Dwyane Wade on returning to FTX Arena next week: ‘That’s forever home’
As Dwyane Wade’s new team faced his old team on Saturday, he looked forward to returning to his former NBA home.
The greatest player in Miami Heat history will be in South Florida next week and is planning to attend the Heat’s game against the Washington Wizards at FTX Arena on Thursday. It will mark the first Heat game Wade, 39, has attended in Miami since he purchased an ownership stake in the Utah Jazz in April.
“I’m super excited to be able to be at the arena and see the fans and feel the energy,” Wade said to the Miami Herald ahead of the Heat’s matchup against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Arena on Saturday. “That’s forever home. That’s my office. I just got to ask for a key now, but that’s my office. I’m going to enjoy being back like I always do.”
With his NBA playing career coming to an end following 16 NBA seasons at the end of the 2018-19 campaign, Wade had his No. 3 Heat jersey retired by the organization in February 2020.
Wade spent most of his career with the Heat, only leaving briefly to play one season with the Chicago Bulls and part of a season with the Cleveland Cavaliers before returning to close his career in Miami.
Wade, who was drafted by Miami in 2003, 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.
“I’m looking to forward to being there,” Wade said. “I’m looking forward to being at the game. I’m looking forward to talking [trash] across the way to [Erik Spoelstra]. I am. I’m looking forward to it.”
Wade said in 2019 just a month before playing in his final NBA game that the Heat would get first crack at him as a potential owner. But he ended up joining the Jazz ownership group after building a relationship with majority owner Ryan Smith.
‘I’m just in the next stage of my life,” Wade said. “Some players, they retire and they go into the front office or they stay in the community or they stay in Miami because they’ve had success or it’s just where they want to live. I’ve always been a little different, man. I’m antsy. I can’t sit down. So for me, I had to get to the next phase of my life right away. So I’m not [in Miami].”
But that doesn’t mean Wade has forgotten about Miami, even after relocating to Southern California when his playing career came to an end in part to be closer to the acting career of his wife Gabrielle Union.
“Whenever someone chooses you, it means something. Miami chose me,” Wade said. “They drafted me, they chose me and then they brought me up with open arms as a young basketball player. What I always say about what I love about Miami is just the way they protected us. They protected my family. They protected me. I had to grow up quickly in the public eye in front of everybody. Mistakes made, imperfect this, all this stuff and they just covered me, man. Protected me and let me make my mistakes. My love goes so deep that it’s in its own category. Nothing else compares to that.”
Wade’s relationship with the Heat has endured despite ups and downs along the way. Chris Bosh’s enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September helped bring Wade and Heat brass together again.
“In due time, things heal,” Wade said. “We’ve been through a lot. To spend that much time together, I think I posted a picture talking about that we’re like a family. We argue, we may not speak for two years. We do all the things. But when we’re together, we love each other. I can’t wait to be around those guys again. It’s always that way. But life goes on, too, and I’m in that life moves on phase with business.”
NBA INVESTIGATION UPDATE
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday night that the NBA’s investigation of the Heat for potential tampering over its sign-and-trade acquisition of Kyle Lowry has “reached the advanced stages.”
The league’s investigation, which was launched three months ago in early August, is focused on whether the Heat made contact with Lowry or his agent regarding the trade and a contract prior to the Aug. 2 start of free agency.
Two years ago, the NBA raised the maximum tampering fine to $10 million and also said that tampering could result in forfeiture of draft picks, suspension of team executives or even voiding of contracts.
The investigation remains ongoing. As of Friday, the conclusion of the investigation was not considered imminent.
