“I led the league in technicals, I was like the Draymond Green of my time”: Gabrielle Union describes how she used to trash talk another player’s mother in high school basketball

Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union are some of the most powerful and influential couples in the NBA. But did you know that Union also played basketball and was pretty good at it?

The Being Mary Jane actress Gabrielle Union has been dating former Miami Heat superstar and NBA legend Dwayne Wade since 2008. They got hitched in 2014.

Wade and Union have a 3-year-old, Kaavia, while Wade is also father to Zaire (19), Zaya (14), and Xavier (7) from a previous relationship. His 7-year old Xavier is from a relationship that happened when the two stars were broken up for a few months.

Union suffered a lot mentally because of that particular incident and has written about it in her book You Got Anything Stronger?

Also read: “If there’s anyone closer to Dywane Wade than me, it’s LeBron James”: Gabrielle Union dishes on the tight-knit bond between the two Miami Heat legends

All throughout their ups and downs, the couple stayed together and came through stronger than ever each day. After several miscarriages, which Union has discussed in her book very openly, the star pair decided to have a baby through surrogacy and had Kaavia who turns 3 today.

But it is not only her kid, that gives Union her strength, she has a strong sporting background.

Gabrielle Union says she was the Draymond Green of her HS team

Named on Time’s 100-most influential people in 2020, Gab was quite a baller herself. And the Draymond Green of her team at that. She joined Jimmy Fallon back in 2019 and discussed how she’s enjoying her life with her then 1-year old daughter.

Jimmy then asks the Bring it On actress about her high school days, when she played basketball.

Union said, “I led the league in technicals, I was like the Draymond Green of my time, the Rasheed Wallace of my day.”

While Dwayne had very few technical and flagrant fouls throughout his NBA career, Union was a totally different player.

She continued, “I once got a technical for talking trash to a player’s mother, ‘are you proud of yourself? You raised that!!! You proud of yourself? Way to go!!’”

She even trash-talked Jimmy when the Tonight Show host was expressing his happiness over a picture where Kaavia is holding his book. She said she likes to have the plug before she appears in the show.

Also read: “Shai Gilgeous-Alexander coming up DIFFERENT, man!”: Dwyane Wade and Ja Morant react as the Thunder star drains a dagger logo three at Staples Center

Wade’s retirement and the pandemic have brought the couple some extra family time and they look like they have never been happier before.

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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