What’s in store for Heat’s Dwyane Wade during his final All-Star Weekend as a player?
Moments. There will be plenty of them for Dwyane Wade during All-Star Weekend.
There will be moments to celebrate, moments to take in with his family, friends and peers, and moments to reflect on his Hall of Fame career.
As Wade goes through All-Star Weekend as a player for the final time before he retires at the end of the season, he isn’t sure what to expect leading up to Sunday’s All-Star Game.
“I’m just going to try to enjoy it,” said Wade, who was selected with Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki as an All-Star by NBA commissioner Adam Silver as “special team roster additions.” “It’s going to be a different All-Star [Weekend] than I’ve experienced. Whatever comes with it, things that I’m doing that they haven’t told me about. They won’t tell me everything. Whatever it is, I’m just going to enjoy it.”
The surprises in store for Wade began Thursday night with a dinner to celebrate his career that included attendees such as Magic Johnson, Tim Hardaway, Charles Barkley, Donovan Mitchell, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, among others.
The list of guests also included Heat president Pat Riley, who arrived in Charlotte on Thursday to take part in Wade’s weekend. Along with Riley, Heat owner Micky Arison, CEO Nick Arison and team executive and former player Alonzo Mourning are expected to make their way to Charlotte.
“I am a big-moment guy,” Riley said. “And I look at these moments differently than other people, and the moments that are significant to me and my perspective. When I’m around Dwyane, when I watch him play, at practice, in the locker room, whatever, I see different moments that remind me so much of the years that either I coached him or Stan [Van Gundy] or Erik [Spoelstra] coached him when he was in his prime.”
Wade isn’t sure what to expect entering the weekend, but a few former All-Stars took some guesses.
“It’s probably going to not be sad goodbyes,” said 12-time All-Star and Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas, who now works as a Turner Sports NBA analyst. “But at some point in time, he’ll come to the realization that this may be the last time that he’s among this group of 24 or 26 players in one gathering, where they all got uniforms on and everybody is competing. This may be the last time that he’s doing it. So there will be some emotional tugs once that realization hits.”
Fellow Turner Sports NBA analyst and five-time All-Star Reggie Miller said: “Dwyane Wade is experiencing his swan song in every arena he goes to. I don’t think this weekend will be overly emotional because he’s been dealing with it every place he’s gone on the road. The love that he’s shown, the way players have responded to him and to the jersey switch he’s been doing with just about every player in every arena he’s gone to. But I think it will be special for him and LeBron [James] to reconnect on this level and to play in our glorified pick-up game that’s seen by millions across the world. I think that’s probably what he’s looking forward to the most.”
Wade’s former Heat teammate Caron Butler, who is also a Turner Sports analyst, believes All-Star Weekend will be “extremely emotional” for his close friend.
“It will just be a weekend of reflection,” Butler said. “I think he’s going to recall the initial moments where we first started dreaming. Like when you come and you’re trying to be one of the best athletes ever to play the game or this sport, I think he’s going to reflect upon all those moments. He has a ton of things, like hidden surprises, that’s coming toward him this weekend. We got a lot of people getting together and doing some special things and having some special moments planned for him.”
Moments. That’s what Wade’s weekend is about.
With Wade’s wife, actress Gabrielle Union-Wade, sons Zaire and Zion, and newborn daughter, Kaavia, in Charlotte with him, it’s also about family time.
“I can’t ask for anything better,” Wade said. “I wish I was getting a little sun and a little tan, but besides from that, cool.”
In a few months Wade’s playing career will be over. But before he moves on to the next phase of his life, he will play in one final All-Star Game.
The 13th in his 16-year career.
“The old time flies cliché,” Riley said. “You grab a second, a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year. And before you know it, it’s gone. All those experiences that you spent over 16 years have come and gone, and a lot of them have been absolutely exhilarating.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2019 at 12:43 PM.
