Scheduled
Brooklyn Nets at Miami Heat
2026-27 · Preseason · Preseason
Dwyane Wade starts Shaq, benches LeBron and cuts Chris Bosh
In a start-bench-cut of his Heat Big Three, Wade put Shaquille O’Neal first, LeBron James on the bench and Chris Bosh on the cut — saying it was about getting the big fella the ball early.
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MIAMI — Oct. 14, 2026 — Dwyane Wade just put his old Big Three through the cruelest three-word exercise in basketball: start, bench, cut. Asked to rank Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, Wade started Shaq, benched LeBron and cut Bosh — then explained why the order was about roles, not resumes.
Sorry, CB
Heat Diehards circulated the clip Wednesday, noting it originated on INTHEGAMEHQ’s Instagram. Wade did not pretend the cut was easy — or that Bosh would fight it.
“I’m sorry CB. You gotta get cut. We talking about LeBron and Shaq. CB would cut himself too,” Wade said.
Why Shaq starts
The punchline was not that O’Neal was “better” than James. Wade framed it as getting the center involved early — and trusting James to run a second unit that Shaq could never handle the same way.
“Not a talent thing, not a greatness thing. Shaq got to play early. You got to get the big fella the ball early. LeBron can come off the bench because he can do anything on the floor. He can run the second unit. Shaq can’t,” Wade said.
Wade won titles with O’Neal in 2006 and with James and Bosh in 2012 and 2013. The hypothetical lands as nostalgia more than a power ranking — three Hall of Fame teammates forced into a format that only leaves room for two.
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