Dwyane Wade pushed back on renewed comments from former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, suggesting the 2006 NBA Finals were taken from his team.
Cuban, speaking recently on the DLLS Mavs podcast, again referenced his long-held belief that officiating leaned heavily in favor of the Miami Heat during the six-game series. When longtime NBA writer Marc Stein remarked that the Finals were “stolen” from Dallas, Cuban agreed, naming officials Bennett Salvatore and Jack Nies as central figures.
“I’ll take that to my grave that the [2006 NBA Finals] were stolen from us,” Cuban said.
Dwyane Wade Defends His Legacy
The Heat’s victory, led by a 24-year-old Wade, remains one of the most debated championship runs in league history, particularly because of Wade’s trips to the free-throw line. He attempted 25 free throws in Game 5 and 21 in Game 6 as Miami closed out the series.
Wade, now retired and running his own podcast, clapped back at Cuban’s latest remarks.
“Mark, stop saying that,” Wade said. “Mark, we beat y’all. Did we get some foul calls? Everybody gets foul calls. We can all go back and point — I can go back and point at 2011 in one of them series where Dirk had 48 [points], he had 24 free throws in one of those games. Does that mean that the referees wanted them to win? I don’t know, but it wasn’t rigged. We still had to play the game.”
Wade emphasized that his aggressive style of play accounted for many of the whistles.
“You had a young guy who was becoming a star in the NBA. Did I get a few whistles? Yes, but was I the only one attacking the basket every play? Probably so,” Wade said. “I’m gonna get some calls, too. You’re not about to tarnish the work that I put in as a young guy, to do something that not a lot of young guys have done in this game. To say it was rigged, Mark, stop that. Y’all got us, we got y’all.”
Mark Cuban Stands By His Belief
Cuban has stopped short of explicitly labeling the series as “rigged.” In 2024, he said “all the 50-50 calls” went in Miami’s favor, continuing his stance that Dallas was disadvantaged.
While the debate shows no signs of ending, the two sides met again in the 2011 NBA Finals, when Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks beat Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh to secure the franchise’s only championship.
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