When the Miami Heat selected Dwyane Wade with the fifth pick in the 2003 NBA draft, the league was in desperate need of star players to lead it out of the Michael Jordan era.
said Wade draft class — which also featured LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony — ended up fitting the bill and then some. Wade immediately became one of the most popular players in the league, and his Miami teammate Shaquille O’Neal gave him the catchy nickname. Flash. It was fitting – Wade regularly attacked the rim with snazzy spin moves and finished with highlight-reel dunks and layups en route to winning three championships.
This weekend, Wade will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, an accomplishment that seems inevitable as he accumulates accolades over a 16-year career. He made 13 All-Star teams, led the league in scoring once and was named the most valuable player in the 2006 NBA finals, which Miami won against Dallas.
“To be one of the select few from a whole generation of people who tried to play the game of basketball and to enter the Hall of Fame, it doesn’t matter if I knew 10 years ago or I just got the call yesterday — it all feels surreal,” said Wade in a recent interview.
Since retiring in 2019, Wade has acquired an ownership stake in the Utah Jazz and the WNBA team in her hometown of Chicago, the Sky. In the spring, Wade revealed that he had moved his family from Florida to California due to state laws that negatively affect the LGBTQ community. Wade’s teenage daughter, Zaya, is transgender, and Wade does not speak her name.
Wade recently spoke with The New York Times about his basketball career and possible run for political office.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
You grew up on the South Side of Chicago without much. In your retirement, former President Barack Obama taped a tribute video for you. How do you reflect on that journey?
My dad and I were talking. We still can’t believe it. We still can’t believe that NBA career happened and it’s gone. I got a call from President Obama on my birthday when I turned 40, and it was like: “Hey, pick up the phone this time. There’s a call coming in.” I said, “OK.” When I got on board, I heard, “You’re waiting for the president of the United States.” I said: “What? This is my life, right?”
Your first NBA game was against Allen Iverson. You had a bit of a full-circle moment this weekend by having him induct you. Why did you choose him?
Michael Jordan is my favorite player. But as I grew up as a child, as Michael Jordan decided to retire from the game, Allen Iverson became a hero of our culture. I think a lot of people know that I wear No. 3, but many people don’t know why I wear No. 3. And so I just want to make this moment as an opportunity that should be about me, and I want to be able to shine the light and give flowers to the individuals who allow me and help me to -come here. My family, of course. My coaches, of course. My colleagues, of course.
But what about those people who give you the image of what it looks like and how it can be done? And Allen Iverson gave me the image of what it looked like, how it could be coming from the broken community that I came from. So I want to give her flowers in front of the world because she deserves it.
You’re brought in with Dirk Nowitzki, who with you, let’s call it a tense relationship of points. What is your relationship with him now?
I respect Dirk as one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball. It’s funny to be with someone and we’ve never watched each other. We play really different positions, but like I always say, if I have any words for anyone, I want them to get to the finals.
Dirk and I have played against each other in the finals twice. His team won once. My team won one. So I call it a wash. And I’m thankful that I was in the class that I was in. And for me Dirk – and no shadow of anyone who has played – but I think Dirk probably looks like the most famous international player we’ve ever seen.
You’ve spoken at length about your advocacy for the transgender community, especially with your own son. What is your reaction to the Orlando Magic donated $50,000 to the super PAC along with Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida? (DeSantis supports legislation like what opponents consider the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a law signed last year that limits what teachers can teach about sexuality and gender in classrooms. The Magic’s donation was dated May 19, just days before DeSantis announced a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.)
I have so many things to focus on and so many, so many battles to fight, in a sense. That’s one I don’t choose to fight, along with many other things where my voice is needed. People will do what people want to do. And there’s nothing you can do to stop them, per se. And so I try to help where the need is and where I can.
There were some reports this spring that the Florida Democrats recruiting you to run for the Senate.
[Laughter] I heard that.
Have you ever been approached to run for office?
Yes.
So describe to me what that method is.
I mean, just a conversation. “Hey, you’re good,” “Hey, we’ll see you,” “We want to join you.”
These are the things I wish I could say and say. And that’s why I don’t play politician’s games. I don’t know much about it.
But I also understand that I have a role as an American citizen and as a well-known person who can highlight and say things that other people can’t because they don’t have the opportunity to do it.
So you ran.
[Laughter]
I’ll see if you can get me spicy. I’m sure you’ve seen some of the comments Paul Pierce has made comparing the two of you. He said a few different things. But one of the things he said — me read the quote — “Put Shaq on my team. Put LeBron and Bosh on me. I won’t win one? You don’t think me, LeBron and Bosh, we can’t win? Don’t we win a couple?”
What was your reaction to seeing what Paul said about you?
I’m living rent-free now.
I have so many things going on in my life. Comparing myself to someone who doesn’t play or someone who does is definitely not on my to-do list. Listen, Paul Pierce is one of the best players we’ve had in our game. And I think, you know, if you’re a great player and you’re not getting the attention that you feel your game deserves, sometimes you need to take any attention where the straws are. And Paul thinks he’s a better player than me. He had to believe that. That’s why he’s big. That’s not my argument, and I don’t play the game to be better than Paul Pierce. I played the game the way I played it, and I made the sacrifices I made. Everyone doesn’t want to make sacrifices.
I became a star. I became Robin. I got to be part of Larry, Curly and Moe, like, whatever. I am successful and good in all areas.
It’s easy to say what to do when you have a certain talent on your team, but you have to play that talent. And that was the hardest thing to do — to play with talent of different generations and different styles, which I did.
How about looking at old highlights of yourself now that you’re 41?
I just finished watching a 2005-2006 edit. I think it was 45 minutes. I watched for about 15 minutes. I went away from that editing, and I just looked at the way the game was played and me stretched out.
Nowadays, we have children. And I love how it’s progressing, but the kids are working on their moves. I just reacted to the defenders. My movements come from just reacting, and those are the movements that are being worked on and emphasized now. I just play basketball like when I was back in Chicago playing with my uncles and my dad and my family.
That’s why I like to watch old highlights myself because, to be honest, I haven’t seen many people in my game and my style. And so it is unique. And I’m thankful to have one of those games that no one understands how good I really am.