Here’s what Wade will miss most. And his retirement plan with teammates

Dwyane Wade, naturally, will miss the exhilaration of playing in front of packed arenas, of hitting game-winning shots.

But there’s something he suspects he will miss even more:

“The thing I think I will miss the most is the interaction with my teammates in the locker room, the bus rides, the plane rides, the things outside the court,” Wade said at Target Center on Friday, hours before the Heat played the Minnesota Timberwolves. “[On] the court, 20,000 cheering for you, booing you, is incredible and you’re definitely going to miss that, but it’s the locker room vibe, the friendships, the brotherhood, the bonds that you build with guys in so many walks of life.”

But Wade said he “definitely” wants to be a part of the young Heat players’ lives beyond this season.

“The one thing here is we build a close bond with guys,” he said. “I have a close bond with these guys. It is going to be cool to be able to see their careers blossom and grow and always be a sounding board and always be a friend. I look forward to seeing what the next 15 years are like for these guys.”

Erik Spoelstra said Friday: “We don’t want this season to end. I certainly don’t because of all the great moments I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of coaching a Hall of Fame player.”

▪ TNT wanted to replace its scheduled Celtics-Wizards game with 76ers-Heat on Tuesday night, but two factors kept that from materializing:

The Heat already had a 7 p.m pregame ceremony scheduled for Wade, in advance of the 7:30 start, and as a result did not want to move the tipoff to 7 p.m, which would have been necessary to accommodate TNT. Starting the Wade ceremony at 6:30 p.m. would not have been appealing to the Heat because some fans would still be commuting to the game.

The second game of TNT’s doubleheader, Houston-Oklahoma City, is in the Central Time Zone, meaning nobody would have been comfortable starting the game significantly past 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Fox Sports Sun will televise the Heat-76ers game in South Florida.

▪ No surprise here: Ticket prices are soaring for Wade’s regular-season finale.

According to TickPick, the game currently has an average listing price of $633 — up 132% since Wade announced this would be his last season on Sept. 16.

Prices have increased 12% following Wednesday’s loss that dropped the Heat to ninth in the East. The average was at $565 heading into the game.

Average purchase price so far is $229.

Meanwhile, Ticket of America’s Michael Lipman says courtside seats are going for $5,500 to $7,500 for the game. Lipman says those aren’t the highest this season; Lakers courtside seats sold for 11,500 when LeBron James played here earlier this year.

TicketMaster is listing some upper level corner seats as low as $145.

▪ With the Final Four going on this weekend, Wade recalled in a conversation with Udonis Haslem that Wade’s Marquette team qualified for the Final Four in Minneapolis “and the Heat was playing Minnesota at that time too and I remember coming to the game.

“I remember the opportunity to come into the locker room after the game and meet Kevin Garnett, one of my favorite players. It was so cool. Some of these kids [in the Final Four] are going to start their careers at this level and I ended mine. 16 years ago, I was starting mine. Full circle in a sense. Weird how this all works out.”

HASLEM WAITS

Udonis Haslem said he had no discussion with the Heat about a celebration to honor his career because he’s not sure he’s retiring. Haslem said he’s still leaning toward playing but won’t decide until the summer.

“I am sure if I do decide to retire this summer, we can pick a day out

of the summer to throw a big huge [butt] party or parade or something,” he said.

WINSLOW ROLE

Spoelstra said Justise Winslow will “fill in in Josh [Richardson’s] spot” with Richardson back in Miami. Richardson is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with hip and groin injuries.

Winslow said recently he’s appreciative that the Heat continued to allow him to start even when Goran Dragic returned from knee surgery in late February.



“Definitely makes me feel good,” he said before his injury. “I feel I’m a starting player in this league. That’s no offense to any of my teammates or anybody around the league.

“But that’s how good a player I feel like I am and will continue to be. I’m glad my teammates and my coaching staff have put that faith in me. That’s definitely given me even more confidence and re-assurance that this is who I am meant to be.”

▪ Dion Waiters and Derrick Jones Jr., whose status had both been in question because of ailments, will be available Friday, Spoelstra said.

▪ In order for Duncan Robinson or Yante Maten to be eligible for the playoffs, the Heat must convert their two-way contracts into standard contracts by Wednesday. Miami is expected to add additional players to their roster, which stood at 13 as of Friday morning.

This story was originally published April 5, 2019 at 2:01 PM.