Pat Riley doesn't flinch choosing Heat's all-time greatest between Dwyane Wade, LeBron James

Dwyane Wade should be feeling the love right now from Miami Heat team president Pat Riley. After all, it's not every day that you're labeled the franchise's GOAT, especially when it means placing you above arguably the greatest player in the history of the NBA.

When speaking with Heat reporter Brady Hawk, Riley gave an assessment that essentially put the jaws of NBA fans on the floor. The iconic executive, former coach and face of the Heat franchise discussed the differences between Wade and LeBron James as players in the team's history — and Riley didn't hold back his brutally honest thoughts.

"Dwyane is the greatest player that ever played for the Heat, and that's not an insult to LeBron," Riley said, per Hawk.

Riley certainly had no interest in his comment going viral the moment it hit the internet, but here we are. With absolutely no disrespect here for Wade, this is a comment that should bring plenty of debate. With that said, if the argument is purely about Heat legacy (which is what it appears to be), there's a case to be made in favor of Wade, who spent virtually his entire career with the franchise.

When looking at the broad scope of Wade's resume, of the 1,054 regular-season games he played, 948 of them were with the Heat. You'd be hard-pressed to find many players aside from Kobe Bryant or Dirk Nowitzki that played nearly 90 percent of their career games with one franchise.

One other argument in favor of Wade is the glaring fact that he led the Heat to its first championship by himself (before James arrived) in 2005-06. This alone could be enough to push him up to the top of the list of greatest players in franchise history.

Obviously, James and Wade teaming up with Chris Bosh and winning two additional titles is what jumps out to many fans, but the scope of work for the franchise itself creates a unique argument for both sides.