possibly be," Wade said. "But you never know that until it's over. As a Chicago Bulls fan, when they won their first championship, I didn't say, 'We're going to win five more.' You just hope that your team continues to compete and they get in that situation that they're good enough to pull it out and are able to win.
"So right now, we won one and that's a lot more than a lot of teams have done in the past, but it's a lot less than (other teams) as well. We just want to continue to get better and hopefully we're there again in the Finals to try and win another one."
