‘Three for three.’ Why Weekend of Wade is about much more than just a jersey retirement.
It has been a little more than 10 months since Dwyane Wade was at AmericanAirlines Arena for a basketball game.
The last time Wade was in the Heat’s building for a game was on April 9, 2019, when he played at AmericanAirlines Arena for the final time before retiring at the end of the season.
Those who know Wade will tell you he’s often deliberate with his actions. And this 10-month hiatus is just another example of that personality trait.
“I knew that my first game back would be my jersey retirement,” said Wade, who retired in April following 16 NBA seasons. “I didn’t want to mess up the excitement of that night.”
Whether the retired Heat guard would have messed up his moment by attending a game in Miami earlier this season is questionable. But what’s not up for debate is the significance and excitement surrounding the upcoming weekend, which the Heat has labeled a “L3GACY Celebration” to honor the greatest player in franchise history based on sustained success with the organization and, arguably, the greatest athlete in South Florida sports history.
The three-day series of events to celebrate Wade’s career begins Friday at AmericanAirlines Arena with “The Flashback” at 8 p.m. to “honor Wade’s impact on NBA basketball, the Miami Heat and the South Florida community.” The kickoff event’s name is an homage to Wade’s “Flash” nickname, and it will be televised live on Fox Sports Sun.
The festivities continue Saturday when Wade’s No. 3 jersey will be retired during a halftime ceremony in the middle of the Heat’s home matchup against the Cavaliers. Wade will become the fifth Heat player to have his jersey retired, joining Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Bosh.
The celebration ends Sunday with an exclusive screening of Wade’s documentary, “D. Wade: Life Unexpected,” at 3:30 p.m. at AmericanAirlines Arena before it airs on ESPN at 9 p.m. that same day.
“He deserves it,” close friend and longtime Heat teammate Udonis Haslem said of Wade. “For what he has done for the organization, for what he has done for the city. As a friend, we’re going to celebrate him in the best way possible.”
While most jersey retirements take just one day, Wade is getting a three-day party. After all, he turned the No. 3 into a legendary number in South Florida.
“Three for three,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who was an assistant coach with the organization when Miami drafted Wade in 2003. “He has got the No. 3 jersey, three championships and three days of celebration. And he’s not your typical player. We don’t want to view this as just a raising of a number. He has meant so much to this franchise, but also to this city and community. ... He’s essentially the modern face of our franchise.”
RETIREMENT LIFE
Los Angeles is now Wade’s primary home. He’s spending more time with his wife, Gabrielle Union, and is able to be a more consistent presence in his children’s lives. That includes their 1-year-old daughter, Kaavia.
“It has actually been awesome,” Wade said of being retired. “I don’t think I’ve even had time to miss the game of basketball yet. Obviously, it’s very busy when you’re trying to get to one kid this, one kid that, go to your wife’s job, try to build another career. So I’ve been very busy with just everything.
“[Kaavia] has been a bright light for our family, and for me and my wife. You guys know, we talked a little bit about the journey that it has taken to get her here. She has been everything we thought and more in these first 15, 16 months that she has been on Earth. It has been amazing.”
But Wade is still working a lot, too. He’s a few weeks into his broadcasting career after accepting a role as a studio analyst on TNT’s January-through-April Tuesday night NBA package.
Wade has already made two appearances as an NBA analyst for TNT’s Tuesday studio coverage, alongside O’Neal, Candace Parker and host Adam Lefkoe. Wade’s other responsibilities in his Turner Sports deal include appearances on its coverage of the Final Four, projects for Bleacher Report and an agreement with WarnerMedia to undertake additional creative projects in conjunction with Wade’s 59th & Prairie Entertainment production company.
“It’s something that presented itself that I didn’t think that I wanted to do,” Wade admitted of broadcasting work. “... But doing TNT, having a production deal, creative director of Bleacher Report. It was just something I could not pass up on. So, it has been great. It has been different work than I’m used to. I’m still learning. We’ve only done the TNT show twice. So we’ve only been around each other twice. But it has been good to just still stay around the game and have an arm length away from the game that I love.”
NO REGRETS
That’s as close as Wade wants to get to basketball for now. He doesn’t miss playing, and he doesn’t have any immediate plans to get back in the NBA in another capacity.
Even with the Heat in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and close friend Jimmy Butler playing the role of leading man in his first season with the organization, the “What if I would have played one more season?” question has not crossed Wade’s mind.
Although a derivative of that question did pop into his head when he saw the Heat trade for Andre Iguodala, 36, earlier this month and then sign him to a two-year, $30 million extension that includes a team option for the 2021-22 season.
“I did have a moment when Iguodala signed with the Heat. I said, ‘Well Iguodala has been out as long as I have.’ I might have went back and got that money then,” Wade said jokingly. “That was a moment when I was like, ‘Man, now I could have done something like that.’
“I wasn’t coming back for the league minimum. But if they would have presented the bank load, you never know. I guess we will never know.”
As far as one day working within the Heat organization, that’s still a possibility for Wade. The future Hall of Famer has stated in the past that becoming part of the Heat’s ownership group interests him, but it’s not in his immediate future.
“I don’t want to work for the organization, I want to be partners with the organization,” Wade said. “I don’t need to work for them anymore. I would like to sit down and figure out a way that we can have a partnership. If we could figure that out, then we can do some things together.”
Wade and the Heat have done a lot of things together since 2003.
Wade is the Heat’s all-time leader in categories like points, games played, minutes played, assists and steals and is considered one of the top shooting guards in NBA history. Among his most impressive accomplishments: Three championships with the Heat (2006, 2012, 2013), a Finals MVP award in 2006 and an NBA scoring title in the 2008-09 season.
The most turbulent time in the Heat’s relationship with Wade came in the summer of 2016. Free agent contract negotiations between the organization and Wade turned ugly, and he opted to leave the Heat after 13 seasons to sign with the Bulls.
When Heat president Pat Riley looks back at that time, he has said not offering Wade a max contract in the summer of 2014 was his biggest mistake. With LeBron James leaving Miami to join the Cavaliers that offseason, the Heat opted to sign Chris Bosh to a five-year, $118 million maximum deal and Wade to a two-year $31.1 million contract.
This took a toll on Wade’s relationship with Riley, but it eventually improved — to a point — after Wade was traded back to the Heat in the middle of the 2017-18 season. Wade went on to end his playing career in Miami.
“We have a good relationship,” Wade said when asked about Riley. “I think me and Pat have always had a great personal relationship. It’s just that we got a different relationship when it comes to the business relationship. The business part of Pat and myself, we dealt with something and I forgave and I think everyone forgave. But I have never forgotten either. I’ve moved on from it, but I don’t forget. But the personal relationship, you saw it. We were on a yacht together this summer dancing in costumes.
“But as I continue to say, my grandma always taught me this and I live by this code: ‘You forgive, but you don’t forget.’ And I will not forget because it has helped me become a better businessman in what I do. I don’t lean on and wait for anybody no more. I will not wait on someone to do anything for me, I’m going to do it myself. So that’s what you see me out here doing right now. You see me doing things and our team doing things ourselves, and I’m not sitting waiting on the Heat to give me a job. That’s not what you’re going to see from me.”
THE (TEMPORARY) RETURN
This weekend, though, Wade returns to Miami and his Heat family. It’s only for a few days because his home is waiting for him in Los Angeles.
Wade misses Miami, especially the connections and friends he made around the city. But he makes it clear he’s also enjoying his family and new endeavors in Los Angeles and around the country.
Will this weekend provide Wade with a sense of closure to his playing career?
“That’s something I don’t think I need. But at the same time, I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t been back. So I guess I will see when I get there, when everything happens. For me, it’s just going to be cool, man. It’s going to be cool to have a moment. I got a chance to watch teammates over the years — Alonzo, I was there for Tim Hardaway, CB. I’ve been able to watch teammates over the years get their jersey retired and kind of see their process.
“I can’t wait to enter. I’ve been looking up at the rafters for a long time in Miami. And now that my jersey will go up there, the rafters for me is about to get complete. It has been incomplete for a while.”
With Wade returning to AmericanAirlines Arena, albeit for a weekend, the Heat will feel whole again, too.
“For me, it’s like raising one of your kids and then they’re gone,” Riley said. “They move to L.A. and you don’t get to see them that much anymore. You take for granted players who walk in the locker room every day and then we have a game that night and you’re flying the next day. You spend all this time with somebody for 16 years and then they’re gone.
“I think we can’t do enough for him. He has done a lot for us. I think it’s going to be a great night for Dwyane and for his family. We’re looking forward to it. We hope we can put on a real night for him, two nights for him and honor him the way that he deserves. Then, like one of your kids, he’s going to go back and live with his family in LA.”
But after this weekend, whether Wade is in Miami or not, that iconic No. 3 jersey will forever be hanging in AmericanAirlines Arena.
Wade has plans of his own this weekend, too. He’s already making it known “I’m going to definitely go over on my time” when it comes to his speech.
And Wade also has a single that will be released Friday with Miami rapper Rick Ross. The new song is titled “Season Ticket Holder,” and it also features Haslem and singer-songwriter-producer Raphael Saadiq. There will even be a music video to go along with it.
“Ross asked me to be on a song of his and I said, ‘Cool.’ It was always something I wanted to do,” Wade said. “So I did it and I asked UD to come to the studio because it was a Miami thing. We really did it for the city of Miami.”
That’s the thing. This weekend is not only for Wade, it’s for the city.
“We don’t get a lot of times to reflect like this. So, I look forward to it,” Wade said. “I look forward to the emotions of it. I don’t know if I’m going to cry, if I’m going to be smiling. I don’t know what it is. But I’m just going to let whatever emotion comes out, just let it come out and let it be.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
