Dwyane Wade Injury: LeBron James Can Now Cement Alpha Status on Miami Heat

The critics of LeBron James will still let you know that the Miami Heat are Dwyane Wade's team and no matter how many NBA Championships they win together, that will always be the case.

There's nothing James can do about that. Public perception outside of Miami is what it is and some can say he created this monster.

But what LeBron has here is an opportunity.

The injury to Wade paves the way for LeBron to cement his alpha status on this team.

While Wade's injury isn't viewed to be overly serious, this gives James the chance to show that he can win without Wade by his side.

A man of LeBron's talents shouldn't have to prove that, but he probably has to in the eyes of some basketball fans.

James can say that the public perception of him doesn't affect him at all, but it does. He is human after all.

That's why the Chris Paul saga helped in the preseason and the nice start of the team helped out as well.

It meant that there were other things for people to talk about instead of focusing on last season's NBA Finals.

Now this gives James a chance to quietly take over this team.

Of course, the Miami Heat and their fans already see him as a leader and an irreplaceable part of this franchise, but this is still a good opportunity for his psyche.

If the Heat go on a big winning streak without Wade, then James basically has laid down his alpha status on this team.

The only thing better would be if he did it during the playoffs.

So while Wade being out of the lineup may seem like a small thing long-term for the Heat, it could actually be a very big time for LeBron.