Dwyane Wade recently received an amusing text message from his former head coach, Erik Spoelstra. It was a picture of Heat players participating in conditioning day. As a bit of a joke, Spoelstra asked Wade if he is going to miss these sort of activities now that he's retired from the NBA.
Wade's response was both brief and direct:
Spo texted Wade picture of conditioning day the other day. I said "you miss this?" Wade: "Hell no."…
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) September 30, 2019
Wade, now 37 years of age, announced that the 2018-19 season would be his last in the NBA. Arenas all across the league sent him off with fond messages and video tributes. In his last home game with the Heat — a 122-99 win over the Philadelphia 76ers — Flash racked up 30 points. On the following night, he recorded his fifth triple-double (25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 113–94 loss to the Brooklyn Nets) to finish off his career.
For good reason, many experts view Wade as one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history. To this day, he is ranked 29th on the league's all-time scoring list (23,165 points scored). He also ranks 29th on the NBA's all-time steals list with 1,620.
In 1,054 career games played, Wade posted averages of 22.0 points on 48.0 percent shooting from the field (29.3 percent from beyond the arc), 5.4 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 33.9 minutes per outing.
In the end, Wade says he is content with his decision to retire:
“I feel complete,” Wade told the Miami Herald in August. “That’s why I was able to walk away from the game like I did because I felt complete. My career, it surpassed everything that I ever dreamed of. I think that’s the thing, some guys don’t accomplish some of the things that they want to, and they feel like they still have something in them from that standpoint. For me, I’m complete, man. I’ve done everything I wanted to do and more.”
Though he's no longer playing in the NBA, the memories and plays Wade left behind will live on forever. Now, perhaps, he'll be able to enjoy a lot more time with his family.
Follow Us
Subscribe