Dwyane Wade sparks fury with controversial claim that Mavericks fans will hate

Before the Dallas Mavericks kick off their season, there's no better time than now to take a deep dive into a controversial situation that many long-time Dallas Mavericks fans have never forgotten. Back in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Mavericks boasted a 2-0 lead over the Miami Heat before the Heat infamously stole four straight games in a row.

While Dirk Nowitzki ultimately got his championship with the Mavericks in 2011, losing the 2006 Finals was a devastating blow to the Mavericks' fanbase and Nowitzki, as many people didn't know if he'd ever get a chance to avenge himself again. While the Heat must be given credit for their fortitude and resilience to win four consecutive games in the Finals after being down 2-0, many critics and skeptics of the series would say they didn't necessarily win fair and square.

Between Dallas' four losses, former Heat superstar Dwyane Wade shot 73 free throws, even taking the same amount of free throws as the Mavericks did in the entirety of Game 5 when he took 25 free throws in that contest. While the Mavericks dropped the ball in terms of matching the Heat's level down the stretch of this series, it's irrefutable to say the referees didn't swing this series toward the Heat a little bit, yet Wade recently claimed otherwise on his "Wy Network" podcast.

Dwyane Wade claims '06 Finals weren't rigged whatsoever

Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban has sided with fans from the standpoint of this series being rigged since 2006, even doubling down on this proposition when he was a guest on Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart's "Roommates Show" podcast last year. When Wade was responding to these claims from Cuban on his own podcast recently, he said, "You’re not about to tarnish the work I put in as a young guy, to do something not a lot of young guys have done in this game and say it’s rigged."

It's completely objective that Wade had an amazing series, and the Heat may have still won the series regardless of whether he takes a few fewer free throws or not, but there's legitimate evidence that this series could've been tampered with by the referee staff in multiple contests. Don't take this as full-fledged proof by any means, but former disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy thinks the Mavs got screwed in the 2006 NBA Finals, claiming former lead of officials Ed Rush hated Cuban because of the trouble he caused with referees, as Rush supposedly was telling referees to call certain things in hopes of extending the series.

Donaghy was banned from the NBA in 2007 for fixing games after a wild investigation, and it's certainly also true that referees commonly have pregame meetings to discuss different trends and potential areas of improvement, but he was refereeing NBA games during 2006, so it's undeniable that he has more insight into this compared to practically anyone.

At the end of the day, it's almost impossible to say whether the Mavericks would've been able to swing the tide of the series back in their direction if Wade didn't shoot as many free throws nor did the Heat get as many 50/50 calls, but with championships being as hard to come by as they are in the NBA, it's unfortunate the Mavericks didn't necessarily get the most fair opportunity to see that series play out to its full potential.