Ask any Heat or Mavericks fan about "the coughing video" and you'll surely hear two impassioned different sides of the same story. Ask Dwyane Wade or Dirk Nowitzki about it today and they'll surely laugh it off as a nothing story oversold by the media.
But make no mistake, when cameras caught Wade and LeBron James mocking Nowitzki by fake coughing after the Mavs' legend played through an illness in the 2011 NBA Finals, it caused quite the stir that emanated for over a decade.
Of course, there's more to their storied rivalry than one petty hallway incident.
From kicked coolers to heated interviews with Pat Riley and Mark Cuban to an awkward "Inside The NBA" moment with Reggie Miller, here's the full scoop on the decades-long rivalry between the 2023 Hall of Fame classmates.
MORE: The Sporting News' ranking of the top 30 players in the NBA
Dwyane Wade vs. Dirk Nowitzki beef timeline
March 26, 2004: Wade and Nowitzki face each other for the first time in their NBA careers.
A three-time All-Star at the time, Nowitzki scores 25 points and records 12 rebounds, but it isn't enough to defeat the Heat in overtime. Wade shines with 24 points, seven assists and four steals in one of the final games of his promising rookie season.
June 8, 2006: Wade's Heat and Nowitzki's Mavericks meet in Game 1 of the 2006 NBA Finals. It's the first Finals appearance for both franchises.
June 11, 2006: The Mavericks take a 2-0 series lead with a dominant 14-point victory. Nowitzki leads the way with 26 points and 16 rebounds while Wade struggles with his shot, finishing with 23 points on 6-for-19 shooting.
"They did what they had to do," Heat head coach Pat Riley says. "Everybody's written our team off, even in Chicago. We lost two games to Chicago, then we got buried by New Jersey in the first game. We were history, and then we were history against Detroit — even when we were ahead 3-1.
"I'm sure we're history now, so we'll see what happens at home."
June 18, 2006: The Heat win their third straight game in Miami to take a 3-2 series lead. Wade erupts for 43 points while making an NBA Finals record 21 free throws.
After the game, a frustrated Nowitzki kicks a ball into the stands that later results in him receiving a $5,000 fine from the NBA. He's also seen shoving an exercise bike and kicking something else on his way to the locker room.
June 20, 2006: Wade finishes with 36 points and 10 rebounds in Game 6 to complete "one of the most stunning turnarounds in NBA Finals history." The Heat become only the 11th team to ever win a best-of-seven series in the playoffs after trailing 2-0.
Wade is named Finals MVP with averages of 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals. Nowitzki averaged 22.8 points and 10.8 rebounds but shot 39.0 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from 3-point range.
In 2011, ESPN ranked Wade's Finals performance as the best since the NBA-ABA merger.
Feb. 10, 2007: Wade takes offense to Nowitzki saying he felt like the Mavericks "gave" the Heat a championship.
"Dirk says they gave us the championship last year, but he's the reason they lost the championship because he wasn't the leader that he's supposed to be in the closing moments," Wade says. "That's because of great defense by us, but also he wasn't assertive enough as a leader's supposed to be.''
Nowitzki doesn't respond, but Mavericks owner Mark Cuban does.
"I guess you have earned the right to criticize Dirk with an obvious display of your own leadership skills," Cuban writes on his blog. "You are an amazing player, Dwayne. I love watching you shoot free throws. What you know about Dirk's leadership skills is nonexistent. You don't have a clue. Your ability to evaluate leadership skills ... you obviously have an overinflated value of your own."
Feb. 18, 2007: Wade is asked about his comments in an interview with Liz Robbins of The New York Times.
“I have no personal issues against Dirk,” Wade says. “We don’t guard each other. Dirk is a great player, and his team is having an unbelievable year. I don’t care what an individual has to say about me, but when you take a shot at my team, that’s when I feel it more than anything.”
July 8, 2010: LeBron James shocks the NBA world by announcing that he's signing with the Heat to join forces with Wade and Chris Bosh.
Since winning a championship in 2006, the Heat have failed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs. With James, Wade and Bosh, the Heat enter the season with the best odds to win the championship. The Mavericks, who made it out of the first round only once since their Finals loss, rank seventh in championship odds.
May 31, 2011: Five years later, the Heat and Mavericks meet in the Finals again. Wade posts a 22-point, 10-rebound double-double in Miami's Game 1 win.
June 5, 2011: The Heat take a 2-1 series lead behind 29 points and 11 rebounds from Wade. Nowitzki scores a game-high 34 points but misses a jump shot in the closing seconds that would've forced overtime.
"This is a total win," Wade says after the game. "You want to win the game on the defensive end of the floor and we got a stop."
June 7, 2011: The Mavericks tie the series at 2-2 with a nail-biting 86-83 win.
Nowitzki is described as "coughing and wheezing," barely sleeping the night before and having his temperature spike to 101 due to a fever. Despite being under the weather, he leads the Mavericks with 21 points and scores a layup with 14.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Mavericks a three-point lead.
"This is the Finals," says Nowitzki. "You have to go out there and compete and try your best for your team. So that's what I did."
June 10, 2011: A now infamous video emerges of Wade and James mocking Nowitzki's illness prior to Game 5, which resulted in a win for the Mavericks.
This, of course, is the moment that took their rivalry to a whole new level.
June 12, 2011: The Mavericks win their third straight game to defeat the Heat in the Finals.
Nowitzki is named Finals MVP with averages of 26.0 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Wade leads the Heat with averages of 26.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists.
"This feeling, to be on the best team in the world, it's just unbelievable," Nowitzki says.
Dec. 25, 2011: The Heat and Mavericks open the 2011-12 season with a Christmas Day matchup.
While Nowitzki and the Mavericks receive their championship rings, the Heat gather in another part of the building to get "ready to show everyone why they are favorited to win it all." Wade and James spoil the championship celebration by combining for 63 points, 18 rebounds and 12 assists in a comfortable win for the Heat.
The Heat would go on to be champions that season, then repeat in 2013. A new-look Mavericks team, meanwhile, would get swept by the Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.
Feb. 1, 2019: The NBA announces that Wade, 37, and Nowitzki, 40, have been named special team roster additions for the 2019 All-Star Game, an honor of their "extraordinary contributions as iconic NBA champions and beloved ambassadors and in recognition of their All-Star careers."
Feb. 17, 2019: In their final All-Star Game, Wade scores seven points in 10 minutes while Nowitzki scores nine points in four minutes. Nowitzki goes a perfect 3-for-3 from the 3-point line.
March 28, 2019: Wade and Nowitzki face each other for the final time in their NBA careers. After the game, they exchange jerseys.
2 classic Finals matchups.
— NBA (@NBA) April 1, 2023
Countless battles.
Mutual respect.
And now, #23HoopClass inductees... look back at when Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade exchanged jerseys during their final game as opponents! pic.twitter.com/hKvgo2Pv4c
Days earlier in an interview with Howard Beck, Nowitzki admitted that without the lowest point of his NBA career, his greatest accomplishment likely never would have happened. "Without that '06 happening, I'm not sure I would have won in '11," Nowitzki told Bleacher Report.
Nov. 16, 2021: In an interview with Ben Golliver of The Washington Post, Wade expresses regret over the famous coughing video.
"The coughing incident was just being young. Taking something that you didn’t think was as serious — and it was serious from the standpoint of sickness and health — and just being a young kid and making fun of something. Trying to get a laugh or do something to the camera.
"I don’t even like looking at the clip. I would tell my son not to do something like that. It wasn’t anything personal [toward Nowitzki]; it was just in the moment of the media trying to come up with stories. Kind of making fun of it, 'Okay, he’s sick, all right; what other excuse are you going to give him?' It became a big thing.
"Do you mean to do something like that in the moment? Probably not, but you did it. You take it on the chin and move on."
Feb. 20, 2022: Wade and Nowitzki join TNT's broadcast during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game. Reggie Miller jokes that he can sit in between Wade and Nowitzki, who are seated next to each other, which draws a laugh from both of them.
"I think we're good at this point," says Nowitzki.
"There's always history, but good history, Reg," Wade adds.
March 7, 2022: Nowitzki tells Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports that he felt as though Wade and James mocking his illness in the 2011 NBA Finals was "a little disrespectful" but "didn't add to my motivation."
Over a year prior, Nowitzki's former teammate JJ Barea said on JJ Redick's podcast that Nowitzki wouldn't admit it, but he hated the Heat. Specifically, Barea said that the coughing video "really hurt" Nowitzki and gave him "a little bit extra" to finish the Heat off.
Aug. 6, 2023: Ahead of the Hall of Fame induction, Nowitzki talks about his relationship with Wade on NBA insider Marc Stein's podcast.
“I wouldn't say we're friends," says Nowitzki. “I think there's a mutual sense of respect for each other's career and obviously were cordial. There's no bad blood, obviously, anymore. We all moved on, things were said on both sides or done that neither side liked, but that's part of competition at the highest level.”
