Selflessly and quietly, Wade weighs future
PHILADELPHIA — If this is it for Dwyane Wade, it’s a quiet exit for the biggest star in Heat history.
He doesn’t seem like he’d have a problem with that.
Wade came back to the Heat unassumingly two months ago and maintained that approach through the end, which came in a 104-91 loss to the 76ers to close out their first-round playoff series in five games. Philadelphia goes on with hopes of challenging for the Eastern Conference title, and Wade heads back to South Florida to contemplate his future.
“Y’all know I’ve given it thought,” he said when asked if he’s retiring.
Then he looked around the media room at Wells Fargo Center and smiled.
“This is Philly and I love Philly, but there ain’t gonna be no breaking news here,” he said. “I
appreciate y’all’s concern, but we’ll worry about that later. I ain’t gonna break nothing here.”
That’ll probably wait at least a couple of months. Wade hasn’t dwelled on it much lately. His mind has been engrossed in trying to will the Heat out of a 3-1 hole.
He was out there when Miami made its fiercest effort to get back into the game after falling behind 76-59 with a little under three minutes left in the third quarter.
The Heat pushed back with a strong start to the fourth quarter and pulled within eight on a classic drive by Wade off a giveand-go with Tyler Johnson. He didn’t look 36 when he lifted off and powered through heavy contact at the rim for a reverse layup.
“I wanted to have those moments throughout this playoff series,” he said. “I wanted to have a moment tonight. My body wasn’t — my wrist and my elbow wasn’t aligning with me.
But I had a couple of them that made me feel good about the work put in this summer. I worked my tail off. That’s what it’s all about.”
Wade played 31 minutes, his third-most extended action this year, and finished with off the bench and finished 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting, five assists and five rebounds. The
Heat outscored Philadelphia by seven points when he was on the floor.
This is how Wade seemed to want it from the time he returned to Miami in a February trade that offered him and the franchise a chance to patch up the messy split that took place two years ago.
He enjoyed the reunion, but he underplayed it.
He didn’t come back to be a star, and he made that clear in a team meeting shortly after his arrival. He told his teammates he was grateful for how they welcomed him and talked about doing his best to fit in. They stared back bewilderedly at the franchise’s all-time icon. Wasn’t this his team all along?
“He has that kind of awareness and humility,” said Erik Spoelstra, who feared that he’d get too emotional if he started thinking about this being Wade’s final game. “He didn’t want to step in and step on somebody else’s role. He just wanted to fit in and be one of the guys.
“I’ve coached him as a leading scorer in the league (and) as a champion in this league where he had to take a secondary role to the best player in the league. I’ve coached him now in this role. None of us would have ever imagined Dwyane Wade would be coming off the bench. But he’s handled all of these roles with incredible class and dignity.”
Spoelstra joked that
Wade could play off his bench forever if he wants. Or maybe he wasn’t joking.
Wade gave Miami 12 points per game on 40.9 percent shooting in some well-rounded minutes during the regular season and upped it to 16.6 on 44.3 percent in the playoffs. The Heat offense needed a spark, and picking up Wade wasn’t merely a sentimental move.
“He knew what the deal was,” Spoelstra said. “We were already kind of set with our rotation.
“It was one of the first things he said: ‘I don’t want to disrupt anything. I’ll come off the bench. I’ll play with the second unit and we’ll make this work. Don’t worry about me.’ That’s awesome. There’s probably not a lot of Hall of Fame players who still have his ability that would still be willing to do that.”
Wade seems to have effectively compartmentalized the retirement speculation — internal and external — over the past week or so. He’s always said he doesn’t want a send-off like the one Kobe Bryant enjoyed two years ago and he’s treated the last few days like any others.
Maybe it’s because he’s coming back. Maybe that’s just his personality.
“When I say I’ve gotta make a decision, that’s in the summer,” Wade said. “When you’re in the fight, when you’re in the battle, you focus on that. You focus on what you need to do. When you let your mind go, it’s over with already.”
He went through Tuesday morning’s shootaround at the Temple University prac- tice facility like usual, and gave a light chuckle when it was pointed out afterward that no one asked him if he was retiring this time.
A crowd of students waited for him as the team walked through the lobby out to its buses parked on Broad Street. He stopped a few times on his way out for some selfies before being ushered him to the door, knowing there was no way he could fill every request.
This has been the norm for Wade after every road shootaround for years, even after the Big Three era. There’s little doubt that if he wanted a victory lap next season, the fans would gladly give it to him. The elite class of players who merit that level of celebration is small, and he’s clearly a member.
It’s telling that his fellow players don’t seem to treat him much differently from the fans.
Wade and the Heat were sent home at the hands of a team whose two brightest stars are just beginning their career. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are 24 and 21 years old, respectively, and both were in grade school when Wade burst into the NBA in 2003.
They’re at the center of a team that will contend in the East now and for years to come. It’s logical for anyone, including their players, to think that based on what they’ve done this season.
Wade’s advice, as someone who’s won three titles and been on a lottery team, was not to assume anything. There was a stoppage with 1.8 seconds left, and he grabbed Simmons for a quick word, then Embiid wrapped him up in a hug after the buzzer.
“He just told me to keep working and that I had a bright future,” Embiid said. “I had to pay my respect because I wasn’t sure if this was his last year. I wanted to thank him for what he’s done for the game.
He’s done an amazing job. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer.”
Embiid knows. They all know.
Wade won’t need a farewell tour for validation. He can walk away just like this, and they won’t forget.