"We had beef in All-Star Game": Dwyane Wade shares honest feelings on his feud with $140,000,000 NBA legend

Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki had a heated rivalry in the NBA, highlighted by their memorable clashes in the 2006 and 2011 Finals. But their competitive fire wasn’t limited to championship battles — it carried over even to exhibition games during All-Star Weekend.

In a clip from his show “The Why,” shared on Instagram on Wednesday, Wade revealed that his tension with Nowitzki began after their first Finals matchup in 2006, when the Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in six games, and Wade was named Finals MVP.

“In 2006, we won a championship,” Wade said. “Me and Dirk started having some words, right? And the 2007, 2008, so forth, so on, Dirk and I see each other All-Star Weekend. We don't even dap up. You know All-Stars, you go out there and at least dap up.”

“Me and Dirk wouldn't even look at each other. We had beef in the All-Star Game, bro.”

Dwyane Wade explained that their trash talk during the Finals created genuine tension, which lingered for years. Fortunately for them, the All-Star format at the time was East vs. West, meaning they didn’t have to team up, unlike in today’s draft-style format.

“And so we see each other All-Star Weekend when everything's supposed to be, ‘We all fans of each other’; Me and Dirk was like, ‘Nah, I don’t f**k with you.’ For some years, that's how our All-Star Games went. And that's just how the game was at that time.”

While Dwyane Wade won the 2006 title, Nowitzki got his revenge in 2011, leading the Mavericks to a championship victory over Wade’s Heat, despite Miami featuring LeBron James and Chris Bosh alongside him.

Nowitzki retired in 2019. He has a net worth of $140 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

Dwyane Wade says past All-Stars took the game seriously because of another NBA legend

In recent years, the NBA All-Star Game has been criticized for its lack of competitiveness, a stark contrast to the intense matchups of the past.

Dwyane Wade credited the high level of competition in his era to the influence of Kobe Bryant.

"The stars of the game was the ones who determined how the game went,” Wade said (per Basketball Network). “Kobe Bryant brought it every All-Star. So me, as a young guy, I have to guard Kobe, he at my a**. I gotta lock up. It was different, because of the stars in the league."

"I'm not saying LeBron at 40 should be the one, but what I'm saying is when we came in, the stars determined how the game's gonna go. I'm just following suit. When I came in, Kobe set the tone for the All-Star games, Kobe would go out there ready to bust your a**.”

This year’s All-Star Game drew heavy criticism, with complaints about excessive media breaks and the race-to-40 format, which limited some players’ time on the court.