Dwyane Wade gets talked about daily in basketball circles due to his continued contributions to the game and rightfully so. But Wade the father is an entirely different man. Three years ago, the 3-time champion spoke about dad life during an interview on The Ellen Show with host Ellen DeGeneres. While all of his kids are important to him, Dwyane’s youngest daughter Kaavia is the shining star in his life.
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Wade shares Kaavia with his current wife, actress Gabrielle Union. The 13-time All-Star has five total kids: Zaire and Zaya, who he had with his ex-wife Siovaughn Funches. He also has a son, Xavier, whom he shares with Aja Metoyer. Despite being a parent for so long, the Heat iconic admitted that Kaavia was a new challenge. “This is my first time raising a little girl from this age,” Wade revealed in an older interview. “I don’t know what Kaav’s going to choose for herself.”
Fortunately, Wade conquered the challenge — almost too well. During the Ellen interview, he explained that no matter where he goes or what he accomplishes, people only want to hear about Kaavia. “She’s got a lot of personality,” said Ellen after a photo of Kaavia was projected on the screen. The photo showed Kaav posing near a pool, which got a big “aww” from the audience.
“I’ve done a lot of cool things in my life Ellen,” Wade began. “Forget the championships, forget all the things I’ve done, everywhere I go it’s like ‘How’s Kaavia?'” The famed athlete goes on to talk about his daughter’s incredible attitude that kept their family going through the COVID pandemic. “She has her own swag and personality. It’s pretty cool.”
Becoming a father to a daughter is one of life’s most beautiful moments. While winning NBA titles and racking up All-NBA nods are definitely noteworthy accomplishments, it’s clear that fatherhood has been Wade’s most fulfilling venture.
As much as Wade loves Kaavia, she does ask a lot of questions
The connection between Kaavia and Wade is unbreakable, as every relationship should be between a father and their child. That said, the NBA legend’s youngest has comically gotten on his nerves before, including grilling him with an array of complicated questions. On an old episode of his podcast, Wade recalled throwing Kaavia’s age back at her after asking a slew of unnecessary questions
“I’m like, you are six! She feels that she’s supposed to get that answer,” he stated with a smile. As funny as it is, he later stated that it does make him worried about the future. “The things that my six-year-old daughter has asked me already, I don’t know what the future gon’ be like with me and her. Everything is on the table.”
This comes back to what D-Wade said earlier about being a father to a daughter for the first time with her at these ages. He’s still navigating the ebbs and flows of it all and is taking the surprises in stride.
For now, Kaavia will remain six and ask her dad a ton of questions. Regardless of how that develops, it seems like the Hall of Famer is enjoying every minute of it.
