Dwyane Wade and his crew dropped the latest episode of their podcast and discussed their predictions for the playoffs. But the three-time champion made one obvious oversight in his video that was not overlooked by fans. In what was a continued show of the lack of fact checking, the speakers were analyzing a playoff bracket that does not exist. Viewers learned early on, when the group began discussing the Play-In Tournament, that something was off.
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The seeding in both conferences wasn’t decided until Sunday evening, but it became apparent that this episode of Wade’s podcast was recorded before the standings were finalized. The three-time champion completely botched his opening for the Western Conference’s play-in battle, claiming the Minnesota Timberwolves would be facing off against the Memphis Grizzlies.
While it’s true Ja Morant and the Grizzlies will be fighting for their postseason lives soon, they won’t be taking on Minnesota. The Timberwolves avoided the play-in clinched a playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers after the Golden State Warriors fell to the Clippers in overtime. It’s worth noting that after beating the Utah Jazz, the Wolves were guaranteed a top six seed.
It will actually be the Dubs taking on Memphis for the seven seed. The two have faced each other in the play-in before, with Memphis coming out ahead.
“Alright, play-in game, we got Minnesota versus Memphis, we got Anthony Edwards and Ja,” Wade said three minutes into his 40-minute pod. “That’s a tough matchup, bro,” Chris Johnson responded. With such an obvious blunder early in the show, it didn’t take fans long to roast the Heat legend’s podcast.
Viewers immediately questioned why this episode would even be released with inaccurate information. “Why would y’all even drop this if you recorded it before the schedule came out? So weird,” one person asked after the crew spent several minutes discussing a matchup that isn’t even happening.
“How do yall record this, go through editing, and still not correct that MN is not in the play-in? If you decide to become the ‘media,’ you need to fact check before recording,” another commented, questioning the show’s editing process and taking a shot at Wade’s journalistic integrity.
“Bruh why would y’all waste our time like this I thought one would learn from a 3x Champ, not see an old recorded eps,” a third viewer said, angered that he was coaxed into watching a meaningless video. Especially coming from a legendary former player, this was disappointing to see.
Plenty of retired NBA players have stepped into the media spotlight since hanging it up. It’s increasingly disappointing to see them not stay informed about the actual events taking place in the NBA. It feels like that is a suitable bare minimum that fans expect, and they couldn’t even do that.
So, if Dwyane Wade hopes to solidify himself as a household name, not just as a player, but as a face in a new era of sports media, he’ll need to have more due diligence before posting a podcast to tens of thousands.
