This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak’s newsletter here.

Dwyane Wade played 16 years in the NBA and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023. He is now an NBA analyst for Amazon Prime.

Pat Riley

He set the standard for us. He taught us the importance of accountability. When you play on a team, you have to have accountability to each other. And that accountability to each other starts with accountability individually.

To be successful, to raise that trophy and one day call yourself a champion, you have to learn what accountability looks like. And it has to be every day.

To learn that as a rookie was very important to me.

Where Pat was great was his attention to detail. That’s something I try to pride myself on, even now.

In practice — pardon my French – he was a motherf—er. He made sure that each play was run to perfection. The details. You were not able to mess up a play and move on to the next, no matter if it was the first unit or the third unit. Everyone in the gym understood that we couldn’t be perfect, but we were going to get as close to perfect as possible.

Because when you’re in a game, you’ve got 20,000 in the stands, people are booing you, the lights are bright, the game needs to be seamless. It’s not something you need to think about. We ran things over and over and over until we got it. We could make sure at least that was right.

In practice, he was wild. He was a different coach during games.

A lot of times, as a player, your mind, your emotions, your anxiety are all over the place. You make a couple of mistakes, and you start overthinking. He was that calm factor. Every time I went over to him during a game, he laid his hands on me and just gave me a calm feeling and reset me.

I realized that when you come to the bench after the other team goes on a 10-0 run and the crowd on the road is going wild, you need that calming influence. That’s who he was.

Shaquille O’Neal

He was an incredible leader for me from the first moment he got traded to Miami in 2004. The first conversation we had was about what had happened in Los Angeles with Kobe Bryant and what could not happen here in Miami.

He just let me know right away: “This is your team. I’m your big brother. I’m here to back you up.”

He was in a totally different place in his career and what he wanted from his experience in Miami. I think he recognized in me what I had, but that it needed to be pulled out. I wasn’t there yet.

He showed me the ropes. He showed me how to be a superstar on the court and off the court. He even gave me the nickname “Flash.” He sat down and talked to me about authenticity and making sure that my DNA was in everything that I did. It changed the way I went into meetings, it changed the way I thought about my brand and myself.

The one thing I loved about Shaq: Everything we did, we did together, but he made sure he took care of everyone. He took care of the limousine outside. He took care of the restaurant bill. He took care of everything. And when we went out, he would be like: “We’re going out for an hour and a half. We’re not staying out all night.” I thought that was very important, especially as a young guy coming in.

He allowed us to enjoy ourselves, but he was on us about how we did it, and he also made sure we were all together doing it.

He really set the table for me as a young guy.

Udonis Haslem

It’s easier for guys who are the No. 1 option and the star on the team to be the voice. It’s automatic a lot of times.

UD was never one of the top guys when it came to stardom, but he still had the loudest voice in the locker room. When he talked, everyone listened because we knew it wasn’t coming from a selfish place at all. It was coming from a guy who would literally give everything in his body for you on whatever play. He would take fines for you. He was making the least amount of money as an undrafted guy, but he didn’t care.

He made sure that the rules Pat Riley set down were followed by everyone in the locker room. Even when LeBron James and Chris Bosh came, nothing changed.

UD and I got into it multiple times. It ain’t like I wanted to hear it every time. But he knew that he could get on me. He knew that I would respond in the right way.

He understood what I wanted from my career, and when he didn’t see me doing that or providing the things I said I wanted to do, then he held me accountable.

We talked about that. We talked about the ability to get on each other and not be sensitive about it. We knew we wanted the same things out of it, and we were trying to reach the same goal.

— As told to Jayson Jenks