Growing up in Chicago in the 80s and 90s meant you were a fan of one man: Michael Jordan. Dwyane Wade was one of millions who grew up in Chi-Town at the height of the Bulls craze and as expected, admired him to an incredible extent. Wade not only solidified himself as one of the greatest 2 guards of all time, but post-retirement, like when Jordan bought the Hornets (then Bobcats) for $275,000,000, Dwyane become a team owner as well. Albeit he is a minority stake holder in the Jazz, he is one of 3 players in league history to be an NBA team owner.
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Dwyane would actually have things come back full circle in his career when he decided to leave the Miami Heat and ‘Wade County’ over contract disputes and joined the Chicago Bulls. They would even make it to the Playoffs as an 8th seed and take two games off the number one seeded Boston Celtics before eventually losing in 6.
Dwyane Wade would pass up Michael Jordan in blocks
A young and up-and-coming Dwyane Wade was asked during an interview about his love for Michael Jordan. Wade couldn’t conjure up all too much other than the obvious which was that his admiration of ‘His Airness’ stems from having watched him play in his hometown for well over a decade.
“Michael Jordan every day every night. I was pretending I was hitting game winners that he hit and all the moves that he did. He’s the greatest player and he was playing for my hometown team. I loved the Bulls when I was growing up. He was the best player and he was a 2 guard,” said Wade.
In his final season in 2018-19 when with the Miami Heat, Dwyane Wade surpassed his idol in the ‘total regular season + Playoff blocks’ category. In early March 2019, Wade blocked his 1052nd shot while swatting away Atlanta’s B.J. Johnson’s attempt, officially putting him over MJ all time. A couple years after in 2021, Wade would join Grant Hill and Jordan as being the only former NBA players to be involved in team ownership.
Despite admiring Michael Jordan, Wade didn’t feel like it was realistic to want to be him
Dwyane Wade has said many times over that he does not come from wealth. Growing up in Chicago, Wade and his family were looking to make ends meet just as millions of families from across the nation were as well.
Finding sustainable jobs in fields like medicine and law were things that helped families out of certain situations. When on Club Shay Shay, Dwyane addressed this and said wanting to be Michael Jordan upon growing up was unrealistic just because of how unlikely it was for a kid to make it to the NBA.
Of course, in hindsight, Wade is right there behind MJ and Kobe Bryant for being one of the greatest shooting guards in the history of the league.
