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Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade reveals biggest hurdle for Team USA at the Olympics

Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade once played alongside All-Stars LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

So he knows everything about teams with strong mutual relationships.

Despite the three stars, the Heat needed the contributions of Mike Miller, Ray Allen and Udonis Haslem to win two titles in four straight NBA Finals appearances from 2010-14. As a result, Wade sees the lack of role players as the biggest challenge facing Team USA this summer at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Yes, we have James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, but who’s going to do the dirty work?

“Now I’m looking at the challenges of the mentality of all of these Avengers,” Wade said during an appearance on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast with Carmelo Anthony. “Because now it’s really happening and they’re going to have to figure out in a short period of time that everyone who’s playing and everyone who’s not playing has to figure out how to be a star, but in the role that you need to play for the team to be successful.”

Wade said past Olympic teams had a better mix of stars and role players. In 2008, the team included the likes of Michael Redd and Tayshaun Prince. They were called the “Redeem Team” before they won the gold medal in Beijing.

“I see Bron, I see Steph, I see KD, the list goes on,” Wade said. “I’m like, ‘Damn, that’s a team.’ But I know what that team has to do to bring that gold back and it’s a lot harder because they have a team. We had a team, but at the same time, we had the right amount of role players with Michael Redd and Tayshaun Prince.”

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops. He can be reached at [email protected]

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