Dwyane Wade dishes on Pat Riley, LeBron, more in film with some interesting revelations
Dwyane Wade promised a documentary with unprecedented access and never-seen footage, and he certainly delivered.
The film on Wade’s life - which ESPN will air at 9 p.m on Feb. 23 after a screening for fans at AmericanAirlines Arena earlier that day - shows us Wade speaking with agent Henry Thomas (now deceased) throughout the 2010 free agent process, when Wade met with multiple teams and told Thomas: “I’ve never seen Pat Riley so nervous.”
It shows Wade watching LeBron James’ 2010 special announcing he was “taking my talents to South Beach,” with Wade insisting he wasn’t certain James would even pick Miami, and Wade’s joyful reaction suggesting as much.
It shows Wade’s Bahamas vacation with James after the loss to Dallas in the 2011 Finals, when Wade said he would step to the side to allow James to be the team’s primary scorer.
It shows footage of his wedding to Gabrielle Union and his first meeting with Pat Riley after the Heat drafted him. It shows us Wade eating at home before Miami’s Game 7 win in the 2013 NBA Finals, with Wade noting his personal chef “feels I play better when I eat a turkey burger.” And “a Caesar salad,” the chef chimes in.
Along the way, during an absorbing 92 minutes of television, Wade offered clarity on several issues that arose during the course of his journey to greatness:
▪ Wade said the Big Three’s decision to team up in Miami was made July 4, 2010, but that Wade wasn’t certain that James would follow through because he didn’t return Wade’s calls in the immediate aftermath.
The July 4 decision began with James asking Wade to speak on the phone. Chris Bosh joined the call.
“I said Miami got the space if we want to go. You in?” Wade said. “July 4 was the moment we decided to play together.”
But James then didn’t return Wade’s calls or texts. “Then we hear he has a special coming up on ESPN,” Wade said. “We’re like, ‘What the [expletive] is going on?’ Maybe he changed his mind. I haven’t talked to him. I have a party [to watch James’ special, The Decision] because I don’t know what the hell is going to go on.”
▪ Viewers get a rare glimpse into Wade’s anger over how the Heat handled his contract negotiations in 2014 (when he opted out to help the team) and free agency in 2016, when he left for Chicago.
Of the 2014 experience - when James returned to Cleveland and Bosh was given a max contract by the Heat - Wade said: “Now I’m [bleeped]. Nobody has money for me even if I wanted to leave Miami. So I had to take the deal” for $15 million in 2014-15 and $20 million in 2015-16.
Of the 2016 negotiations that led to his departure, he said: “Just give me what I’m worth. That’s all I asked for. Now you start feeling like your work is not valued. I expected more from Pat [Riley]. He [screwed] up with me. He should have handled the situation better. At times, I thought our relationship was stronger. I thought if anyone was going to take care of me, it was Pat.”
Riley said: “I’m sure he felt I was going to take care of him and I didn’t and that bothers me to this day.”
▪ In the summer of 2014, James told Wade he was returning to Cleveland before LeBron announced it publicly. Wade, in the documentary, says: “LeBron let me know it was official. Not saying it didn’t hurt a little bit, but I supported him going back because I knew for his career to be complete, he would have to go back and win a championship without me.”
▪ Wade, of his half season in Cleveland after one with Chicago: “When I was in Cleveland, I was like a zombie. I was there but I wasn’t physically there.”
Riley, who acquired Wade at the February 2018 trade deadline, said: “I felt it was a year and half of being lost, because I felt his legacy would always be... with the Heat. So I was going to try to do whatever I could do to get him back here.”
▪ Wade spoke of his mother’s drug addiction during his childhood and how it affected him. (She served jail time before getting her life back on track.)
One day, police stormed in his house and “I remember trying to hide and get under the bed…. They put the gun in the back of my head and said, ‘Take me to your mother.’ I will never forget that moment as long as I live. It was traumatizing.”
▪ Wade recalls Shaquille O’Neal visiting his house after Shaq’s 2004 trade to Miami and telling Wade: “No, Flash, you got to move. You’re a star now, you’ve got to start living like one.”
▪ Wade opens up about his divorce from his first wife and childhood sweetheart, Siohvaughn.
“I was just unhappy,” Wade said. “We tried a little marriage counseling [but it didn’t work]. I left. She had 13 different lawyers in this process. Every time she got a new lawyer, the case started over. I had an agreement to see the children. A lot of times she would not bring them out. I had to get police involved. It became ugly, real nasty.”
▪ After the second and final championship in the Big Three era, Wade discusses having a child with another woman while he and Union were taking a break in their relationship. They began dating in 2008 and are now married.
“Telling [Union] was the hardest thing I ever had to do,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep. I wasn’t eating. We still came out of it. It wasn’t easy.”
▪ Of that conversation with James in the Bahamas following the 2011 Finals loss to Dallas, Wade said he told James: “I watched you play all year; you weren’t yourself. You were trying to make sure everybody was happy. I said you got to be you, and we have to get behind you. He was kind of shocked I said it, but it had to be done… If we didn’t win, it was a failure.”
▪ Among other Heat people who speak in the film besides Riley and Wade: coach Erik Spoelstra, general manager Andy Elisburg, Bosh and Udonis Haslem.
And owner Micky Arison appears in the final minutes, noting that after Wade was re-acquired from Cleveland for a final season-and-a-half with the Heat, Wade “appreciated it more because he left… Fans appreciated him more because he came back.”
▪ The film begins and ends with Wade waking up in bed the morning after his final NBA game, April 10 in Brooklyn.
“My emotions are still all over the place,” he said. “Can’t believe it’s over. Still [expletive] thankful though.”
One thought kept coming to mind: Wade and business manager/CAA executive Lisa Joseph-Metelus had great foresight in filming all of these key events in his life over the past two decades. And Wade’s longtime cinematographer, Bob Metelus, and others did excellent work condensing his 38 years on Earth into a compelling and complete 92 minutes of television.
The film was shown for the first time publicly on Thursday night in Wade’s hometown of Chicago. Wade is now an NBA analyst for TNT.
Here was my Thursday piece with several analysts discussing how they view the Heat after last week’s trade, and Derrick Jones Jr.’s plan for the slam-dunk contest.
Here’s my in-depth Thursday piece in which several players explain one underrated factor for the team’s success this season.
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 2:02 AM.
