There only a handful of moment history has been made in the NBA without a title being won or a record being beaten.
One of the biggest moments ever was when the Miami Heat managed to sign LeBron James and trade for center Chris Bosh to join guard Dwayne Wade.
This was the first time a superteam had ever been established of three stars in one. It was an effort by team president Pat Riley to get as many championships in a short span and to match the dynasty that the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers had created.
The team will be remembered for its highs and for its lows. While many teams try the concept of superteams today, many don’t shine.
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesPat Riley talks about the formation of the superteam
There are not many times the formation of the first-ever superteam is discussed by other the players, coaches or members in the organization. There will be a time when James, Wade and Bosh will come together to discuss the building of the team. Meanwhile, Riley talked about the process on The OGs Show with Udonis Haslam and Mike Miller.
He explained: “In 2006, the year that we won the title was the year that LeBron and Dwyane and Chris Bosh all signed their extensions. It’s not a coincidence they were all represented by CAA.
“So they all signed. And then we took a look at the contracts with options and all that stuff. We saw that each one of them would be free agents in 2010.
“So, I said, Andy [Elisburg], okay, ‘we got this’ three, four years from now. I said, unless we trade for one of them, I think one day, we might have an opportunity to have to sit at the table with LeBron, with Chris and Dwyane, or all three of them.
“And so, from that day on, Andy went to work making sure that we would have the cap space in, you know, 2010 to sign all three of them”
The fall of the first superteam
In the famous debut of James and Bosh in Heat uniforms, James promised a new dynasty would be 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧. It would be a dynasty that would feature not one, not two, not three…..all the way to seven. Afterwards, James said he really believed it. The Heat’s first season together, they lost in the NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.
They would two consecutive titles by defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012 and the San Antinio Spurs in 2013. The Spurs would get their the following NBA Finals in 2014. That Finals loss would create the end of the superteam as James left to go back to Cleveland.
This was a disappointment to Miami and its fans after they felt shortened by the process without more investment from James. It still leaves a feeling of disappointment to Riley, who knew more was possible and could’ve made.
“It didn’t upset me, but it hurt me that we couldn’t keep that team together because I think it was a five or six Championship team. I really do, if we could have kept them all together and stay healthy from that standpoint. But the nature of the game is what it is.”
