Dwyane Wade isn’t hanging up his sneakers yet. The future Hall of Famer has announced that he’ll play one more NBA season, and will stick with the Miami Heat.
Wade for weeks has stated openly that if he were to return for another NBA season, it would only be for Miami.
Here’s the Miami Herald on Wade’s decision:
This will help the Heat. After all, Wade was the only Heat player to finish last season’s five-game playoff run with a positive plus-minus while leading the team to its only playoff victory in Game 2 in Philadelphia with 28 points in 26 minutes.
But at 36 years old, how much will Wade really help the Heat this season?
“This decision is bigger than the game of basketball,” Wade said in the video posted Sunday night. “This decision don’t have nothing to do with the talent I have in my body. Yeah, I’m not as quick as I used to be. Yeah, I don’t jump as high as I used to. Yeah, I don’t. Yeah, I don’t. Yeah, I don’t.
“But there are things in this game that I have that I can write a book on, that I can still do and I can still accomplish with the right organization, with the right individuals, with the right coach and in the right situation.”
The Heat won’t be a contender this season, but they’re a solid team, and it’ll be cool to see fans get to applaud D-Wade on his retirement tour.
At the same time, the Heat’s primary need is to figure out their future. So this won’t be an all-about-Wade type of season the way Kobe Bryant’s final Laker season was all about him. The Heat will compete. Wade will contribute to that. And there will be lots of standing ovations in the process.
