LeBron James is coming off a well deserving redemption year. James is fresh off an MVP award, NBA title, Finals MVP and gold medal, isn't quite at Michael Jordan's level, teammate Dwyane Wade said-but he's not far, either.
"That monkey is off his back and now he's just playing basketball," Wade said while taking a break from his annual fantasy camp, where fans pay up to $12,500 to get a four-day luxury taste of NBA life. "I think we'll see a better LeBron James - scary to say, three-time MVP - than we've seen. And it's because all he has to do is play basketball now. He doesn't have to worry about what he hasn't done. It'll always be something, but he's got the biggest one off his back."
Wade, speaking at his basketball camp, grew up in Chicago idolizing Jordan and didn't dismiss the comparison, which has followed James around for his entire career.
"He's on that level," Wade said, "but he has a lot more to do to get there. I think he understands he has an unbelievable opportunity to be one of the greatest to play this game. But that's when he gets done playing, he can say that.
"Right now, he has so much more to cover in his career. He's just getting started at the same time when Michael kind of just got started. We'll see how it all shakes out. I hope it shakes out the same way. I'll be a very happy man."
Wade, coming off arthroscopic knee surgery, was more of a James fan instead of a teammate this summer as he watched the U.S. men's basketball team win its second straight Olympic gold.
He said James made playing at a high level seem "effortless."
"He's on an amazing run," Wade said. "When you're on these kind of runs, you enjoy it. You keep going because you don't know when it's going to stop. I think he's just enjoying it right now. He's doing all this stuff without thinking about it. He's breaking records. He's in the history books. He's not thinking about it; he's just doing it. He's at a gear that I've seen myself at before when it just feels easy. He's just a gear above everyone.
"I'm one of LeBron's biggest fans," Wade said. "I couldn't be teammates with him if I wasn't a fan of his game. I'm one of his biggest supporters, one of his best friends. It's good to see him succeed like this, especially because I know the stuff he's dealt with. It's in the rear-view mirror now and he's going to move forward."
