When it comes to being the parent of an elite athlete, there are two schools of thought. Either you pump them up, or you give them some tough love. LaVar Ball is a good example of the former camp, as his braggadocious affect extends from himself to each of his sons. On the other side of the coin is Dwyane Wade Sr., or Pops as his son calls him.
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The younger Wade has spoken repeatedly about what a positive influence his dad has been on his life, but he didn’t do it by blowing smoke. Wade had to earn everything he got, and he put in the work not only to be great, but to earn the stamp of approval from his dad.
Pops appeared on the most recent episode of his son’s Time Out podcast, and hilariously kept his son’s ego in check even now. It was nothing has changed even after Wade has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and had a (rather unfortunate) statue made in his honor outside the Miami Heat’s arena.
Pops said that Dwyane “was an amazing kid. I had no problems, no problems out of him at all, not one.” But he also kept his basketball ego in check by claiming that it took him a long time to see his son’s basketball potential.
“It probably happened when he went to Marquette, it wasn’t before that,” he said, though he did recall one time in high school that Dwyane came off the bench for his AAU team in a tournament and led his team to the championship. “Before that, he was just an average basketball player, he wasn’t all that,” he noted.
Dwyane’s cohost held the microphone as he tried to stifle a laugh, while he himself took offense to what his dad had said. “Bro, why you sitting over there challenging me?” he asked. “I’m super nice, I been super nice,” the 3x NBA champion said.
“He was alright,” Wade Sr. laughed. “He wasn’t all that,” he persisted.
Most dads will try to embarrass their sons when they drop them off at school or when they bring a partner home. Wade Sr. waited until he had a microphone in front of him to do it, and it was amazing to watch his son squirm and feel the need to defend what is by any measure one of the best NBA careers of all time.
Wade was a First Team All-American his sophomore year in school, and he led Marquette to the Final Four that year before turning pro. His dad claims he didn’t see his son’s NBA potential until the very end of his college career.
“The truth is this: Everybody be talking about, ‘Oh when I saw him at Marquette I knew he was going NBA.’ I didn’t even know it when he was at Marquette until the Final Four,” Pops continued joking at Wade’s expense.
It’s obvious what a great relationship Wade and his dad have that they can give each other such a hard time and still laugh about it. Dwyane has been dipping his toes into the broadcasting waters, first as an analyst at last year’s Olympics, and soon as part of Amazon Prime’s new NBA coverage. We’ll see if his dad gives him a hard time about that, too.
