The Miami Heat had incredibly high expectations they had to meet during the 2010-11 NBA season. That was the first year of the Big 3 with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. However, their inaugural campaign was met with disappointment after they lost to the Dallas Mavericks, a team that had a roster of old star players.
Fortunately for the Heat, they redeemed themselves during the 2011-12 season with a title win against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They added another title to the organization in 2013 against the Spurs. However, they couldn’t win a third ring in 2014, which led to their disbandment.
On Tuesday, former star Gilbert Arenas brought up a rumor that the Heat was willing to part ways with James after the first season. According to Arenas, Miami wasn’t satisfied with how the star forward performed in the Finals against the Mavericks. In exchange the franchise would’ve received three-time Defensive Player of the Year center Dwight Howard.
“Miami Heat, after the motherf***ing Dallas, tried to trade LeBron James to the [Orlando] Magic for Dwight Howard,” Arenas said in his show, “Gil’s Arena”. “They openly was trying to trade LeBron James for Dwight Howard.
“They felt that how LeBron James played against Dallas that they didn’t need him, they couldn’t trade — Chris Bosh, was their all-purpose player. And they were trying to trade him to get a big man down there.
"Miami Heat… tried to trade LeBron James to the Magic for Dwight Howard. … They felt that how LeBron James played against Dallas that they didn't need him… him and Pat Riley was fighting over power."
– Gilbert Arenas 🤔
(via @WatchPlayback)pic.twitter.com/zEtEVQ80Ud
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 14, 2025
Arenas further explained that James and Heat president Pat Riley were butting heads.
“Him and Pat Riley was fighting over power.”.
However, Arenas questioned the legitimacy of the rumor. The three-time All-Star demanded that former Heat stars Wade and Udonis Haslem talk about it to see if it was an accurate rumor.
A former guard revealed that the Miami Heat tried to pursue Howard
The rumor about the Heat wanting to pursue Howard for James started with Mario Chalmers. He appeared as a guest on the former big man’s show, “Above The Rim” and talked about the news after the Heatles’ first season.
“Yeah,” Chalmers said. “They talked about it.
However, Howard was clueless as to who Chalmers was referring to. According to the eight-time All-Star he heard about the news like everyone else.
“I heard about it maybe one time… I heard about it just like everybody else.” Howard said.
This would’ve been crazy 😅 pic.twitter.com/TmFVDMhCll
— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) March 13, 2025
At that time, Howard was at the top of his game. He had just won his third and final DPOY award, averaging 22.9 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Having the big man play alongside Wade and Bosh could’ve been a different story for the Heat’s superteam.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
