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Dwyane Wade isn’t retiring anytime soon, but he knows how he doesn’t want to spend his last year in the NBA. When asked about possibly going out like Kobe Bryant who had a farewell tour during his final season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Wade shook his head and said no.
In an interview with ESPN, it was mentioned that his former Miami Heat teammates, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, suggested that Wade should have a similar farewell tour.
Whenever the time comes, D-Wade is not feeling a Kobe-like farewell tour. pic.twitter.com/V4PpYFG4S3
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 13, 2018
“No. I don’t want to have one of those.”
A farewell tour is unofficially reserved only for the best of the best in the NBA. When an NBA great announces that he’s retiring from the game and that it’s his last season in the league, franchises go all out in serenading the player with parting gifts, farewell videos, and more.
Apparently, Wade inquired with Bryant how his farewell tour was like.
“I talked to Kobe about that. He was like ‘It was exhausting. As flattering as it was, it was very exhausting as well.’ I’m not a narcissist like that. I don’t think I need it.”
Wade chuckled and stopped himself short before anyone thought he just called Bryant a narcissist.
“I’m not calling Kobe a narcissist. He earned that. He needed that.”
Other than Bryant, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Jordan were among those who had received a farewell tour during their final go-round in the league. These players certainly earned it.
Wade clarified his statements immediately after.
“But I can’t set out and say ‘I want a farewell tour like Kobe Bryant.’ That’s not who I am. When the time comes, and I don’t want to talk about it ‘coz it’s not here yet, but when the time comes I’ll announce it in my own D-Wade fashion, the way that I do. And hopefully I can move on from it and live on the memories from that point on.”
Hopefully, the time doesn’t come anytime soon and that Wade has a year or two left in his tank.
