Wade shoe design sent former ball boy to top
As artist chases next creation, 2006 title endures as inspiration.
With all his unbridled imagination, a trait that fascinated his parents since he was a toddler, Duane Lawrence never saw this coming.
He’s in the stands for the fififth game of the 2006 NBA Finals, watching the Heat push for a series lead after they fell behind 2-0. He can’t believe the comeback. He also can’t believe he lucked into a ticket for this.
It’s probably the loudest he’s ever heard Americ anAirlines Arena, but somehow he can hear the Dallas fan next to him chirping all night about Dirk Nowitzki. It’s a tight game, getting late, and the crowd abruptly goes silent as Dwyane Wade steps to the foul line.
All at once, the absurdity of this moment flfloods Lawrence’s mind.
He’s 24, the same age as Wade, and seven years earlier he was a ball boy in this building. He’d wait under the basket until it was time to run out on the court and mop sweat during free throws just like these. He used to sit in the locker room before games, drawing pictures of sneakers. Now he’s watching Wade out there wearing a Converse shoe that he designed.
“How did this happen?” he wonders. “Think about this: Your very first shoe is that successful, and he goes to The Finals in it? You know what I mean? I’m watching him knock down two free throws in my shoe and it just hit me that this was crazy. This is just nuts.”
It was a thrilling overlay of two r i si ng c areer trajec tories and a launch point for both. Wade went on to assemble the greatest career in the history of South Florida sports. Lawrence lived his