The best player to wear each number

Outside of a brief 46-game stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Hall of Fame 2-guard Dwyane Wade only wore the No. 3 jersey in his impressive career. Backed by his 13 All-Star appearances, his eight All-NBAs and, most importantly, his three championships and one Finals MVP, Wade was our pick as the best player ever to don the iconic No. 3, although he had some serious competition, namely in the form of Chris Paul and Allen Iverson. 

Speaking of Iverson, Wade said at his Hall of Fame induction ceremony that he “respectfully” wore the No. 3 in college and the pros because of him:

“Michael Jordan was my favorite player. But as I was growing up as a kid, as Michael Jordan decided to retire from the game, Allen Iverson became the hero of our culture,” Wade said. “I think a lot of people know I wear No. 3, but a lot of people don’t know why I wear No. 3. And so I just wanted to take this moment as an opportunity that is supposed to be about me, and I wanted to be able to shine light and give flowers to individuals that allow me and help me get here,” Wade added.

Wade also said back in 2011 that he wore the No. 3 in honor of the holy trinity.

Wade has worn other numbers throughout his basketball career. He wore No. 25 in high school, as well as No. 9 on multiple occasions, both in Cleveland and with Team USA in the ‘06 World Championships and the ‘08 Olympics. In the ‘04 Olympics, Wade wore No. 6.

Wade’s good friend, LeBron James, actually had to negotiate with then-rookie Cedi Osman, who was originally slated to wear No. 9 with the Cavs before Wade decided to join the team and chose that as his number. Whether Wade had to pay Osman for the number has never been made public information.

Wade chose No. 9 in the Olympics as a tribute to Michael Jordan, who iconically wore the number in the ‘92 Olympics as a member of the Dream Team. Wade and James traded numbers as Team USA members after a brief and easy discussion about it: 

One player who did seek nine because of Jordan was James’ friend Dwyane Wade, who was given six for the 2004 Olympics.

After those Games, James and Wade traded numbers.

“I’m looking at him like, ‘Bro, I really want number nine,’” Wade said. “And he’s like, ‘Perfect, ‘cause I really want number six.’ And so it was an easy swap.”

Wade led the 2008 Redeem Team in scoring.

Now, Wade, great as he was, did have some very tough competition, and although we did ultimately pick him, Paul especially made this a very difficult choice. Paul has worn No. 3 at all seven of his stops in the NBA and has three more All-NBA appearances than Wade did in his career. Regardless, we went with Wade based on the fact he was able to lead his own team to a championship as its best player, while Paul has had his share of playoff shortcomings.

Most recently, Spurs forward Keldon Johnson willingly gave up his No. 3 jersey in San Antonio, which he wore because he admired Paul. Johnson switched to No. 0, though, so Paul could keep his No. 3 jersey. 

Just to show just how crazy this number stuff can get for players, according to Paul and Wade, the duo almost became teammates in Miami, with James, but the plans ultimately fell through… because they couldn’t decide which one of them would wear No. 3.

Wade says part of the convo went as follows:

Wade: That’s my number!

Paul: Well, that’s my number. What are we going to do? CP6? Naw, that ain’t it. 

….

Wade: I wasn’t going to D-9. I’ll sacrifice getting touches, I’ll sacrifice getting the most money. But I am not giving up my number!

Just how facetious the duo was being on the podcast isn’t totally clear, but Wade was adamant that after everyone was getting excited about the potential to team up on South Beach and had talks on the phone about it, the discussion about who would wear the No. 3 “ended the whole conversation”.

The number three might have cost Miami a dynasty in the ‘10s.

Runner-ups: Chris Paul, Allen Iverson, Anthony Davis