Even on road, Wade keeping tabs on his son’s games. And why he might not play his son 1-on-1 this year
With the Heat in the middle of a stretch that includes 12 of 16 games on the road, Dwyane Wade is reminded of one of the biggest factors that made his decision to return for a 16th NBA season so difficult.
As Wade’s oldest son, Zaire, is playing out his junior season as a guard at Plantation American Heritage, he hasn’t been in South Florida much lately to experience it.
“It was a big part of it, of course,” Wade said when asked how much his son’s high school basketball career was pulling him toward retirement this past offseason. “I think if he was a senior this year, it would have been way different. I know I got another year with him. Of course, we have this amazing job that has allowed our family to have everything that they have. But at some point, you don’t want to miss everything. As you get older in the sport and your kids get older, you would like to be around more. I’ve been able to go to more games this year than I have in the past and the sky is the limit from here.”
Wade said he’s been able to attend four of Zaire’s games this season, and he watches every game he can using an app when he’s on the road.
“It’s definitely tough, like for all parents being away from their kids,” said Wade, who is retiring at the end of this season. “You want to enjoy the sports part of it. For me, I’m able to watch their games because of an app that I use, which keeps me at least involved. But obviously, you want to be there. So I just try to make sure that I post about my kids and let them know how proud of them I am, especially my oldest son to let him know that his time is coming and all these kinds of things.”
The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reported last week the University of Miami quietly has been evaluating Zaire, whose only scholarship offer at this point is from Nebraska.
Zaire, who is listed at 6-2, averaged 9.1 points, 6.1 assists and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 57.2 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the free-throw line while playing in the Elite Youth Basketball League this past summer.
Wade and Zaire usually play a 1-on-1 game after each NBA season, and Zaire has yet to win. But last year’s matchup was competitive enough to make Wade wonder if he should continue the tradition this year.
“We played three games,” Wade said of last year’s matchup aganist Zaire. “The first game was close. We went to five. The first game was 5-4. He hit some tough shots and he had a chance to win and I fouled him. The next two I smacked him. But he had a chance to win.
“I beat him. But I started to see he was a little quicker than I remember. From there, I was like, ‘We’ll see next year.’”
What’s there to say?
This is new for Kelly Olynyk.
After averaging 23.4 minutes of playing time in his first season with the Heat, Olynyk has been used in a smaller role recently. The 27-year-old center has logged a total of nine minutes over the previous four games entering Sunday’s matchup against the Knicks, and has been an active scratch in two of those games.
“I don’t really bring it up to anybody,” Olynyk said when asked if there’s somebody he discusses his diminished playing time with. “People always bring it up to you, whether it’s friends, family, teammates, other people, media. Everybody’s going to bring it up to you, so you’re going to talk about it enough that you don’t need to reach out and talk to anybody about it.
“Of course, my dad’s a coach, he played basketball his whole life. Obviously he’s inquiring, just the way any parent would, but obviously on another level, because he knows the game and sees more than the surface level of basketball.”
▪ Heat guard Tyler Johnson missed Sunday’s game against the Knicks because of left calf soreness. Wayne Ellington started in Johnson’s place.
This story was originally published January 27, 2019 at 1:45 PM.
