When the LeBron-Jordan debates were gaining traction, Dwyane Wade shared his thoughts on the matter.

Back in 2012, when the LeBron-Jordan debates were slowly picking up, Dwyane Wade was asked if his buddy could surpass Michael Jordan in terms of basketball stature. While Wade was in awe of what his friend had accomplished, the Miami Heat icon wasn’t too sure if LeBron could be greater than Black Jesus.

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Even though he was a running partner to Bron en route to his two championships, he knew that in order to catch Mr. Air; James had a steep climb in front of him.

“I don’t know if (James) has the ability to surpass (Jordan) or not,” Wade said in 2012, per ESPN. “That’s yet to be seen. My version as LeBron being on par with Michael is this: They’re both on the golf course. Michael’s on the 18th hole. LeBron is somewhere on like the fourth hole. He’s got a long way to go, but he’s on par to get to the 18th hole.”

Wade highlighted the fact that we’ve never seen someone like LeBron before. He’s 6’8″, around 250 pounds, and moves like a guard with the brute strength of a center or a power forward.

“But Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time, that’s who everyone shoots for,” Wade continued. “So it’s going to be hard to surpass that.”

King James was 27 years old at that time; and from Wade’s perspective, his good buddy is just going to get better every day. He was in his prime, so Wade believed that Bron could follow the paths of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, who went on to have solid careers past their 30s.

“You can’t go past it,” Dwyane said of Jordan’s legacy. “How can you? That’s as great as it gets, man. The only thing you can do, like I said, is be A-1, A-B. There’s no way higher.”

Wade dropped those comments months after LeBron led the Cleveland Cavaliers to an epic 3-1 comeback to beat the 73-win Golden State Warriors squad. It’s considered one of the best accomplishments in all of sports. For a handful of basketball fans, this cemented LeBron’s status as the Greatest of All Time.

It’s understandable that Flash believes it’s impossible to surpass MJ. After all, he was part of that generation that witnessed Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ dominance in the 1990s. Jordan is one of the reasons why Wade picked up the basketball and tried to become the best player he could be.

It’s been seven years since Wade’s last comment about the LeBron-Jordan debates. Has it changed over the last couple of years now that his good buddy is the all-time scoring leader with four championship rings on his finger?