Dwyane Wade on LeBron James: Won't Allow Anyone to Be Better Than Him at Anything

It turns out it takes plenty of motivation and competitive spirit to be one of the best players in NBA history.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated asked Dwyane Wade about LeBron James during a wide-ranging interview, and the Miami Heat legend opened up about how the King became even better during his four seasons in South Beach.

"The thing about LeBron is, he's a sponge," Wade said. "And so he will not allow anybody to be better than him at anything.

"If Ray Allen was going to shoot afterwards, he's going to go shoot with Ray Allen, with Ray Allen's form. He wants to be better than everybody at everything. And so I can never get work in a post without him coming to get work in a post. You know what I mean? And so when you see a guy like that who has the body to be able to do that, and he has the energy to be able to consistently do that, you know you're watching something special."

James was in Miami from 2010 through 2014, which was right in the middle of his prime as a player who was then in his late 20s.

He averaged 26.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game during that stretch and helped lead the Heat to the NBA Finals all four seasons. While they lost two of those series, he still became a two-time champion and clearly improved his game from being a "sponge" in such a championship environment.

All he did from there was lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2015-16 title and the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2019-20 championship.