Who’s better Dwyane Wade or James Harden? This heated debate started when Patrick Beverley picked Harden over The Flash. But Draymond Green wasn’t having it. “I played D-Wade when I came to the league and they were winning championships in Miami,” he said. “But in saying that, man, James Harden is so f—— good. But the reason I’m going to pick D-Wade… he won a championship as Finals MVP, carrying a team in his third year.”

Green isn’t the only one, Chandler Parsons and Lou Williams also put Wade ahead of Harden. “When you look at the top three shooting guards, in my opinion, it’s MJ, Kobe, and Dwyane Wade, and then probably you get to James Harden,” Parsons said on Run It Back. And Lou Williams took it a step further, pointing to Wade’s cultural influence in Miami. “Dwyane Wade shifted culture in Miami and turned that team into a champion… James is still seeking that type of success.”

But what does Wade himself think of these endless debates? A recent clip from his podcast sheds some light. “There’s going to be a lot of arguments about ‘Oh, he’s better because he’s got more points… Oh, he’s better because he won more rings.’ This conversation never goes anywhere,” Wade said.

Then, he used a metaphor to explain how he sees it. “Let’s use a hotel, 30 floors. We’re talking about an access key. When I look at who has an access key to get to the 30th floor, I can’t go to 30. Bill Russell and Michael Jordan are up there. I may be on floor 25. But I ain’t on floor 30,” he explained. “If you have not won a ring, it doesn’t mean you’re not colder than somebody who’s won a ring; you just don’t have access to the ring floors,” he said.

For D-Wade “Winning a ring? It’s a whole different game than being a great player and having stats…” He explained, “The sacrifice—I can have more stats if I didn’t care about winning a ring…” That’s the core of Wade’s argument. While championships aren’t everything, they do change how a player is remembered.

While the debate surrounding their legacies is raging on, Dwyane Wade offered a glimpse into James Harden’s current mindset, revealing a conversation that shed light on the guard’s confidence to continue his pursuit of greatness.

Dwyane Wade explains James Harden’s mentality

Ever since the season tipped off, James Harden has been making history. The 35-year-old guard recently cracked the NBA’s top 12 all-time scoring list, pushing his career total to a jaw-dropping 27,316 points. And just days later, he became the first player at 35 or older to rack up 1,500+ points, 500+ assists, and 200 three-pointers in a single season. But here’s the thing—Harden knew this was coming.

Few weeks ago, Dwyane Wade revealed on his podcast that they had a conversation about it during All-Star weekend. “James Harden came up, we got a chance to talk to James Harden at the space event at All-Star, right?” Wade shared. “James [Harden] came up on that, we were just looking at James like, ‘What’s going on, bro?’ We was like, ‘Why you still doing, how you still doing what you doing?’”

And Harden’s response said everything about his mindset. “And he was like, ‘I’m in my bag. I’m still in my—’ He in his metaphor… you see the car he just pulled up in? With the sneak with Maserati? It was a Maserati. They call the colorway ‘Metamorphosis.’ He’s in his metamorphosis bag,” Wade explained.

And it’s not just talk. Co-host Chris Johnson backed it up, revealing what Harden told Wade next: “He said he felt better than ever. He looked right at D [Dwyane Wade] like, ‘Bro, I feel great. I’m here for a while… and I feel good about basketball.’” So while the D-Wade-Harden debate rages on, The Beard is doing what he does best—dominating.

The Dwyane Wade vs. James Harden debate, fueled by perspectives on individual stats and team success, continues to be a dominant debate right now within NBA fans. Wade’s emphasis on championships and sacrifice against Harden’s current statistical brilliance and “metamorphosis” mindset highlights the nature of basketball greatness.

As the debate rages on, it serves as a reminder that legacies are shaped by a complex interplay of individual achievements and team triumphs, leaving fans to ponder the enduring question: What truly defines an NBA legend?