With over 1,000 steals, Dwyane Wade’s defensive legacy rivals that of his offense, making him one of the best players to ever wear a Miami Heat uniform.
The Heat have made 25 playoff appearances in franchise history and won three championships. Let’s look at their career leaders list and highlight their top five players in steals.
1. Dwyane Wade, 1,492 Steals
The Heat selected Wade with the fifth pick in the 2003 Draft. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting, averaging 16.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.4 steals. He was selected to 13 All-Star teams and finished inside the top-10 in MVP voting seven times. Wade had five seasons in which he averaged at least 1.8 steals per game. He would go on to play for the Bulls and Cavaliers before finishing up his career back with the Heat. Across 948 career games with the Heat, Wade averaged 1.6 steals.
2. Mario Chalmers, 791 Steals
Chalmers played in all 82 games for the Heat during his rookie season, averaging 10.0 points, 4.9 assists and 2.0 steals per game. While he started all games that year, Chalmers spent the majority of the next two seasons coming off the bench where he averaged no more than 1.2 steals in both seasons. Chalmers eventually worked his way back into a starting role and would go on to average 1.5 steals across 525 career games for the Heat.
3. Grant Long, 666 Steals
After the Heat selected Long in the second round of the 1988 Draft, he played at least 80 games in each of his first four seasons, averaging at least 1.5 steals in three of those. Long averaged 1.4 steals in his 472 career games with the Heat.
4. Bam Adebayo, 606 Steals
Bam Adebayo stepped in as the starting center for the Miami Heat after being drafted 14th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. He’s become an all-around defensive dynamo, leading the Heat’s deterrence while receiving Defensive Player of the Year votes in each season since 2019-20.
5. Glen Rice, 572 Steals
The Heat selected Rice with the fourth pick in the 1989 Draft. He made an immediate impact, averaging 13.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.9 steals over 30 minutes per game during his rookie campaign. He appeared in at least 77 games in each of his six seasons with the franchise, which helped him land the fourth spot on this list despite averaging a modest 1.2 steals per game with the Heat.
