Getting Wade’s band back together in L.A.
Guard celebrates daughter reunion with marching band at shower
LOS ANGELES Dwyane Wade’s homecoming and reunion also turned into a party.
Back with his daughter in his arms, Wade celebrated during the Miami Heat’s time off between games against the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers with a baby shower replete with a marching band.
The event, chronicled on Wade’s social media and elsewhere, came after Wade had scored 25 points in Saturday’s victory over the Clippers at Staples Center, as he looked ahead to Monday’s game against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The party honoring Kaavia James and thrown by Wade and wife Gabrielle Union, was thrown in tailgate style, with Wade a huge supporter of the Chicago Bears and Union of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Included at the event, beyond the marching band, were baton twirlers, a puppy pit and beer pong and ubiquitous red Solo cups.
“My wife comes up with a lot of great ideas,” Wade said Monday after the Heat’s morning shootaround at UCLA. “I’m the man behind my wife on that.
“Everybody knows she’s a huge Nebraska fan. She loves tailgating, so she wanted to bring that same vibe to our home. We had a great party planner and they were able to put it together.”
So how do you top it when his daughter celebrates an actual birthday?
“We’ll come up with something,” Wade said. “The Wade’s are going to be doing it for a long time.”
Teammate Udonis Haslem, Kaavia’s godfather, was among those in attendance.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “They had a band and a football concept. It was a lot going on. I could imagine the bill. That’s why I like having rich friends, so I can go to those kinds of parties.”
He paused, smiled, and added, “My kids will never get those kinds of parties.”
Truth be told, Wade actually snuck away to watch his Bears defeat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football.
“[In the] third quarter I went upstairs and got away from everybody and just hid in the room and was watching the Bears game in the second half,” he said. “So it definitely was a great day for me.”
It is Wade’s first child with Union. He also is father to Xavier, 5, Zion, 11, and Zaire, 16.
Wade’s daughter has remained in Los Angeles with Union since born via surrogacy. Wade said the goal is to have Kaavia back in South Florida by Christmas.
Wade, 36, and Union, 46, appeared on a television special with Oprah Winfrey over the weekend explaining the process.
During that sit down, the Heat guard explained social-media posts by the couple in the wake of the birth, and ensuing questions on social media.
“For me, the most hurtful thing was once we had our baby and everybody started talking about, ‘Why is she in the bed holding the baby? Why she got a gown on? Why is she acting like she just had a baby?’ Wade told Winfrey. “Once again, people are uneducated on the process and why we decided to go skin-toskin as soon as our baby came out.”