James's Future May Rest on Wade's Knees One of the biggest questions posed when LeBron James signed with the Miami Heat was whether he was giving up his alpha dog status to win an N.B.A. title. At the time, it was unthinkable that the larger-than-life James could supplant Dwyane Wade as the face of the franchise. After three seasons and two championships, James has clearly eclipsed Wade, removing any doubt that he is the best player of his generation. The question now is whether James will be interested in staying in Miami after the season should Wade be unable to return to his dominant ways. The Heat's season-long campaign to retain James, who can opt out of his contract, is off to a rocky start. Wade - the reason James chose Miami in the first place - sat out the second game to rest his ailing knees and may not play in back-to-back games for a month or more. The Heat would not lose any sleep over losing Wade for a few games, but it would be reasonable for James to be concerned that his sidekick is not 100 percent. Wade did not resemble his old self in a 101-100 loss to the Nets on Friday, but he scored 21 points in 38 minutes. Much of the scoring came from the free-throw line, where he shot 10 for 11. Before the game, Coach Erik Spoelstra played down the concern over Wade's sitting out a game in the season's first week. "To Heat Nation: Don't be alarmed," Spoelstra said. This was just us being proactive. During last season's 27-game winning streak, Wade, along with many of his teammates, fought through nagging injuries, and he missed the final two wins of the streak because of pain in his surgically repaired knees. He returned for the game in which the streak ended but played in only five of the team's final 14 regular-season games. While some have second-guessed having Wade play hurt during regular-season games, Spoelstra stands by the decision. "We've got competitive guys, and we treat the regular season like you should, that it means something," Spoelstra said. During that streak, yes, you could make a case with Dwyane, but you don't know what would have happened if he'd sat out - if that would have affected our rhythm or not. There were occasional glimpses of the old Wade in the playoffs, but there were far more examples of the new Wade. His knees limited him to a career-low 15.9 points a game in the playoffs, and he had his left knee drained before Game 7. After the season, Wade chose to forgo surgery in favor of losing weight and having his knees treated with electrotherapy. All appeared to be going according to plan when James and others spent the preseason praising Wade's conditioning and quickness. But an underwhelming regular-season debut (13 points in 36 minutes) on Tuesday and a night off on Wednesday against Philadelphia could be early troubling signs. Wade said he was not sure how much the one-game rest had affected him, adding that he would know more once he was on the court. But he said that resting went against his instincts. "It takes a lot," Wade said of sitting on the bench. I trust my trainers, but I'm a player. If you leave it in a player's hands, they're always going to play. But we have a big picture here, so we're going to take this day by day.