Dwyane Wade and Angel Reese got into a discussion on the duties of a rookie in the NBA and the WNBA on the Unapologetically Angel podcast. As a legend of the NBA, D-Wade shared his experience as a rookie in the league with the Chicago Sky star. One of the aspects they discussed was how their lives changed after making it into the league.
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While Reese talked about taking care of her family members and teammates, Wade emphasized how he first learned how to properly take care of his teammates.
When the three-time NBA Champion first entered the league, he had no clue what a star player needed to do for his team. However, soon he became teammates with Shaquille O’Neal, who showed him the right way to conduct himself as a leader.
D-Wade admitted that he learned how to treat his teammates with gifts and include them on the brand deals that he receives. Shaq also taught him how to take them out to dinner and appreciate their contributions on the court.
Wade then shared the same wisdom with Reese.
He said, “Shaq was my veteran…He came from being Shaq, being from LA and he kind of showed us what to do a little bit when it came to gifting certain things to your teammates when it came to taking your teammates out on the road…”
“So, when I became a vet, same thing. I get any deal, I’m making sure that all my teammates get a chance to have it because I’m not playing an individual sport.”
Wade said that he was the face of the franchise for the longest time and also the biggest superstar in Miami. So, it became his responsibility to keep the team together by showing appreciation for the players’ hard work on the court. Wade acknowledged that even though he was the big star on the team, he wouldn’t have been successful without a team effort.
Therefore, he made sure that even the role players on the team were getting paid good money.
The Heat legend passed all this information onto the athlete who is going to be the biggest star in the Sky franchise, if not the entire WNBA.
But this is not Shaq’s only contribution to Wade’s career. The two had a great elder brother-younger brother relationship. There are several things that the big fella taught him.
Shaq made D-Wade realize his talent
Wade entered the league at the age of 21. Although he was one of the best talents in the country, he was afraid of doing something wrong and getting kicked out. Fortunately, when Shaq joined him in Miami, he made things easy for him. In his book ‘Shaq Uncut’, the Lakers legend recalled how he got Wade to loosen up.
He wrote, “That was my first job. As soon as I arrived I thought, I got to loosen this brother up. DWade was just so afraid to do something wrong. I told him, ‘Hey, man, you’ve got to realize who you are and the power you have and stop tiptoeing around here so timidly all the time, because with your talent any team in the league would want you. So, keep that in the back of your head.’”
It took some time but Wade finally understood what Shaq tried to teach him. Not being afraid made him get more confident on the court and even outside of it. Soon, he embarked on the journey which became the most successful era in the history of the franchise.
