Can Lebron/Wade Be The Next Great NBA Rivalry?

[Mitch Henessey]

After watching the Heat/Cavs game last night, I was blown away by yet another great duel between these two. I hate it that the Heat lost,but still, it was one hell of a game. Every time these two play each other, they always go all out, an give us some amazing performances. Just look at these stats from last night:

D.Wade
Points:32
Rebounds:10
Assists:5
Steals:3

L.James
Points:32
Rebounds:9
Assists:4
Steals:1

Now Lebron of course leads the all time series 11-9, but both men still have a long way to go in their careers. Since Lebron and Carmelo Anthony's rivalry never really took off, could Wade/Lebron be the next great NBA rivalry?

When I say great, I think that this feud could have the potential to be like Larry Bird/Magic Johnson rivalry. So what do you think? Could Lebron/Wade be the next great rivalry in the NBA? If not, then who do you think it might be? Thoughts?

 

[Khalifa]

I will say it will be a good rivallry but not the next great one. As far as I see it, Lebron and Wade can never truely take off until Kobe has retired. Like every year you just hear, "Kobe as the title in his eyes, but will the king dethrown him" or " Lebron James looks like the next great one, Can Kobe Bryant show us why he is still on top". Then people want the Cavs and Lakers in the finals, and always want Kobe going against Lebron rah rah rah.

So no I don't think it will be, because by the time Kobe has retired, more younger people will come in and thats were all the hype will be, Lebron adn Wade will be too old for the hype to be focused on them.

 

[Big Sexy]

No way. To be a truly great rivalry it helps if both teams are elite teams. The Miami Heat are not an elite team. Another thing that helps is if they are in separate conferences. It isn't a huge deal if they aren't but it certainly makes things more interesting come playoff time if the teams can meet up in the finals.

Wade and LeBron, just like Melo and LeBron is a fun little rivalry between a couple friends from the same draft class. It's fun to watch, but in no way, shape, or form is this "the next great rivalry." Magic vs Bird was great. Jordan vs The Bad Boys was great. This is nothing major.

 

[Mr. TM]

Nah, the reason they cannot first and foremost is because they don't get to play eachother enough. I look at a great rivalry like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, two teams that play eachother a lot, in the playoffs, in the regular seasons, and so forth.

They do have one thing great. You have Wade who is a good antured guy, and you have Lebron who is a bit of a playboy. They are both decent guys I think in real life, so that would be great to be played off. Move Wade out of Miami, and you can talk.

 

[Agent_Bond34]

If you move Wade out of Miami, they sink like a rock. Wade is the heart and soul of the Heat.

Having said that, I feel that the great rivalry now (I guess if you can classify it as such) would be LeBron/Kobe. These are the top dogs in the NBA right now, the two best in the league, and every time they square off, it's always hyped up and talked about a lot. Should these two meet in the NBA Finals, the ratings, hype, chatter, etc will be through the roof.

As for the next great rivalry, Pippen's post pretty much sums it up.

 

[Rated_R_4_Royal_Rumble]

I think it can. Both men play in the Eastern Conference which means they will play each other more often. Both teams usually make the playoffs which could add some heated Playoff battles to the rivalry. Both post similar numbers and both are the stars of their team. Barring either player leaving their current club which I don't see happening anythime soon I could see it becoming the next great rivalry.

 

[Toroc102]

They could be if they were both contenders, like after this Free Agent class, they might be much better suited to rival each other. The only reason Kobe/Lebron get so much attention is because they're title contended, you could say they currently have the biggest individual rivalry in the NBA and yet LeBron's numbers are way better than Kobe's across the board, Kobe's obviously on the downside of his career, and they only play each other twice a year, never met in the Playoffs.

To be honest, a lot of things have to go right for a one on one rivalry to truly be epic. How many truly great rivalry's do you know of? Really Magic and Bird was the best one, Jordan never had a rival he didn't destroy. Luckily for Magic/Bird their teams were peaking at the same time and the Lakers dominated the West in the 80's so the Celts got plenty of chances to face off with them, not to mention that the Lakers/Celtics is a big rivalry in and of itself.

I think in the future Kevin Durant VS LeBron James will be a good candidate for biggest rivalry, but obviously things would have to break just right. They are Lebron's going to be good for a long time and Durant is starting to hit his stride with an up and coming team, hopefully they'd get some chances to face off in the finals. Aside from that though, Wade has a good chance too for the next 5 years. If they are both on good competing teams then thats a rivalry.