Dwyane Wade once became a trendsetter for his player empowerment, but those very same actions have now come full circle to bite him. The 13-time All-Star spoke on this topic during a recent chat with Lou Williams on the Underground Lounge podcast. He recalled a big move that he made back in 2010 that NBA fans still analyze to this day.
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The big move was when Wade, Chris Bosh, and LeBron James came together to form the ‘Big Three’ on the Miami Heat. While superstars aligning together was never a new thing in basketball, this marked the first time that a formation was made due to the players themselves. “Nobody liked it,” admitted Wade to Williams. “‘What we don’t like is y’all having the power.’ The power shifted.”
The Big Three dominated together during their time together in Miami. The squad went to four straight NBA Finals and captured two championships. As empowering as it must have been for Wade and the company to achieve what they set out to do, it did have repercussions. Ones that he is now on the other side of.
“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, a team he is a minority owner of along with Ryan Smith, did the same thing he pulled back in 2010.
“I had a player tell me ‘D-Wade ain’t that what you told me to do?’ 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 his entire career. This time, it just swung in the other direction.
Wade credits golf for securing him a spot as the Jazz minority owner
Wade getting into ownership was a tale of fate all on its own. In an older episode of the Underground Lounge, the Hall of Famer revealed that he first met Ryan Smith playing golf at a basketball camp he hosted. Fortunately, Wade rubbing shoulders with the businessman led to his venture with the Jazz.
“We golfed together 18 rounds, we got to get to know each other,” said Wade on Smith. He added that shortly after their time golfing, he received a call from Smith’s people. “And that’s kind of how it started.”
Though never publicly disclosed, Wade dropped a significant amount of cash to join 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 on the season, but they have high hopes of securing a top-talent in the 2025 draft.
