The Miami Heat retired Dwyane Wade’s jersey during halftime of their win against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, and festivities lasted longer than most.
“It was a crazy whole weekend,” Miami’s 790 The Ticket host Brendan Tobin said on After Hours with Amy Lawrence. “They turned it into a festive thing of three days. It was funny because the Heat have gotten in trouble with the league before for [taking] too long on their halftime ceremonies when it comes to raising numbers to the rafters. So they’re just like, ‘Well, listen, we know with Dwyane we’re going to go long, so we might as well have one night where we’re just telling all the stories and getting the speeches from everybody you want to hear from.’ And then on Saturday night it was just Dwyane. It was basically a quick intro from Riley and Dwyane speaking from the heart.”
Wade, who won three NBA championships with the Heat, addressed the crowd for over 20 minutes.
“He hit every part of the speech you’d want him to,” Tobin said, “from thanking his family to his teammates to the Heat organization and even the death of Kobe Bryant really touched hm as well, so he decided to mention him. The Heat fans went crazy for him. A lot of No. 3 in the stands. It was a really great sendoff for the best player they ever had.”
Afterward, Tobin asked Wade, 38, about his future plans, which likely involve the Heat.
“I think he would come back,” Tobin said. “He said that he would come back. I think there’s going to be some time and gap. I don’t know if he’s ever going to do it while Pat Riley is in the organization. That’s nothing against Pat Riley; it’s just that when Pat’s in the organization, it’s his organization. But he’s going to be 75 years old next month and I don’t know how much longer Pat’s going to be doing this. Could you see Wade coming back and doing it in five years, doing some kind of role, whether it be ambassador, whether it be a role in the front office? Yeah, I think that’s definitely still out there for him.”