For the first time since sending him away at the NBA Trade Deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers will face Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.
But while Wade last suited up in wine and gold (technically, gray and gold on that night) on Feb. 6, according to LeBron James, it feels like it's been longer since the last time he teamed up with his best friend.
Much longer.
"It actually seems like it was a long time ago," James told reporters at Cavs shootaround in Miami on Tuesday morning. "We've had like five seasons in one. Me and D-Wade being teammates again in Cleveland seems like it was years ago. It's crazy how things have changed so fast."
While the 4-time MVP may have been exaggerating, he isn't necessarily wrong.
There was the start of the season, when Wade initially served as the Cavs' starting shooting guard and the team struggled to a 3-5 record in its first eight games.
Then there was Cleveland's 13 game winning streak, which jump-started an 18-1 stretch -- the Cavs' best of the season.
Then the team's struggles returned, perhaps not-so-coincidentally occurred following the season debut of Isaiah Thomas.
And then the Cavs reshaped their roster, trading away Wade, Thomas, Iman Shumpert, Derrick Rose and Channing Frye, while bringing back Larry Nance Jr., Jordan Clarkson, George Hill and Rodney Hood in return.
Factor in the recent stretch of injuries the Cavs have been dealing with -- and are now recovering from -- and perhaps James' "five seasons in one" estimate may have been low. Now in the midst of a five-game winning streak, Cleveland is once again on an upswing, which is perhaps why James isn't concerned on focusing on a time that now feels like seasons ago -- if not longer.
"We don't talk about that," James said of his present-day conversations with Wade. "We don't even mention it too much."
