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It’s confirmed: Dwyane Wade is staying in Miami. We don’t know if he’ll play basketball for the Miami Heat this year, but according to him, he’ll call the 305 home for the foreseeable future.
Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald caught up with Wade during the Jr. NBA World Championship at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, where Wade made it abundantly clear he’s 305 until his playing career dies. Wade told Navaro there wouldn’t be any playing basketball in China, Los Angeles, or anywhere else next season. If there is a next season for the future Hall of Fame shooting guard, Miami is where it’ll happen.
“When the decision needs to be made, it will be made. It’s different now. It’s not like we’re sitting down trying to figure out a $100 million contract and I need to sign it by July 8. So we have time,” Wade told Navarro. “Heat only. If I play the game of basketball this year, it will be in a Miami uniform. If I don’t, I’ll be living in Miami and somewhere else, probably.”
.@DwyaneWade says if he plays next season, it’ll only be in a Heat uniform. (via @Manny_Navarro) pic.twitter.com/gEO8eJQz68
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 12, 2018
NBA watchers have long assumed Wade would wind down his career in Miami, but in light of how shocked Heat fans and the rest of the basketball world were when he left Miami for Chicago in the summer of 2016, there always seemed to be a possibility he could run to Los Angeles to play with LeBron James again or head to China for a massive payday.
The real question remains whether Wade will play at all this season or simply hang up his sneakers for good. But Heat fans must be happy hearing him say that if he decides to play, it will be for the Heat, not the Xinjiang Flying Tigers.
From the looks of Wade’s social media feeds, which are full of him busting his ass in the gym and on basketball court, there seems to be a solid chance that Heat fans will get one more season of the greatest athlete in South Florida sports history.
If not, though, it’s at least nice to know we might still see him in the bakery of a Miami Beach Publix after he retires.
