MIAMI — Even with Prime’s NBA coverage done for the season, it doesn’t mean that Dwyane Wade’s voice has become silent, particularly when it comes to the franchise icon’s thoughts on the Miami Heat.
That had Wade, in the latest installment of his podcast on his Wy Network, clarifying — but not, he insisted, walking back — his comments on the Miami Heat’s patient and measured approach when it comes to roster construction.
Amid what turned into the Heat’s first non-playoff season in seven years, Wade spoke during the season about the lack of buzz around the franchise he helped lift to three NBA championships. Then, this week, after concluding this season’s role as an NBA analyst on Prime, he spoke of also appreciating that a rash approach has never been the Heat’s way.
That had him circling back on the theme, with the Heat now a month removed from their final game and the league reduced to its playoff final four of the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.
“In my last conversation, when I talked about them staying kind of how patient the Heat are and they will strike when they’re ready, some people say I walked it back a little bit. And it was like, did someone get to me?” Wade said. “No, no one’s got to me.”
Having been on the inside, Wade said there has been an appreciation of the Heat being proactive and not reactive.
“I think people take things I say, and I respect how they take things I say, because I mean all the things I say,” he said. “But also, too, just because you say one thing don’t mean it’s not another thing. Just because I said there’s no buzz in the city, that comment that went viral, doesn’t mean that the Heat is going to go out and just make buzz in the city.
“Just because I want them to compete for championships don’t mean that they’re going to be impatient and not strike the way that they strike. So two things could be right at the same time. So my comments about the Heat was, ‘Yeah, I’m like you.’ The fan in me and the love of the Miami Heat that we all have, we want to see them in the Eastern Conference finals and competing for championships. But also, too, I know the organization. I’ve been there.”
As in waiting for Pat Riley and the front office to strike, Wade is more than familiar, including first makeover with initial championship partner Shaquille O’Neal and then LeBron James and Chris Bosh being added in 2010 after two nondescript seasons, similar to the Heat’s past two.
“I’ve been a player on a roster that was impatient, ready to go – because I know that my basketball life only has so much in it,” Wade said of his Heat tenure. “I’m like, ‘Yo, let’s strike, let’s strike,’ and they was like, eh, ‘No, let’s wait.’
“And we waited two years before we struck (in 2010) But when we struck, we struck gold.”
The Heat remain in such makeover pursuit, linked to trade speculation regarding Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo at the moment, while also scouting for their first lottery pick since Tyler Herro was drafted in 2019.
For his part, Wade continues to nudge.
From, he said, a good place.
But also, he said, a passionate place.
“But no, it’s never walking back,” Wade continued of his Heat-ed comments. “Ain’t nobody getting to me. Everybody know how I am.
“If y’all worked with me, you around me, like, y’all know how I am, man. But I also, you know, I’m very opinionated. And, you know, I express those opinions.”