BEIJING--During high school, Dwyane Wade’s star flickered so dimly that he was not even a full-time starter for his summer basketball team. In college at Marquette, he sat out a year for academic reasons before taking the court.
After being chosen No. 5 in the 2003 National Basketball Association draft, Wade began his career in the shadows of an incandescent rookie class that included LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh.
For a player who is often overlooked, the latest chapter in Wade’s story is a fitting one.
After ascending to the pantheon of NBA megastars by leading the Miami Heat to a championship in 2006, two serious injuries handcuffed his game and hindered his production.
Two years after being on the top of the basketball world, Wade found himself in a familiar situation.
“It’s been my life story,” Wade said. “I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all. Sometimes you get frustrated with it. At the end of the day, I enjoy the underdog kind of view.”
With a dominant performance in these Olympics, Wade has proved he is playing at a world-class level, one fast-break dunk, picked pocket and dazzling assist at a time.
Wade has perhaps been Team USA’s best and most valuable player.
The team’s 106-57 pounding of Germany on Monday boosted its average victory margin to 32.2 points.
He is leading the Americans in scoring at 16.2 points a game. The most telling attribute of this dominant edition of the United States team is that Wade is perhaps the best player so far in this tournament. And he is not even a starter.
Wade has been a human can of energy drink for Team USA, having been on the floor in the second quarter of games when the United States’ leads typically climb from sizable to insurmountable.
“He’s a unique player; there’s no one like him,” United States Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He’s worked so hard to get to this level for his country and for his team. I’m very proud of him.”
Wade played in only 51 games last season and led the NBA in turnover average. The verve and athleticism that defined him during the Heat’s run to the title were missing from his game.
After recovering from shoulder and knee surgery and training throughout the off-season with the renowned workout guru Tim Grover, Wade has rekindled his form from 2006.
“He’s better than he was two years ago,” the United States Assistant Coach Jim Boeheim said.
“He was good, obviously; they just won the championship. He’s much better defensively and much stronger.”
Wade said that early in his career, he never worked specifically to build strength, relying only on his natural athleticism.
Now that he is 26 and has logged nearly 12,000 NBA minutes playing at breakneck speed, Wade clearly realizes that his body is not as durable.
He referenced how Michael Jordan’s work with Grover helped him be so durable long into his career.
He said his legs had gone from being the weakest part of his body to being the strongest.
“You reach a point in your career, you’re not young anymore and you’re not going to bounce back of an injury the way you did when you were 21,” Wade said. “You get smarter and you make that investment.”
The fruits of the investment are all over the Olympic statistic sheet and the endless highlights of him dunking in transition.
Wade is among the top 10 in this tournament in points, steals and field-goal percentage. He has made 72.1 percent of his shots over all and 77.8 percent of his 2-point shots.
Wade’s college coach, Tom Crean, said Wade’s latest ascension to glory on the Olympic stage was indicative of the path of his career.
“He’s never been someone who has had stardom handed to him,” said Crean, who left Marquette University for University of Indiana after last season.
“He was never the new prodigy, the person everyone expected greatness from. He’s the one who actually had to go earn it.”
One vicious dunk, wily steal and neon smile at a time here on the world’s biggest stage, Wade has reminded everyone of his and Team USA’s proper place in the basketball hierarchy.
