The Miami Heat will retire Dwyane Wade's jersey in a three-day ceremony along with the debut of a feature-length documentary about him. The Crossover caught up with the NBA legend about his post-retirement life and much more.
Dwyane Wade really didn’t plan to make a documentary about his life, even as he let his close friend and videographer Bob Metelus follow him around with a camera for the last decade-plus of his life.
“Really, Ro, it just came from me understanding that this career goes fast. I wanted to capture these moments,” Wade told Sports Illustrated over the phone this week. “It was really just a vanity project. I wanted to have moments of my journey to show my kids, show my grandkids. I didn’t have the mentality at the time, ‘Oh, in 10 years I’m going to do a documentary.’”
Well, the result is a 90-minute film, Dwyane Wade: Life Unexpected, that premieres this Sunday, coinciding with Wade’s three-day jersey retirement ceremony in Miami. In the documentary, Wade opens up about his childhood, NBA career and everything in between and after, sharing intimate details about his mother’s struggles with addiction as well as adding some context to the summer of 2010 (when a little team called the Big Three was formed.)
In a conversation with SI, Wade discussed his post-retirement life, how he’s handled his daughter Zaya’s gender identity, the new purpose of his life, and much more.
Rohan Nadkarni: To get a little serious right off the bat, I think what you’ve said about your daughter Zaya is so important on so many levels, it’s just incredible to see that play out. For you, at this point in your life to become someone who is not just a dad or a basketball player, someone who is turning into a symbol, someone who is turning into a guy people look to. Obviously you’ve always been that to a degree, but this is a whole new level, a whole new community, does that scare you at all? Does it freak you out?
Dwyane Wade: Maybe a little bit, maybe a little bit. But, I don’t look at myself that way, you know what I mean? In most of the instances of things I’ve done, it’s been in support of people that I love, things that I’m passionate about, and then it turns into things people need in life. Like fatherhood, I wrote a book about fatherhood when I was going through my journey, I didn’t know how important it was going to be to other people. But I think I understand the responsibility that I have. And that my family has. And that’s not a bad thing.
So, we definitely take it head on and try to be as careful as we can going through these processes. Especially the process with my daughter, because I’m still learning, my wife is still learning, my daughter is still learning. We never want to come across like we’re this perfect family. One thing my documentary shows is if I’m the face of anything, I’m the face of imperfection.
With that being said, there are moments where you feel the responsibility, and it can be overwhelming at times. You just take a deep breath, do what’s in your heart, and it all works out.
RN: Maybe it just feels normal for you. I remember first hearing about Dwyane Wade as the guy who scored the triple double in the Elite Eight. Now you stand for all these other things. Your life has taken on a whole different purpose. Does that feel normal to you? Or do you even sit back and think this is crazy?
DW: You know what? No, it does not feel formal. I definitely—It’s about evolving, right? As the world changes, as the world grows, you have to change, you have to evolve, you have to grow. I would say this weekend at All-Star Weekend was one of the first times—I guess because I’m not an athlete anymore—it was one of the first times where I felt like, “Wow, I think I am a leader.” I feel like my voice matters. The first time I really, really felt it was this weekend, being back home in Chicago. And it’s a things people come up to you and say, it’s the places you go and how people talk to you. You realize your importance and your impact. I’m in the process of realizing it. But I don’t do it for that, you know what I mean? I do it because I care and this is what God has put on my heart to do. I am getting to that point where I realize I have a different impact than I was able to have as a basketball player.
RN: Something in the documentary that really comes through is you have this incredible capacity for loyalty and to forgive. The situation you went through with your mom, everything that happened with your family, and even in your basketball career, it sounds small when you talk about it now, but something like LeBron leaving. People wonder how you took that so well. Why do you think you’ve always had that capacity to be so forgiving or so loyal?
DW: I don’t know if my answer is going to answer the question. I think this all starts from my mom. I watched someone lose control of their life. She didn’t do it because she didn’t want to be there for me. She didn’t do it because she didn’t love me or love my sisters. Life happened, and it took her, and she went down her path. And yeah, you could be bitter about she wasn’t there to cook you food, or she wasn’t there to rub your head at night or all these things.
But as I said in the documentary, when you’re growing up the way I grew up, no one stops and feels sorry for you. You have to keep growing and you have to keep going. Very early on in my life I noticed that. I noticed things happen, people are imperfect. As I’ve become an adult, I’m the same way, I’m not perfect. And I’m always open—well, not always. I’ve grown to understand you have to be open, that you have to evolve. If I want to change the narrative of the Black community, or if I want to change the narrative of my family, and then I’m put in this position to do that, so it’s on me to do it. It’s on me to shift the mentality of people that walk like me and talk like me. I understand to much is given, much is required. This is my purpose. That’s the journey I’m on.
RN: One person from Florida I also maybe have an unhealthy obsession with is Rick Ross. I have a question about Rick Ross. Is he as absurd in person? Is he like a normal guy? What was it like when you heard him grunt? Is he a normal person or is he as crazy as he seems?
DW: You know what, first of all, he has one of the best voices—
RN: Yes!
DW: Like when he talks, you listen. His voice captivates you. You hear his music but the conversation is the same exact way. I think he’s one of the most creative people I’ve been around from the standpoint of like where his mind goes. His mind goes somewhere that my mind don’t go, you know what I’m saying? He is as advertised.
RN: There’s all these rush of emotions that are probably coming back now that you’re going to be back in Miami and back at the arena. Is it hard to go back to this when you’ve spent the last few months trying to move on? Or do you enjoy going back to this?
DW: It’s a combination of both. The day of getting your jersey retired is something that as an athlete, at some point in your life whether you was a kid or an adult, you look forward to having that opportunity because it’s a celebration of the career you had. But I’m also in this process of, hey, the basketball was the basketball, move on to the next phase. People still ask me, would I come back, would I come back for the playoffs, I cannot wait until y’all allow me to move on to the next phase and basketball is put behind me. But these moments, jersey retirement, if I’m blessed, the Hall of Fame, these moments allow you to celebrate your career with the ones you love. The journey didn’t allow you to celebrate every moment. I’m going to take these moments in, because they will not happen every day anymore. I can’t hit a game-winning shot and feel the rush I can feel when I get my jersey retired.
RN: So you cried during the All-Star game when Common—which was a beautiful moment, I don’t want to take away from it. But you didn’t cry at all during your entire last season, and there were a ton of moving tributes. I’m trying to figure out what’s going to happen when you get your jersey retired. Do you have an idea? What does it take to make you get that emotional?
DW: Well, [Laughs], one, it’s hard to get emotional when you’ve got to play a basketball game. I have to go out there and compete. Most of the tributes was coming before the game, but I’m in game mode. I understand that y’all are celebrating me, but y’all are gonna boo me if I play terrible tonight. I want to leave a lasting impression so I have to stay focused. The Common, All-Star Weekend moment, first of all, I’m already emotional because they just finished the tribute to Kobe Bryant. Then I’m watching a friend of mine, one of the biggest artists to come out of Chicago, tell this amazing, dope story about Chicago. I’m like into this journey and then, pop! My face pops up. And not only did he like—he told a story. He told my journey of my sister taking me from my mom’s house to my dad’s. That moment changed my life. That moment is the reason I’m here. You would cry as well.
RN: The last time you tried to do this, it didn’t go very well, I have to ask: Do you plan on jumping up on the scorer’s table when you get your jersey retired?
DW: Absolutely not. I’m done jumping up on the table.
RN: I remember seeing you at Staples at the first game you went to as a fan, and that felt like a moment of you getting over the hump a little bit. As you look over the last few months, how has the transition gone trying to put the basketball career behind you?
DW: You know what? I actually thought I was going to miss the game more than I have so far. I had a quick moment when I decided to retire that I got nervous. I got nervous about letting something go that I’ve been doing my entire life. And I’ve been good at it for a long time. But immediately, I feel I’m so blessed to put myself in the position and to be put in the position where I have people around me that are go getters. We hit the ground running right away to like, we need to get the next phase going now. I’ve been able to keep myself and my mind busy and put it into something else. I’ve really been focused on building what’s to come.
I feel even more responsibility now than I did a month ago, because Kobe was leading this charge. Kobe was the leader of the new generation of, this is how you do it. Michael showed us that you could continue a legacy through sneakers. Magic showed us you can build a business through so many different outlets. Kobe was showing us that you could create stories and win an Oscar. I’m focused on being that leader Kobe was for me and for others. To show the athletes that’s coming up this is how you do it differently. Retirement is not the end of your life. Retirement is the end of a chapter, but you can do these amazing things in the next chapter.
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