Dwyane Wade's Calculated Career

Dwyane Wade knows what he's doing. He always has. After a decade as one of the NBA's most celebrated stars, this gift for the longview might be his most underrated quality.

This summer, for the first time, Wade wanted money seemingly above all else; after leaving tens of millions of dollars on the table over the years to afford his team more payroll flexibility, it was hardly an outrageous demand. Wade also wanted to continue his career in Miami and be surrounded by talented players, which, was not exactly possible in those terms. Take a few bites out of the cake, by all means, but don't expect it to look as pretty when you bring it home to Gabrielle Union.

There was a broad (or at least loud) argument to be made, when rumors were swirling that Wade might jump ship to the Lakers or even the Cavaliers, that if money is so important to Wade then he should have made it a priority back when he was still in his prime. But money wasn't what he wanted back then. He wanted to play with his friends and win championships, and he did both. And now, with his body so battered from years of basketball that a "Wade injury" has become a non-specific term that can be applied to any body part that isn't working properly, could Wade really say, "show me the money?"

He did. And the Heat showed it to him.

In the first week of free agency, Wade signed a one-year contract for $20 million. The one-year part was unexpected, but the rest, as usual with Wade, made sense. He didn't put the Heat in a suffocating financial situation going forward, he kept his beachfront address and, he got paid, just like he wanted.

In other words, his payday won't affect his chances of winning. The chances of Miami's starting lineup playing 70 games together and reaching the playoffs in full-health aren't exactly high, but at full-strength they are, once again, a good team. A squad that features Wade, Goran Dragic, Luol Deng, Chris Bosh, and Hassan Whiteside, along with rookie-energy-burst Justice Winslow, has the potential to be equally efficient on offense and defense. At the very least, it's a team that Dwyane Wade—and anyone else—would enjoy playing on.

Wade has always had a team built with the superstar model; get a player or two that can dominate the NBA and then let Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem hang out on the floor with them. Now, the Heat have balance. They still need a star like Wade or Bosh to be their best player, but they just don't need as much from their best player as they used to.

Only stars on the magnitude of Michael Jordan and LeBron James have the ability both to control the shape of the league and call the shots on their own team. Even without that luxury, Wade has always seemed to orchestrate situations that work out in his favor. Luck comes more quickly to those who know what they want. If the NBA were Game of Thrones, he'd be Little Finger; even when he has played the manipulative bad guy, the league wouldn't have made sense without him.

When the dust settled from the Kobe and Shaq beef, Wade had a Hall of Fame center at the tail end of his dominance dropped into his lap. Shaquille O'Neal approved the trade in part because he claimed Wade, coming off just his rookie season, was "a special player." Later, Wade recruited James and Bosh to join him in Miami with a confidence that suggested it was silly to think he would ever rent a place in Cleveland or Toronto. As Brian Windhorst wrote back in 2010, "Despite being discouraged by Commissioner David Stern and perhaps breaking tampering rules again, Wade flew with Bosh to Akron to meet at James' house in the last week of June. Still under contract with the Heat, Wade got the other two on the brink of a deal to join up." More than that, Wade took less money to make the Big Three a possibility.

That last part was nothing new. Astonishingly, Wade has never been the highest paid player on his team in 13 years in the league. At some point, he had to give up his alpha dog status to James, but handing over the burden of carrying a team through the regular season allowed Wade to take games off and rest his body for the playoffs and possibly prolong his career. He also has one more championship than James. Things happen in the NBA, but to suggest that Wade didn't deftly manage his career's arc is to deny an undeniable track record. Diabolical mastermind? Probably not. But if Dwyane Wade were anyone other than Dwyane Wade would any of these things played out the way they did?

Carmelo Anthony wanted the money, too, and now he's… well, you know how he is. Kobe Bryant claimed his entitlement to the money and now his roster is a nightmare without end. Dwight Howard wanted to go where he could maximize his exposure; more people know about him after his spin through L.A. and landing in Houston, but most of them hate him. Chris Paul just wants to win. He has never made it to the Conference Finals, and appears to have bullied one of the NBA's best young big men off his roster.

Wade's career is a combination of most superstars' top priorities. He has played his entire career in one city, won championships, and for a brief time, got LeBron James to do what he wanted. This is not about scheming or manipulation, really; Wade has managed the people in his life well, but he is also no less than the third best shooting guard of all time. In his prime, his driving ability was the best combination of control and power the league has ever seen. If Iverson had Westbrook's athleticism or Westbrook had Iverson's finesse, they would have come closer to the success of Wade.

It's less visible now, swathed as it is in a decade-and-change of scar tissue. Wade's greatness is still there, though, and this year it will be once again supported with a formidable team. A few years ago he wanted LeBron, and he got him. This year he wanted the money, and he got it. Now Wade wants to challenge LeBron's team for the Eastern Conference title. Maybe that's not realistic. But, after all these years, doubting Wade's capacity to get what he wants doesn't seem all that realistic, either.