Dwyane Wade Admits Jazz Owner Ryan Smith Stared Him Down After His Own Players Indulged In ‘Player Empowerment’

Dwyane Wade was once a trendsetter in player empowerment, but those actions have now come full circle to bite him. The 13-time All-Star recently recalled a big move he made back in 2010 that NBA fans talk about to this day.

This was from the time when Wade, Chris Bosh, and LeBron James came together to form the Big Three at the Miami Heat. While superstars aligning together was never a new thing in basketball, this marked the first time a formation was made with the players being the only decisive factor.

“Nobody liked it,” admitted Wade to Lou Williams on the Underground Lounge podcast. “‘What we don’t like is y’all having the power.’ The power shifted.” The ’empowered’ Big Three went on to dominate the league during their time together in Miami, playing in four straight Finals and capturing two championships.

As satisfying as it must have been for Wade and the company to achieve what they set out to do, it did have repercussions for him. Especially now that he’s on the other side of things.

“The player empowerment has come back to bite us a few times,” he revealed before sharing a story about how a player on the Utah Jazz did the same thing he pulled back in 2010. Wade is a minority stakeholder in the team owned by Ryan Smith,

“I had a player tell me, ‘D-Wade, ain’t that what you told me to do’? [That was] When I was a player! Don’t do it back to me,” Wade said, laughing.

He recalled that Smith looked at him, wondering how they got themselves into the situation. “Came back to bite me later,” added Wade.

Basketball is a cyclical game. The swinging pendulum of fate, luck, and destiny has followed Wade throughout his career. Wade getting to own a stake in the Jazz was a tale of fate playing its hand too.

Wade credits golf for securing him a minority owner spot with Utah

In a previous episode of the Underground Lounge, the Hall of Famer revealed that he first met Smith playing golf at a basketball camp he hosted. Wade rubbing shoulders with the businessman on the golf course led to his investment in the Jazz.

“We golfed together 18 rounds, we got to get to know each other,” said Wade on Smith. He added that a few days after golfing, he received a call from Smith’s people. “And that’s kind of how it started,” added Wade.

Though the actual amount has never been publicly disclosed, Wade dropped a significant amount of cash to get a piece of the Jazz. Smith purchased the team for $1.66 billion in 2021, meaning that even with a 0.1% stake, Wade would have still invested at least $16 million.

The 2024-2025 Jazz are currently in last place in the Western Conference with only 16 wins in the season. But they have high hopes of securing a top talent in the 2025 draft.

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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