Dwyane Wade on LeBron Retiring, Gabrielle Union 50/50 Comment, Jimmy Butler and Miami Heat | EP. 84

one of your classmates teammates contemplating retired LeBron who LeBron yeah go there go ahead give me that give me that all my life sacrifice hustle pay the price wanna slice grinding all my life all my life sacrifice possible by the price wanna slice not to roll a dice that's why all my life hello welcome to another edition of Club Shay Shay I am your host Shannon sharp I'm also the proud of club shayshay and the guy that's stopping by for a conversation and a drink today is an NBA all-time great he's a three-time NBA champ he's a finals MVP a 13-time NBA All-Star All-Star game MVP eight-time member of an all-nba team three-time member of the all-defensive team member of the 75th Anniversary team 2009 scoring champ Olympic gold medal medalist he's the Miami Heat leader in points games assists steals shot made shots taken his number three is retired by Miami Heat and Marquette he's an Emmy winner New York Times best-selling author executive businessman host of the game show the cube on TBS a model once voted NBA's Best Dressed player father philanthropist husband D Wade did I get it all in bro I was looking to see who's about to come through the door I was like who walking through leave anything out D Wade how you doing bro thanks for stopping by now thank you for allowing me to come here man that's why this has been a year in the making I saw I dm'd you a couple of years ago you say hey I'm gonna get too young I'm gonna get to you and then I saw you at the premiere of uh that's the easy thing that's the easy thing right I'm great and then everything else after that but uh man I've just been living life right and I've been I've been learning how to live life right differently than the bubble of the NBA right which we all know it's you know when you know when you play sports you know you're in this boat right it's a great bubble right and so the bubble got popped a little bit four years ago and so I'm just adjusting to life right before we get started photos this is my cognac Laporte let's toast your career Hall of Fame Career One Hall of Famer to another yes and my cognac you have a wine wine cellar all the best bro thank you and he sent me he sent me this to my house got this beautiful glass and everything so everybody out there when you send gifts okay I was going with my do-rags I took it off in the car you was already I might still got the lines on me I was like nah I ain't gonna even I ain't gonna do that I ain't gonna do that you were a first ballot unanimous Hall of Famer what does the Hall of Fame means to Dwyane Wade so I've been thinking about this because you know we all have dreams of places we want to be and even in the midst of those dreams I can't say you don't believe him or you do you just you put a plan together and you go attack it and so once I I got the call from Jerry Colangelo and said you are in the Hall of Fame like I got that call right like I just took a moment just to like to myself man I was just like ain't no way right like I I know who I am like I've been living with myself for 41 years right I remember you know how I grew up I remember my dreams and my hopes and sent them out loud how many people told laughed at me or told me that wasn't right and so to be able to be like man I'm 41 years old have accomplished everything in the game of basketball that I could ever dream of and to be able to kind of top it off the way that the way that I'm able to with my kids being older understand a little bit Hall of Fame is the ultimate validation it's the validation of because it's the it's the entire it's the entire body your entire body of work right right right and they say when you get done your entire body of body of work that you deserve to be with the best and so before the top 75 before I knew that that was possible which is incredible the Hall of Fame was like all right when I get done with this career right I need to be I need to be a net I want to be that first ballot right now I want to be that first battle Yeah you know I'm not saying I'm about second third fourth right because you know we all have our own route but for me I was like I want to be that first bank right so when when you're a kid and you're growing up in Chicago you're like okay was the NBA at the Forefront did you say you know I just want to do something to take care of my mom was the NBA always at the front of your mind the NBA was only front [Laughter] I made a played around with hey I want to be a I thought I wanted to be a cop but I really didn't I was scatter police and so I was like oh but I like the I like the badge I like the outfit okay when I was a kid I might have told my mom I want to be a doctor in a in a crap just because I thought those were the things that she was gonna support me in right me telling my mom as a five six seven-year-old kid hey Mom I'm gonna be the next Michael Jordan I'm gonna go play for the Chicago Bulls that's not realistic in my community right right being a being a cop is realistic right and so but I always wanted to play an NBA because I grew up at the perfect time with basketball and the team that the city that I grew up in Chicago I had Jordan was that the it was the height Air Jordan Scottie did anything else matter no like I feel so lucky now like when when the documentary The Last Dance came out like I just feel so lucky to like I was the kid in Chicago that knew about all these stories that no one knew about right and so I was going back in my mind like I grew up on these stories before it was a social media before things went viral Dennis Rodman was down in Chicago going viral right downtown right you know what I'm saying and so Chicago Bulls was everything my dad put the ball in me in my step brother's hands when we were young and basketball became everything right you're going in with Dirk Nowitzki Tony Parker Greg probably you had great matchups against Dirk you played against Tony Parker NBA Finals beat him once you only gets pop a lot what does it mean to go with like like man dirt everybody knows that Dirk brought in the stretch when you see that one legged step back is him you see Tony Parker the guy that can penetrate and use the float game to an excellent Greg Papa [ __ ] hey nothing needs to be said about him do you do you think about like man I gotta I got a pretty I got a pretty nice class I'm going anywhere oh well yeah I forgot about power uh for everybody out there that's not Paul I told powers in the black community it's Paul yeah this pal yeah yeah you just dropped that hell yeah you realize that the song uh Powell Becky Hammond yeah wow there's so many others and so if you know anything about my career Shannon um the individual is great right individually I have to work for everything that I that I wanted and I got but the team is where I succeeded right right that's what my career when you look at everything it's like he was on these great teams right whether it's Olympic team whether it's the team Shaq with LeBron with all these guys so to be able to be able to retire and then to be able to go into my next team or my next family would be the Hall of Fame team right I mean I'm looking like yo what other thing crew that look like this that's I remember telling the guy this is the Hall of Fame is the ultimate fraternity it's so it's so select if you if you're a Kappa in order to distract them they got ten thousand twenty thousand members if you want to make a Sci-Fi you're a q dog you got 25 30 000 there if you're an apple you're a sigma you AKA man think about how many men have played and how few have that jacket yeah yeah you're very elite now there's eight billion they're seven billion eight billion people in the world there's only about five or six hundred they got a jacket like yours so I'm ready to play tonight I don't even know what sport I'm ready to play I'm just I'm getting warm over here I'm like yeah that's why it's fine you see a lot a lot of organizations with their great players it's not just enough for them to hang their jersey in the arena to put in statues outside you see Dirk just got a statue you know the Lakers on with Kobe and Shaq and all those greats what would it mean for D Wade to have a statue outside the Miami arena that's a tough question for me man uh one because yes when you get done playing your game when you get done playing this game you you hopefully the goal is to become a statue right right like you want to play and become a statue right right because the greats have a statue Michael Jordan had a statue right and so yes I want I want those alkyl those accolades because I saw others have them right but it's also a part of me too that's like that's that's man-given right it can be taken away by man right I don't like getting things that can be taken away by man okay and so I don't celebrate those and I don't look for those because it's temporary right but um you know so if it's given to me um I don't I know I earned everything that is give that is to come right I've earned it already Okay and so if they decide to give that to me I mean it would be amazing right a place where people can come to the arena to Miami you'll see it and see it and be the first it's all it's something about being the first it will and and Ben first will open up the floodgates for you D statue right LeBron statue yeah Chris Bosh statue Alonzo Morning statue and you start building this Legacy I don't know what the Bronco will get no statue I don't know Patrick will let that happen who's gonna be next we're talking about that we're talking about we're talking about it later so when I was reading that you purchased a minority share in the Utah Jazz and I'm like why the hell Miami Heat great why the hell is sharing that why go way out there how did how did D Wade Wade County heat Legend go cross country and purchase a share in another franchise relationships um business opportunity you know at the right time for me you know Miami and I you know sometime you got to step away from right you know the career right too close to the career right too close to not getting some of the things that I wanted right not getting some of the things they wanted and for me I wanted to step away and be able to build and work on our relationship which I think we've we're continuing to do I wanted to be able to to support the heat without feeling that anything obligation without without feeling the obligation without feeling this whatever I felt in in the midst of the business of the game right and I needed to get rid of that and so uh I would have jumped right back in it if I would have came back into the fold right because I would have been once again in that same mindset right what I'm not doing what I'm not getting what conversations I'm not a part of I want to root for my team I want to support Jimmy I want to support UD I want to support without feeling in any way that I felt before right and so for me when it came to basketball when it came to like getting the opportunity to learn what that side is like I felt it was better for me to learn with someone that was um that I built a relationship with and I'm closer with right from a business standpoint yeah because this is business now right they're saying basketball this is now in business and so I don't have a business relationship in Miami with right the ownership not a business relationship right I have a business relationship with Ryan Smith and what we're doing you know what we've been able to do in this small period of time I could be wrong correct me if I'm wrong does D Wade feel he gets the respect and the appreciation that he deserves from the Miami Heat what do you mean from who in the Miami Heat is a brand yeah well he really is two people okay because you did leave temporarily normally the historically great players don't leave via free I mean something happens and I think something happens yeah check me if I'm wrong I'm looking I'm sitting back after being the next professional athlete and I'm saying man this man he took less money to get LeBron he's taking less money less money and you tell him take less money and we're gonna go get KD take less money we're gonna go get X Y and Z take less money okay I don't took less money you didn't get any of those guys yeah yeah I had that mentality at one point I'm grown now though throughout this business right it's a cold world right and so a lot of it make you feel at the time oh it sucked I left yeah I won three championships in Wayne County and I and I left right um and I left for you know obviously a few different reasons but it hurt yeah and I I so I I believed I I drunk the Kool-Aid like like most of the young players come in they trapped to me this is family he coached my city it ain't yours all right it's not yours and when it's time to make a decision the business have to make a decision and unfortunately for me the decision that I wanted them to make at the time I wanted them to make it they didn't make right and so it affected how I felt about about everything that I put into what I was told right came in right I'm a grown man right now I understand this is business and so I don't feel a way right I I will not allow that to I cannot allow that to stay on my shoulders right let me carry like a backpack right because I learned so much in Miami so I I can't just leave with the negatives because the positive I'll wait a negatives even though the negatives you know yeah I mean it's definitely my bank account oh man it's definitely my bank account but like it still stings in a sense but the sting is helping me in business it's helping me in life right so as much as I like the positive that I learned in Miami and all the things that helped me become a man and all the I got to take the other things that come along I heard a little bit too to come along with it because these things as well it's helping me become a better businessman it's helping me ask different questions it's helping me go into things a certain way and so it's a lesson out there for everybody right and it was a lesson in it for me and so I have no ill attention right I'm I'm I come in that Arena and I'm who I am right when I'm same person I am outside the arena is who I am inside right with everybody because I appreciate my time there how have organizations been able to convince the fans that whatever they do is business yeah whatever the player does is out of greed yeah selfish motivation I don't understand that at the pr for the organization they got the best PR person you lead you being greeted they do it they did what was best for the team well what about my team what about the wave team yeah no I I have no idea how that's like that doesn't make sense yeah right like you can get traded no phone call no nothing you find out on social media and you're gonna get your video Yeah and everybody gonna stand up and cheer right but let you leave in free agency right and watch what happens when you come back right for most guys yeah you're gonna get booed you're gonna be talked about and so it's just a PR it's just it's the way it's spent it's the way it is right and it's we can come out and we can cry about as much as we want right but that's just the way it is and so now the players got control in the way that we have the way that the players have control because it's still ran the owners still ready yeah we know what it is right the players have more control now correct and now you see no one likes the way the players right so ain't no win ain't no win for neither side right went up you getting a business how do you approach the business you mentioned Ryan Smith you're in business with him how do you approach the business aspect like you do do you approach it like you did the basketball aspect you put that kind of time that kind of effort that kind of energy because I'm sure you to be great d-way you know this You Gotta Eat Sleep breathe basketball so now do you eat sleep breathe business I do I don't play basketball no more so my life besides being a parent and a son and a father and a husband and all these things business is my life right right and so as I as I like to tell people I've been spending so much of my time trying to become a Hall of Fame athlete and in the midst of that you have so many people that are put in place to help you along along the way here and there's so many things that you don't learn and you don't know and so when I retired I didn't know much about business right I didn't know much about all these things that I'm a part of right in business right so I took some time to say all right well let me start learning and so I need to learn how to invest right you don't invest just because it sounds good right because the names yeah yeah that's your money and so when it comes to business when it comes to a Ryan Smith and these certain individuals that you tried to link yourself with right I want to link myself with people who want to who want to teach me right like who's thirsty who understands that I want to learn and you're willing to teach me you're willing to say come on in that's right open this book up and let me show you and so those are the partners out that I look for that I look that I look at because I know I don't know everything I I ain't been to school in 20 years right broadcasting adrenaline but you're right but you haven't been to school in a while so you really haven't had to apply yourself exactly like you're having to apply yourself now right and so I yes now I know that I could take the things that I learned in sport and I can use those same tools and apply them to how I wake up in the morning right how I work out in the morning right how like all the steps that it takes because I had those same steps to try to be great in basketball right and the hard part is we want it now right yeah you want to like I want to be I want to I see magic I see Jay-Z I want to speak 100 now I want to build you I want to be a [ __ ] oh Kevin just sold us coming for 100 minutes oh this oh like in the hate like oh like that could be me because that's how I look at it bro anytime I see somebody do something I'm like man that could be me I wonder how you did let me ask you this this is what I really want to know in business are people willing to help you in business because like in basketball were guys willing to give you information that could help d-way become a better player so are people in business willing to give you information like guys on the court like guys in the NBA yeah once they realized that I was a player right so once they took me serious okay business the same thing once they realize that you're serious about this right and it's not just something yeah they ain't gonna be jacking off their time right like like people that have way more money than you and I that that's not sitting here right they don't have a lot of time right you get a meeting with somebody you get 15 to 30 minutes right you don't get three hours time is money and so they need to know that you're serious that's like the same thing when it came to sports right and so I try to be I try to be serious I try to walk in with the knowledge and the information and questions right and questions and questions and questions because I know I don't know everything right you're the host we were talking about camera he was like never in a million years that I think I was going to be a game show no but here we are what was it like what made you have what how did you come up with the idea say you know what game show folks that's what I'm gonna be it happened like this okay it was doing covet we on the zoom I um when I retired I got into TV I did TNT for three years right had a production company uh 59th in in Prairie that I started with um with one immediate right and so they came to me we on the zoom with the whole team and they're like hey we got this amazing concept of the show called The Cube that's been feminine in the UK I believe at that time it was 10 11 years right and so we talked about the show I got a chance to look at the deck I got a chance to go look at all the YouTubes and I was like man I love this show I want to be executive producer this is great right so we shook hands on EP before we got off the call eventually they said oh and we would love if you can host and I was like me I started sweating up no I said I want to be a produced executive producers like you know and and then all right so I took a few days and how it works is this if I'm scared to do something anytime I like bungee jumping right there I'm talking about something that's attainable and something I want to do right like I I like I actually want to challenge myself right when I retire the first thing I did was I took I took voice lessons Okay right because I knew I was like man one day I may I may have this uh I may be in front of the camera I will have a microphone in my face let me learn how to project my voice right let me let me let me take this uh the Chicago tongue that I have let me learn how to get through my words right right and so I was already prepared and prepping myself for an opportunity but when it came I was scared right and then it took me a couple days and I was like you can't be scared right and so I said I'll do it as if everything you thought it would be more I actually didn't think I like it as much I enjoy getting opportunity um I spent about three hours per episode with each contestant each family and I get a chance I sit there for three hours and one get to know individuals that I will never get to know right right two I get to you know to be able to help people get over this this fear right I see fear when they're in that Cube I see nervousness and so this is a time where as a leader I get to step in I get to lead um so it's so many different things that you take from sport or you take from your life and in the show in that three hours that I'm sitting in front of them I'm trying to help them accomplish something that um that I know is way harder than they think it is right they don't know what the game is really like and also too it's going to change communities it's going to change their lives right and so I have an opportunity to to to be a host of a game show that you're going to see is going to change the people's experiences but it also has the opportunity to change your life 10 20 30 50 000 change people's lives and so for me man it was like I want to bring joy to families I want to bring joy to you know to living room right when this pandemic ends right and that's why I jumped into the cube and I'm lucky that we're on our second season TV has brought us back and hopefully we keep going let me ask you this for those that haven't watched the cube what's the concept hi so the concept is you have probably 60 70 games or versions of and they all and they all can take place inside of this cube right right it's a plexiglass it's this big Plexiglas that looks a little different than this and inside this Cube which brings its own like once you go in and that door closer brings its own level of like okay everything got small right right clothes now now my breathing is a little different right and so it just brings his own different challenges of all these different games right right it's individual games it's games where you you you tag your teammate in y'all got to come in y'all got to do it together right and the hard part about it is it may be a game and I'll just explain it like this it may be a game where you sit up here and you got a ball a piece of paper up and let's say you got to throw it in the garbage can right you say I can do that anyway that's not hard Shadow how many how many lives you're gonna take you to do that how many times are you gonna try to throw it and make it it may take you four right now you've lost four lives and so to be able to play this game you get nine lives but you only got you got seven games oh seven games now that I could do it right you may spend four lives on one game on a thousand dollars right and so the the Precision that you gotta have the the ability to be able to have no ego right because some some games when you come in that Cube that you are not good for but your partners may be right it's certain games that I know that you gotta that you got a blind phone you gotta walk through these standing cones standing your shoulders too wide right you you got to type in somebody else right right so man I just I love it I love being able to to sit across from individuals that I never met and by the end of that three hours like we've connected um and hopefully I've done my job as a host to help them you know reach their goal I'm looking at some of your hosts in the second season your wife Gabrielle Union what what is the guess what what what was Shaq like because you know Shaq think he could do everything Shaq bust the cube open he fell through the back of the cube I didn't even know you can do that I know you can go through the cube that's that was Shaq we had him there was his birthday he didn't know she didn't know what was going on he showed up he's like man flash what I'm doing I'm like just enjoy it yeah and then like he didn't want to he didn't want to stop right he kept he kept asking for more tries and more tries I'm like Shaq you can't keep getting more try because I need another life I'll buy another life so Shaq was Shaq man he brought he brought a lot of excitement too he broke a lot of our games right so like fairly he was like it's one of them you'll see on the commercial where he's getting these balls out right he broke the sides Shaq don't realize no he don't know but man I I you know like this was the first year we tried like adding um celebrity right because we had a lot of people calling hitting us Sam we can do that that's easy and so he's like all right so come on to the show right so we had a few come and try it and it wasn't as easy as they thought I'm looking uh mellow Carmelo Anthony just retired yeah what advice would you give him about retirement about retirement um what can he expect you can expect it to be different he can expect it to be on him you know I know you think basketball is on you but you got a team you got a lot of teammates you got coaching staff you got trainers you got everybody to get you to the gym right every day you don't have nobody like that in retirement you know you still have your team you see other people that love you but like it ain't the same it ain't the same and so every day you gotta them feet gotta hit that ground right and and what you want accomplish in that day has to be on you and it has to be set by you okay um that's that's the one thing I learned like when I played we got rake up calls on the road right I'll get a wake-up call nobody telling me to get up and work out to eat healthy to do all these things like that's just basic that is without the work this is just how I'm gonna I'm gonna maintain my body right after retire right no one's no one's telling you that right and so you got to realize that it's on you you know I mean like when I play with the team I went and got my uh chess scans and my EKGs right because it was scheduled right now I got a schedule you know what I mean so once you realize like I woke up one day I said oh so this all on me all right right this familiar for me yeah and so he got it do you think the White House should be on the uh he only got 75 slots they've been what five thousand guys that play in the NBA maybe a little bit more one thousand percent I said the same but I don't know how it got he was a dominant big inevitable years like three times defensive play of the year but not just like big right he was no he was a dominant he was dominant I I really don't understand like I know a lot of people have a lot of things to say about Dwight Howard as his personality or whatever people like to take a shot at right I mean we all out here everybody could take a shot at whatever they want but when it comes to that man actual work that's body of work like a dislike he got the backpack on he tried hook shots but when the game when they when they jumped the ball it's undeniable he took that team to the finals he did this is I mean and I'm not I'm like I'm not understanding about you can pick a lot of guys to be on this team it's all suggest it's all subjective right right depending on who's picking but when you're talking about this this generation these last 25 years right how many names can you think of what Dwight Howard name is not in there and and I know T-Mac should be in there right and other great players but that was the white high one for me was tough yeah how difficult is it for you you have a son LeBron has a son not mellow blue Ron has two sons you have son I'm gonna talk about the later Heather son play how difficult is it for your child that bears your last name to play the sport that you played gotta be tough because you know you're getting your dad would have made that your dad would have done this your dad would have did that man I didn't have that pressure did you have the pressure about I had an older brother you had it from your brother yeah I never had that pressure like I had an older brother who was good but he wasn't Hall of Fame he wasn't at the level of the Sharks he wasn't at that level um and so I have no idea what Zaire is experiencing from that standpoint right and I and I can't act like act like I know but for me and to me like none of that really matters when you're in between those lines right and so having a dad with this name or in in this sport can get you in the door right can get you looks right and also can get people to talk about you yes it works both ways both ways yeah so for me it's about what you do when you get between the lines right that's what all determines if you set people up right or you keep them talking or you keep them talking and so as I don't understand my son's journey and I sympathize with you know I go and I look at my let me see what kind of hate he getting right I sympathize with this young man who gets hate right for nothing no one knows he's on his own Journey right and he's been um you know whether it's me whether it's brownie whether it's this player this player you're comparison he's getting compared to them and I'm just that's life at the same time right you're going to be compared to a lot of different people if you if you want to do something great I had Ken Griffey at one time and he said he kind of he always saw his go see a Suds play he said but it was tough on him he said because if his son made a mistake or he struck out the people in The Stand will say well you're not your dad and griffith one day said he said well name five players who are so oh yeah the monster yeah yeah he said well name five players who are but do you just imagine how do you think your life would how different would your life have been like today's kid with the social media aspect High School College you did have some social media later in your NBA but I don't think you started with it yeah how different would your life have been it's too much access I got four kids now too much access you better have 40 you can get to anybody because you got everybody number you know what it was D Wade back when you and I was growing up in high school and in college if you saw a beautiful girl in Miami you don't know if she was from Miami or where she was from you might not ever see her again now you just got on social media you're like oh she and I can get there well I can get her here that's the listen I'm glad social media running around all right as I was a young boy trying to focus on accomplishing something that only a few kind of cops yeah you know how focused and locked you can't have distractions to be great like you guys were yes like a LeBron like like a a Mahomes or Tom Brady or you talk D Wade is different I give these kids a lot of credit to be able to juggle both like I understand the great the great things about social media yeah yeah you get benefits we get the benefits yes but on the on the other end yeah if you're trying to accomplish what I know a lot of these young men say or what they're trying and they get up every day to to work their ass off and accomplish this distraction right is going to get in the way at some point when you're trying to go to that when you're trying to reach that Penthouse level in your sport right right like you can get you can get to the first level you can get in the lobby yeah you're in a hotel right but there's a special key card that goes to the penthouse right and it's a lot of sacrifice yeah that you gotta have to get to that Penthouse level and a lot of guys won't get there because of certain things that's a distraction right social media is a big distraction for the generation how how many did you have to leave a whole lot of homeboys because everybody you know people say they sacrifice and you sacrifice a lot like as far as your time you know you didn't go to you did you missed a lot of your kids things recitals and piano lessons or whatever education maybe you sacrificed a lot of that yeah but sometimes I'm noticing guys won't sacrifice a homeboy man he was there from the beginning man hey I can't let my homeboy go bro but he holding you back he put you in a situation where you can't climb to the top because he's holding you back was it difficult for you to leave some of the homeboys even though you like yeah bro we get we grew up together but where I'm ascending to it was and it is right especially when you're young when you're young man you growing up and you're growing up in an in-provise Community all you got is your homeboys right your family right and so y'all all have the same dream together right to a point where your dream become everybody's dreams right right when you're the one who's and so man when I made it man my whole everybody was we made it right we in here you're right and so you carry that you carry that mentality like yo we we all here we all made it right and you try to allow access for everybody right because just if you're that person you try to allow access to bring everybody with you right but we all know how that's gonna work it's only going to be man if you lucky you'll find a Maverick Carter in a bunch if you're lucky if you're lucky you'll find someone who wants more than what just they're given right yeah because everybody when you get into the league you get in this situation everybody loves what they love the sneakers right little outfits they get right how many people you're gonna find is going out go and be like yo thank you for for getting us here now I got to go get mine right away right I ain't talking about once it's over right and it doesn't happen often and a lot of it too is you are not in a position where you come to enough to tell these individuals hey man I might be able to buy you a gift to say you know thanks for being my homeboy go watch right man you go even the car because we got it like that but I can't take care of your entire life right that is that is you're for your entire life right and so that's a hard conversation to have when y'all all have a dream yeah we all grew up man I knew you wouldn't have anything man you used to eat at my house you know you sleep over my couch yeah cause you feel like man I feel like obligation yeah and if you don't gotta most most time people get rid of stuff like that is when they got a woman to come in and she's like yo he can't be sleeping on the couch right your homeboy can't have the key guy because that's how it is right and it came it took my wife to come in and be like she was the older woman that came in like what what's going on in this Fred house y'all got going on you're right what's up in this dorm room right you know what I'm saying and I kind of have to like oh you right I'm with a grown woman now I had to clear shop a little bit and so sometimes it takes certain people to come in to show you like yo like what are you doing right and you know hopefully it's not something that happens that's in a negative form to make you be like oh I got to get rid of right and it's not about getting rid of it's like hey like I got here because X Y and Z we all hear hey you want to go to school you want to do something for yourself you want to do something for your family for your kids one day you're gonna have a daughter like you know I just talked to my brother say you got a little girl what you gonna show her how she looking at you to see how it is that what man she wants so what are you gonna do you don't want to you don't want her to be like oh he get money from Uncle Dwayne when you need something right you want her to know that you get up every day you go work you go grind and make sure she has what she needs that's what her man should do whatever it is however you want to raise your child right and so that's that's how I approached it eventually right you got no dog in the fight there's a lot been going over the last three four months with John Moran if you as a player or a player what advice could you what advice would you give him and what advice would you give him if you were his father this was your drama rants Dwyane Wade's son yeah what advice what would you tell me I mean that's that's obviously a tough question um but you know I what I try to do with my kids is like I don't like I'm not trying to I'm not gonna act like life is not gonna happen right okay you know what I'm saying I'm not gonna act like some mistakes are not gonna happen Okay um try to minimize them you try to right that's our job to try to minimize but they're gonna happen actually you need some of them to happen right okay so I'm not gonna make this about shame on you okay this is a part of this journey that we're on this is this is something we can use as a learning lesson and learning too and my question to to anybody is what do you want for your life right and so if you sit and tell me because I know what y'all probably won't he wants to be one of the greatest correct now you want to be one of the greatest okay now let me open up the books to show you what the greats do and how they go buy their business and how they separate This and like you know what I'm saying it's more so of showing all right let me open up the book who are your favorite players oh I love Kobe I love LeBron I love MJ let me show you what the the guys that have a statue this is how they did it and and then look they went through stuff right all these guys all of us go through something right right look how they and so it's just about showing a man like he's Josh 23 years old 23. he's a young man who's supposed to make mistakes now do we want him to make the mistakes that he made of course we don't but that's not our we don't get to determine that right and so it's all it's all about nobody make the same mistake twice no we don't but if you make it twice we don't want to make it three times we don't get rid of you because you make it twice that's not how this works I like this I like this we can't do that and if I'm your father that's not that's not my Ministry I'm here for the Long Haul right and so if I'm your father okay you've made the same mistake twice you know what I've done the same thing I've made the same mistake twice in other instances as well right it just wasn't in front of the whole world right and so that's how I go in and that's how I parent my kids it's not I don't go in with shame on you because I know that when you got to make certain decisions you can have a lapse for one second it ain't got to be a whole 24 hours it could be one second laps can't use a lot changes a lot and I've had I've had them right and so you know I just think like I like I don't know job like that so I wouldn't pick up the phone and be like yo yo he's not listening to me right necessarily like that that's not my Ministry with him but as someone who wants to see him succeed go to the level that man John Moran is my one of my favorite players to watch if I'm gonna spend my cash jobs on my top three players I'm gonna go spend my money on right and so you know my conversation with him would be that what do you what do you want for your future one of your classmate teammates contemplating retired LeBron who LeBron yeah go there go ahead give me that give me that yeah you know you're talking about the man just had 40 ten and nine on with his life yeah you know hey okay okay that's gonna make sure we're talking about the same but he's but he said you know everybody get weary man you know it's getting harder and harder for me to sum it up you know I'm playing on this kid let me give me a little sweetie isn't it getting harder and harder for him to summon it up and you know I ain't getting no younger I need a little help here and there so you didn't buy the part that LeBron was thinking about all my money still in my pocket I ain't buying nothing frustrated it's a lot like that you know like obviously they where they came back from shout out to the Lakers for making the moves that they made to help them make that push and so yeah the conversation locker room may not be as funny no more because you don't have a lot in common with the Next Generation right right you get tired of the travel the travel gets old because you ain't traveling around the world you ain't going south of France yeah y'all to play listen keep doing that same route so yes when you look at all of that it beats you down mentally physically we know what it is I mean he's a physical specimen but at the same time physically it's gonna beat them down right okay but like I looked at I was like okay I ain't buying that I know what I know what after the season right now where they asking you this question in this moment right but also know when he get away and he go ahead to Mexico or he go away to the south of France you know his Yacht for the summer yeah he gonna look around and be like okay the king come the king coming back I'm getting ready how many more years do you think LeBron can play at this level it's crazy because we've never nobody has ever been in their Peak regardless of sport as long as this man has been it has been in this is primed so to speak yeah nobody's had a 20-year Peak yeah his injury if he doesn't get injured he takes care of himself I mean he's a look at him yeah first of all yeah let's look at him all right one hit one of his legs the two of mine put together he ain't built like a normal person right okay so that was God gave him that blessing yeah you built different right and so he has the mental to continue to to keep the mental strong right that's one of the hardest part is if you physically can play right mentally you lose it quicker than even physical sometimes like mentally I was done really I had two more I had two three more years at a certain level I could average about 12 or 15 a game grab the team Off the Bench but mentally because of the injuries because of all the things that beat me down where it wasn't I love the game I can't wait to watch the game right but mentally and so LeBron has been able to mentally tell himself you're not tired right you're not injured you're like he's been able to mentally do that and I I got a chance to watch for four years like he wouldn't if he was hurt he never would he couldn't even talk that language in front of him like even bro you hurt no I'm not hurt your ankle hurt no I'm not hurt because the mind is strong right his mind and so that's why I was strong that's one of the strongest tools it's his mind right we know it from an IQ standpoint right you and I look at him like oh man he has a crazy IQ right no he has a intelligent strong mind and so that allows him to keep going and so long as his mind stays strong which is obviously gets hard and hard every year right and his body say strong I mean he's he can average 20 plus for the next couple years let's just say for the sake of argument he doesn't miss those games with the growing in the first year in La he doesn't hurt that ankle and Miss let's just say for the sake of our you can't say that if I don't have three nieces we we're doing ifs now you have three knee surgeons in the league yeah I had one in college and two in the least yeah we doing ifs now okay because we're doing M's then let's go okay okay how about this if the ankle doesn't get hurt this year the tendon this year do you think the outcome is different between them and Denver I don't I think the outcome is different between the Lakers with him getting that time away actually we got a chance to see them grow as a team outside of LeBron okay okay we got to see A.D grow right at that level right obviously when he on the floor we was like top five player in the league right we got a chance to see what the Delo can bring and what also all threes can bring he actually really grew right in broad's absence the best thing to happen to the Lakers right was LeBron's absence because it allowed them to not have to depend on him right right because when you got a great player you depend on that great player right and so they have they had the Rock and they have something to play for in the middle of that and so I think it was great for the Lakers okay and that allowed him to come back and if you've seen when he came back he's a different player than he was where he went out even though his numbers were still big he wasn't leading the charge as much right right he was allowing Reeves he was allowing A.D and all these guys to do their thing and he was just kind of Shadow Boxing to he needed to be LeBron right and so it was beautiful to watch D Wade I think you did something not a whole lot of guys could do sacrifice you sacrifice now it's one thing to sacrifice if we come together but I'm already established here I've already won a Finals MVP I've already demand here and you asking me to come you coming to my house and asking you to share you have to be sure you you want to say at the head of the table when that's my head of the table now you want me to get out of my bed you go get the big bad how how were you able to do that everybody can't do that anyway everybody say that now you know everybody get in front of the camera and they say oh yeah you know about you know I sacrifice all day but you know deep down everybody can't do what you did yeah how and why well why is easy I wanted to win everybody say they want to win well they be lying though okay all right we say it now what's the action okay and so I wanted to win right and the reason I wanted to win because when I came in the game this is what was said right to be in this breath in this conversation you have to win championships every generation is different in a conversation surrounding guys is different I didn't have these Steph Curry range I didn't have the Dame like I wasn't going to put up 30 000 points right so for me to put my name and sign my name in in heaven I wanted my game to be uh accumulation of it all right but it needs to be when it needs to be led by winning correct for me right and so that wasn't a facade and when the opportunities came I always put myself in in a position to do that right right and so you can ask anybody who worked with me maybe most people who walk in the room with me in a meetings and it could be a meaningful Wade Enterprises I don't sit at the head of the table I like to sit in the middle I like to sit in the seats in the middle I like to be amongst everybody to have conversation with everybody I don't want to be at the head it's lonely at the head of the table right and so when LeBron came and CB came I was like oh you want to sit at the head cool I'm gonna go where I'm comfortable with because here's the thing I haven't been a star my whole life right I played so many roles my entire basketball career okay and I think that's one of the reasons why I look at myself as one of the greatest players because I didn't do it one way right I showed you how to be great in so many different ways and so many different times my game changed and evolved so much right right and so to me that's greatness as a basketball player right and I wanted to challenge myself throughout my career to see if I could do stuff different right okay 30 points a game let the legal score did that what's next Finals MVP got that dude like I'm all about like what's next and so when the opportunity came in 2010 I was like okay this is another challenge for me to play with somebody I never thought I'd play with someone I admire so much but how can I play with a guy that I know is ball dominant right when I become ball dominant right pick up my Challenge and so I just learned how to play off the ball you wanna you see the back Cuts yeah you got a bunches my game you like Tony Parker you know and you know what to go back real quick I'm sorry because I didn't say this when you talk about the Hall of Fame yeah when you talk about Dirt cast change the game for his position right right like right now you got people the stretch you got people in the gym right now putting it try to get that one type hip up right Tony Parker I felt like Tony Park was an amazing point guard but he was like a he was like a big man because when he got in the post his footwork was crazy when he got in the paint his footwork was crazy right like he got you up in numbers all that right and so just just amazing to see like a point guard but when he got to the paint he became one of the best big men in the game right no a lot of people don't know that um pow uh when I play I played with power one time at um we got invited to barack's um President Barack Obama's 49th birthday party at the White House right and I got a chance to play with uh with pal Kobe was like don't get used to it I was like oh oh Kobe this is easy I Gotta Throw the shack you actually getting it back right so uh I just wanted to throw that out about the Hall of Famers man just so honored to be in a class with guys who changed the games for their position right I think I was one of the guys who came in and evolved and I'm evolved right evolved the game in my position and gave it just a little different look where are you on this because somebody's gotten skewed over the years because they take it away from it it's like if you don't have a ring you can't be great D Wade I believe you can be a great player and not have a ring because they're great there are players that have multiple rings that aren't great players and they're great players that don't have any rings so when did when did this happen that if you don't have a ring you're not a great player what when did that happen was it 2005 when did this happen I don't know when it happened um let me know man a lot of people have what we have right here a lot of people have a microphone okay and that microphone is powerful right here and so someone said this along the way and you said enough people started believing like yeah sense right like here here it is okay so I won a championship in NBA I didn't win in college they went in high school right so forth and so on so does that make me greater than Carmelo because Carmelo won a college Carmelo probably won a couple state championships right like it's different times we have an opportunity because of talent because our team well that time is there for you right right and you try to strike but that doesn't happen just because you're a great player right the organization got to do they part right right you got to put the right team around you you gotta put the right Talent around like if you look at Allen Iverson in Philadelphia 76ers they put they structured the right team around here to give this amended chance to be his to be his individual yeah and they did they roll hey you blocked shots at The Rim Yeah Eric snow if he throw it to you you better shoot 10 to 15 feet only right like they play their roles right and so but it took the organization it took the gym it took everybody to make sure it was the right Talent around AI right so you're telling me ai's not great if he don't make the finals run or if they don't bring in uh Mutombo if they don't bring in these guys to open the floor for him to to defend for him all these things and so the concept of a great player is not great because he didn't win a ring everybody can't win a ring you don't have a different Champion every year and that's what it was that now the Rings would be meaningless if everybody won one what's the value in that there's no value in it that's why it's such premium on it because everybody can't get one it doesn't matter how great you are right you will not walk away with a ring just because you're great it's players that are way greater than me and they won't walk away with three rings right that doesn't mean that I'm greater than I'm better than them because I have three rings right well because another player has one or two because you got players that got rings that ain't even didn't do nothing to get those really right so they make them that's not how it goes now I understand that okay when you start talking about that pyramid okay now it's first second third Rings map well because now here we go let's go back to the hotel it's a different room yeah right like let's say hey we all great yes what'd you say one ring group is going over here okay what'd you say that who got three rings going you know how I go right and so I got a card for the three rings I can have conversations with a couple guys in there but I can't go to the four or five it's certain rooms I can't even go in right so it's okay right doesn't take away enough from your greatness we can all sit in a room of the top 75 top 100 but then they're gonna separate you from the rooms of Champions right but your team's gonna be in there with you you don't bring champions in of one person right because it's not golf it's not tennis and so forth so your team got to come in right the 2006 Miami Heat and so they haven't put a team around you that that allows you to be there over your time and hasn't hit right it's time Michael Jordan came around and messed everybody timing yes Lebron James been in the final 10 to 12 years right how many opportunities do you get doesn't and so I hate that notion because that doesn't mean that Dane or and I'm not saying he won't get one but right now that Dane is not you can't tell me Dame is not one of the greatest players that we've seen play this game I agree if you walk away with no rings does that take away what we've watching Dame do no not for me not individually right it just means it doesn't now we know if he got the right team he's not selfish no we know Dame gonna make sure other guys eat right but he hasn't had the team that has allowed him at the right time to be better than the Lakers he needs to be more selfish when he had that 71 I said you need to be more selfish you knew he had to get 80 that night they started doing he's like now but let me ask you this when you play with LeBron you see him from a distance was he better up close than you thought even you thought he was from a distance one thousand percent he was better in practice than I thought he was in the games uh I I didn't get a chance to to to watch the other goats because there's multiple goals depending whatever you're in but I did get a chance to watch this era one of this era's goals which is LeBron Kobe's one and LeBron's one right and when I saw him in practice it was a separator for me of good to Great to goats right you cannot do the things that he did and how he did it and so that's what we take it for granted a course of course we do real and it's not that we won't have another great player to come along we just will not have another LeBron James right we still talking about Jordan all these years later yes because we took it for granted in a moment right now it's like it's like when you watch um when you watch the dunk contest right you're there sometimes you can't see what really happened right you gotta look everybody looking for the instant replay right slow motion slow it down right actually see what happens right that's what happens when your career ends as the LeBron career ends we're going to actually start looking and seeing what happened and what he actually did right and now we're gonna be like oh because right now we're in it and we send it in fast motion and we can't really see everything that he's accomplishing if they were to redraft the 2013 class obviously LeBron's gonna go number one where is D Wade going if they redraft so we had LeBron one Darko Melo CBU if they redraft so we redrafted like redrafted after the career like well we redirect what point are we redrafting in like now is we sitting here or yeah you know what yeah let's do I think even if we dream draft in it LeBron's gonna go number one we we agree with that consensus so yeah if we go back and look at everybody's career okay where you think you're going where I should have went probably um if you could do it to Denver Denver so you should have been to therapy yeah mellow should have been second pick I'm not and Chris Boss was the fourth pick but you know when it comes to Biggs it's about what team needs that can't be right so obviously Toronto needed them Miami Heat needed a big they would have drafted Chris Bosh at Toronto didn't take him right right I wouldn't have went to the heat um so if you do it all over I would probably go third to Denver right yeah there's been a lot of speculation I think mellow brought it up so don't get mad at me mellow said he said don't get mad don't get mad oh my God Bello said he should have been Rookie of the Year it should have been Ricky I heard that you yay so I didn't pay so I didn't try to start nothing he said it well he said at least cold it's an argument yeah he had an argument then and he has an argument now takes nothing away from LeBron but let's look at what Melo did over there in the Western Conference okay six rebounds a game almost three assists shot 44 from the floor and his teammate on the playoff team playoff team okay LeBron was 20 21 21.9 uh five and a half rebounds six assists shot 43 from the floor team didn't make the playoff co-worker of the year it should be it should have been because they get it for Grant Hill and Jason Kidd yeah y'all showed us that y'all can do it right co-worker of the year right if we going by the numbers and how everything is like right like yeah LeBron had more assists yeah but when you look at it he's doing this on a ready-made playoff team which is harder right LeBron's doing on a 18 year old kid that's coming in to save a franchise right they both deserved it right yeah mellow ain't live yeah it could have been okay mellow ain't trying to take nothing away from Brahms right Melo was like but I know I put the same effort level working but y'all didn't want to I didn't want to give it to him he's in there he was wearing do-rags they ain't one they were messing with mellow at that time but I mean if you look at it at that time it's been a few times but it's All-Star games where certain times you're like oh two people should they deserve it and it's okay to code sometimes you think they'll be co- MVPs well I don't know like the game's changes so much I mean would they do one from the East versus and one from the West no why not well I mean they don't you know what baseball do it happen like American League MVP and National League MVP football gonna do it you have one MVP I don't think they'll do that but it's not it's why not it's not equal you don't play Everything equally you don't like it so why are you giving out a you think the West play is different than the the East yeah they play at a different time for sure no they do it's different like why not have a East versus like I understand how it's been but if we break this down right now and all these new Awards that's coming up why not reimagine this thing they ain't really got no new award they just gave them some names you know you got the lab bird and the magic doctor no but you get MVPs for Eastern Conference Finals I didn't get an MVP for Eastern Conference Finals yeah you're right I just got it for the NBA right so like they're new Awards now added it's more you got more man yeah LeBron would show nothing be none questions because LeBron got two but have 10 Easter conferences yeah it'll be a lot like you get some scoring tournament we're giving all these awards they're getting clutch Awards yeah how many times in fourth quarter I was in the I was the lead scorer no I mean Awards I have wow so if we reimagine new things so let's reimagine it right let's give an MVP out for the East and MVP off for the worst cat comes to Miami you're already solidified as a player how easy was it for you how accepting were you of Shaq like man hey we getting shot this shag I'll be a fool I would have been a fool and I would still be a fool if I didn't come in all ear my ears open my eyes Buck wide right and listening to everything that one of the greatest players I mean at that time he already had three rings right one of the 50 greatest players of all time right so far and so on so I was like this yes yes so what do you say flag hey that's why with the ball right right here oh yeah listen he let Shack is a very honest man to me in our relationship is a one-two punch right he came in and he sat down just like this we sat down it was very candid it was very short he was like listen flash this is your team the way it wouldn't flash yet yeah he eventually got to that I'm gonna help you become one of the greatest to play this game right I'm gonna help you be a superstar when I asked for the ball throw it to this hand oh what you want you want a live big fella I have nothing just like Shaq help me and sow me like my confidence as I walked out on that court it's you know like when I got the NBA the Miami Heat that we won nothing right nobody was checking for us right when I walked out there in my second year and Shaq was walking out there my shoulders got a little bag my big you see my big brother right you know what I mean and so he helped me so much he took my career that was probably gonna go like this right right away and it was the confidence that he gave me this think about it man one of the greatest of us say right is your show I'ma back you up I got you and everything man I'm looking at you in your third season you lead the heat to the final go to the championship you're the finals MVP and y'all went four straight you go 42 36 43 36. that's a bad boy 42 36 42 in game three 36 in game four 43 in game five 36 in game six the haters gonna say I shot 23 though yeah good points it's important you were you were you were attacking you were attacking the back you you were attacking food back well I won a jump shooting fool I'll tell you that I was gonna get them one way or the other so what's going through your mind because at one game I don't know if it was game three game three you guys were down and I remember you saying like man I ain't going out like this I ain't go no that ain't about to happen now first of all you want you one thing we all want where we come from we want some stripes in the hood yeah exactly back at the crib right I need my stripes right I'm sitting there and I'm like we ain't getting we ain't about to get beat like this I know everybody back in Chicago everybody know they watching this game right and I just I was through that tile down I was just thinking of everything I'm like nah I ain't going out like this if I'm gonna go out I'm about to go out right let these things fly this ball about to go up baby let me tell you that and then they start going in but just the mentality to say you know what we here I I don't know because I'm young so I don't I don't know if this is going to happen again I'm not even thinking that way but what I do know is if we go down 3-0 it's probably open it's probably over and so when we get so when we came out of that huddle down 13 at the crib I was like well all right Young fella all the things you told yourself if you get this opportunity yeah flash all these cool nicknames right it's time to do it did you did you know you was gonna have that type of night going into the game because sometimes you can tell like man the way to shoot around and and warm up I feel really good so you kind of get a feeling that you that something special might happen well so a lot of people I mean it doesn't make it like it doesn't make me a hero or it work at all but I was sick when it when I was sick in the round before right and so once we got to the first two games versus Dallas I was still sick okay we gotta we got our butt beat right but if you watch my numbers I had like 25 29 like I was in that ring right maybe not high percentage but I was in that range and I was I was like out there figuring things out right I was like okay this is where I can tag this where I can get my spots so far and so on so by the time we got to game three now we're at home confidence is a little bit more I'm feeling better physically right and so once I got to that that moment like I was able to kind of pick the game apart because I've already had a doses of two other games of how y'all guarded me in the fourth right and so now it's about me just changing my mindset I'm not doing the same thing and so maybe I attacked a little different maybe I attacked a little sooner all these things started changing as the series went on and so it really is a boxing match right and they they did us like this the first two games they kept us at like this and then the game three they were they were hitting us right and so I had to kind of change my disposition I had the Floyd Mayweather on them I had to go to a different shoulders okay and kind of change up trying to change it up and then it we got a couple calls we got a couple shots to fall change the entire series were you surprised that the Lakers traded shot to the Miami uh yeah because I didn't really like it was a social media I didn't really know about the beef right the internal beef that people talk about I still don't know right Shaq and I didn't talk a lot about it that wasn't our relationship and so he didn't so when you when he got that he like man after Lakers if this if that he wanted he wanted to do another ring yeah but he wanted to be first yeah it was not it was no secret Kobe can't get a ring before me right it wasn't no secret in Miami right we all knew like I remember it was we were uh we were 16 games into the first season three Miami Heat 10 and six Los Angeles Lakers maybe even 10-6 or nine or seven check fact check me we had a meeting led by Shaq he went the [ __ ] off because we had the same record as the Lakers at that time you know what we did we're on the 12 game on the street he lost one or two we went on a 10 game win the street and we were not having the best record in the league for a long time but like he he didn't want to be at the same Pace as the Lakers he didn't come here to be average right and so like he demanded something out of us that allowed obviously that pushed us to help us win that Championship yeah so how excited was he to get that ring before Kobe you heard his diss track so there you go let's go back and look at the lyrics of the diss track you got compared with because when he came there there's like D Wade about to be the next Kobe yeah man I ain't like that you ain't like that oh why would I like that I don't want that yeah you want that pressure I ain't want that that smoke Kobe had three rings right at this time he's 20 what 24 years yeah yeah he got three rings like I played the way I played because I watched Jordan Iverson and Kobe right now you're talking about like don't put me there yet I'm two years in the lead right and so they did and and it become like like I'm still a kid who's like I secretly still want Kobe's autograph right yeah I'm asking for the shoes in the back you know what I'm saying I'm secretly like I don't even want to push up on them too much yet I'm like I don't know and so as I was trying to find my foot in the lead my second in the lead they now they're now pinning me with one of my favorite players right I gotta I only played once the year before right because he was injured a second time and so now it's this inner beef that we don't even that I don't even know that's there that I didn't cause right that the media has caused right and so now we ain't talking to each other so he coming at you hard he come I mean I'm not saying he wasn't right but it's gonna be a little extra right because y'all say that he he next I'm gonna show y'all he's that's Kobe and so what it did do is it fast tracked me right brought out a little bit of me because like I I knew that my goal I was like all right he got he has to look at me as an equal not saying that he think I'm on his level but he has to get some sleep the night before he plays right he has to guard me right he had to pick me up 94 feet whatever it is I need the respect from him and so that's that's how I took it I didn't take it as oh yeah I am the next cold I'm in this role no I ain't y'all can have that that's Kobe no and so I think I built my own sidekick role right like to call you a sidekick I think I built My Own Lane of how right how my sidekick tenure was I'm looking at your season in 2008 2009 you became the only player to score 2 000 points 506 150 steals 100 blocks you won the scoring title do you feel you should have won the MVP That season of course but I also understand why Lebron went in here I think they won 67 games 62 games roughly the same like I understand it but like as an individual yeah that was my MVP how different would that way how different would your basketball life be if you had a regular season it'd be pee on it would you would you look at your career any different no I just been a few more conversations here and there well right now they got you as the third breast shooting guard behind Jordan and Kobe would you agree with that I don't care like and to the next person coming along they make me the fourth for the fifth like it doesn't matter like I yeah we talking in a barber shop and we talking about rankings yeah I I want my name to be mentioned with great so if you tell me I'm third I'm not first right so I'm mad about that but if you tell me I'm third I can respect the top two that's in front of me right but also too I understand it's all subjective as well right is it is it West was Iris in the two guard do you love James Harden style do you love this like I mean what are we doing here so for me like to be mentioned with the greats is all I ever wanted to put a number on it the number moves right maybe I know he's thinking right now that Jordan and Kobe when is in is in stone but like these numbers Jordan and Kobe I don't think I don't think nobody goes I don't think they're gonna let anybody pass Georgia we not I know one thing about us our generation ain't gonna let we ain't gonna let this nobody come along because we're gonna fight and defend Jordan Kobe forever forever right so for me man it's like in my position like and I'm very honest I was a very great player from from my abilities I maximize all my abilities that's all you can ask right I maximize it because of injury I didn't I wasn't able to get to the level that I knew I could get to right my mind I was in Goat level of of my mentality and my talent I think this way doesn't have D Wade doesn't tear his knee injury doesn't tears me in college D Wade doesn't have the two knee surgeries in the NBA and he plays 16 seasons what's D Wade numbers you you doing your goat conversation with me you doing what's your back so I had to go basketball when I'm talking about D waiting well maybe like I said we're talking about ifs you take away the injuries away I'm still playing basketball right now if I want to wow right because it's the injuries and everything and the mentor right but if I'm if I'm healthy enough like I I could I know I just like I you know I understand stuff about my game multiple ways right right I played the game all the way so even right now even when I got older I went to I had another game that still was effective as an old player so in my mind you're [ __ ] right one of them do like you couldn't tell me in 0.60708 that I wasn't going to where I wanted to go right right like why why not I'm tearing like the league is not it's not hard for me I'm averaging 30 a game in the NBA right and so forth and so on I'm you know and I already wanted and I already won the finals MVP I already won the championship in my third year I did that so in my mind I'm very confident and quietly cocky about where I'm going right and then injury stop boom boom boom right and it that it humble me real quick when did you realize when did you realize that you possibly because of the injuries wasn't going to reach the ultimate player that you want to become that you was going to have to like okay I'm a great player but I know I had so much more in in me if I didn't have this injury um I mean as you get older so somewhere in that big three era right where uh you didn't look the same that 2014 that land LeBron wasn't the same ain't no look I wasn't I was getting shots all before all the games really oh man so we'll do a documentary later okay like all the all the knee injections and the shots and all that stuff man to get out there and perform like I did a lot of those things to be able to get out there I was my body had felt like it got I got smacked by a Mack truck right and that's how I was playing right and I was doing everything to medicate myself to to be out there right and so yeah I I realized it at a point man I think it was one time like it's just over the years like when I used to get past somebody one step wow I'm at the ranch and my body I'm putting you in the ramp right then it became one step I only get to this floater yeah one step let me get to the side step I can't even get back right it's the same right so like you you know these things if you're a person who get out the shower in the morning you actually look in the mirrors yourself you know who you are right you talk to yourself in the mirror like I do so I knew over the time I was like oh I'm losing a little of these steps I'm not as explosive I'm not as this and that doesn't mean I can't still be great I can't play this game but I started to see it and so it it for me once I started doing it I'm like okay like who's up next right LeBron you do more right I do a little right because I you know that you can't you can't carry that same load no more yeah it ain't the same I can't get to that room in 0.2 seconds now it's like point four point five is a little different they can close in on me right I can't be as great and so like all these little things I started to understand and I started to like okay calculate take a step back move your game this way and go to the Post go to the mid-range like all these things right and so like you got to be uh you got to be mentally sharp in this game if you want to stay a long time it can't just be about the physical as you know how did how did you recruit LeBron to get him to convince him LeBron I don't I didn't recruit LeBron what do you mean I mean so how'd you get to come to Miami can I go pan Riley and recruiting not well I was just I was just what did you tell me what did you tell LeBron what did you tell him you told me something you told me something you made it some promises yourself no I didn't it it like I don't think no no one would ever believe how all this happened no well it's gonna be hard because it's gonna take multiple people to tell you okay because I have a perspective LeBron has a perspective since you here I asked LeBron next time I get in here what would I get if I ask you his perspective but you give us you give us how it played out to you have played out to me was once again as I started off as we as stars in this league you're determined and you're you're picked on or you're lifted up by the Championships you win yes and so you got a young player like LeBron who he knows what he needs to do to be at the level that he is today right and so he knew at that time that he couldn't probably do it there right right at that moment right and so enter what can I do with that who can I do it with right previous years before that we all signed the same contract so we can give ourselves flexibility not saying hey we're going to play together in the next three years but hey let's give ourselves flexibility and so that flexibility was like oh [ __ ] D wait a free agent oh Christmas so we everyone started thinking different around that time right and for me it wasn't like it wasn't real into the Miami two he got a call from my agent got a call from the Miami Heat and they let us know that they actually put money aside or they can figure out a way to get three max players because at first it was just two max players so the conversation changed when remind me he made that call to say we can get three max players and then LeBron and I got on the phone and I'll just leave it at that it's a lot of things that happen that oh okay and so then we got on the phone and we got on the phone because Lebron called and said hey let's get on the phone just like we did three years uh prior to that LeBron uh my agent Henry Thomas his agent at the Ty Leon Rose we got on the phone we talked about the contract situation we talked about the five-year deal versus a three-year deal the benefits at that time we were working together because we were all new with this right we young dudes were friends wow so we were working together and like yo you're 20 you're this age you'll be this age when that deal is up you older you need the shorter deals you can get more money like this time we were talking right we were young guys but we had a different view on things and so we kept talking throughout the process and when free agency came we had another conversation and that conversation led to huh we could do what we could play together and they just went from there do you even though they say we got a deal for three max contracts did you think this was like could this be a reality could this be realistic no we didn't see it at that time right we didn't especially players free agents guys three guys a great team who what they want where was they doing that at no a team had to go get an older Asian Superstar or someone else and package them together and they all play together that's what we did with the Celtics when they got Garnett park with Paul Pierce you got lucky you drafted some guys some guys you know I mean yeah you got a Kareem you get Kareem new magic magic Kareem's there he wins the final win The Irregular season MVP they drafted magic right and then two years later you go how'd that happen the hell you with the finals and did you get your money you know what I'm saying different time back then as we seen on wintertime they were doing coin flips and all in the back like it was different so like I never first of all I never imagined and I don't know if people believe me I never thought LeBron and I would play together I had a meeting with the Miami Heat about this before two years before we ever played together right was do you think and I was like zero point zero zero zero zero point one percent chance that we've ever played together right right and because it was a lot of conversations out there right and I never I never thought it was until I sat with him face to face and I seen that it wasn't about scoring titles no more for him it wasn't about all the things that you know the commercials and MVPs and all the things he had he had that but he was still empty inside and he wanted and needed something else for his career right and me being one of his good friends me being one of the best players in the league me being a free agent at the same time me being in a nice city right at the same time it was attractive and it was sexy and so we had the opportunity to sit down and talk about it what did you think when you heard LeBron say not one not two not three not four not five not six not seven hey I didn't I didn't I didn't take it seriously did anybody out there who took that serious like come on guys like we're in we're having a parade right we can pray that's what media you don't got the fans like the fast you know we in there with our fans like we're in there talking right not one that's what he did he had a little sauce you know what I mean and then that sauce became oh we gonna hold him to it that's all like we never we never say we about to run seven straight but we knew it was gonna be a problem The Big Three the hate and the vitriol you got yeah it was nasty had you ever seen anything like it before or since not in that way I never I actually never seen hate I heard about hate right heard about it from uh my ancestors yeah you know stories about my ancestors I've heard about it from my mom I think my uncles never seen hate until LeBron decided to come to Miami right then I started seeing hate up close and hate is an ugly thing and so uh it was a like for us man like I think a part of us didn't understand like we're still a young young man right who are playing this game of basketball we're boys we're traveling playing together our kids get to grow up together like we're excited about this and on the outside everybody in the world is calling us all these things right and so it wasn't a joyous year to play basketball at all and and that and I think that was the one thing coming out of that year even though we lost it and I always say one of the best things that happened to us is that we lost in the finals well one of the best things that happened to us media wise is that we lost in the finals because if we're the one in the finals of 2010 we was going to be jacking right it wasn't going it was nothing no one was gonna be able to say to us it was going to be two and so it humbled us it put us at our level and it allowed us to focus on what was real and why we had together you it was reported that you guys all went went away you you you I think mellow I think Chris Paul and LeBron and all your families went away and you had a conversation with LeBron about it's okay bro well first of all we it wasn't a CP it wasn't mellow it was the the trip that everyone was talking about was just my Wi-Fi um Savannah LeBron and um and a couple other friends of us okay and that was the trip where we started having different Commerce that was right after we lost we had a couple weeks away and then we had this trip planned and we start having different conversations about why we lost how we lost right and I just was sitting there as I always do I sit and I listen and I listened to I heard LeBron talk and everything that I was getting from LeBron in that year even though he had a great year and even in that moment was still hesitation and so I for me I was like okay if we're going to reach the level that we're going to reach and how I can help us is to take that that hesitation out of one of the game's greatest players because I watched him play right and I know where he played how he plays when he has no uh I shot two in a row derating you're waiting yeah yeah you know I mean like it's just it's human nature right d waiting how to book it in a while let me no bro press on you that dude go be that dude wow we gonna do what we got to do to make sure that you good and we good because this is ultimately about what we all sit down and said we want to do we said we want to win Rings right no one said that when I need an extra endorsement or you needed after this we wanted to win rings so for us to win rings in this day of age you have to be who you are and that's besides Kobe it's the game's greatest player right and so I can't stand in the way of that I can't let my ego and my prize to the wedding and I said I was doing it in the beginning but it was always like hey first year I think we both are 25 a game it was kind of even same shots same this same there same possessions coach don't need to worry about that you don't need to worry about that I've always played around multiple players I figured out and that was our conversation it happened after the trip right it happened in the actual in the gym one day right it was LeBron coach fizdale and myself right and I told him right there I was and I just remember the look on his face he was kind of like puzzled looking at me like you for real and I was and and so but at that point I'm saying like it had to be bigger than me which was hard to do because we all come in like check the name on the back right but I just had to look at myself in the mirror and say this is not why you playing with LeBron James and Chris Bosh you're not playing with them to check the name on the back you're playing with them to check the rings on your finger correct and so let's get to that what happened in the math series y'all better we got um well you look at that we're going poopy a little bit I mean the honest we got all played we got all coached and you if you go back and ask the players you go back into Expo he got the coaching staff got all coached and the players got all played when it came down to winning we didn't close out games right we got one game you had a 16 boy lead game two at home we got 15. yeah you don't lose that we don't close our games but that's bad that's players and that's coaches right and so we got our coach by Rick Carlisle and his staff and we got all played by uh Dirk and Jason Terry and Jake J kid but that little JJ barrer nobody give him credit JJ Barrera was the one who changed this we didn't have no answer for him okay Dirk you know what you're gonna do let's just UD make his shots tough make it hard on him he try to make him not shoot 50 make him have an off night but he's gonna get 20. Jason Terry going right you can't stop him right we know all these things but no one playing for little JJ right to come off the bench and do what he did right and I I look at and I say from a in not from an MVP as an award but from MVP as a player who really helped push that series over I give it to JJ because we didn't have no answer for him wow and so we as a team like obviously LeBron struggled we we talk about the average 17 points a game yes players struggle right and what sucked about it is because of everything that was talked about and all this but at the end of the day me as a leader right sport is the head coach we got to do a better job to make sure that he's not struggling how are we getting him the ball in certain places to make it easier for him right because you know as a player all you need is one thing to go your way and turn everything around right we didn't do enough of that for a guy who was struggling for whatever the reason is we all have had our struggles right so as a leader I looked at it myself I was like you didn't do enough D like and you will see a clip where I'm cursing Brown out I'm in his ear I'm talking to him but that probably wasn't a way I should have done it or maybe I should have done something else right and so we were more talented but they were a better team Pat Riley I saw Pat Riley say something that players came in his office and demanded that they fired that he fired a coach it was reported you and yeah I saw that yeah that you didn't do that I don't remember doing it now not saying I didn't but I don't remember doing that right I don't I mean I knew coach Paul at that time I mean two years in like the one thing is when LeBron decides to talk about everything on his documentaries or whatever he decided to do he would talk about what we we talked about Riley as a coach versus sport as a coach right and I've in our meeting before we even play together and one thing I told him you don't want Riley to coach this team you ain't got nothing to do with Pat love him you don't want Riley to coach this team bro and even though SPO was not experienced right and we needed a coach that was experienced so we can win championships right away right we're ready we're gonna do we're gonna we're gonna help him right grow he will ride no you don't want Godfather to come down I did he did it in 2006. I experienced it right that was enough are you ready for him to go back upstairs yeah yeah everybody won't go back upstairs what do you think what do you think Pat saw in Eric with Coach foe to say you know what nope this is the guy he can get it done well he's turning himself into one of the best coaches in the NBA well if you see that's once again why you don't listen to players at times because if you listen to me when they first hired sport I was like what are you doing this is the this is the wrong decision right I remember when Mickey and Nick Harrison set me down and said hey we're we're bringing up spoke from them like suppose in the video room and didn't even sit behind the bench and they were like Hey we're going to hire from within and and it's gonna be air exposure and I was like I'm looking for a big name coach baby I'm a star I'm like who you guys right and I knew SPO I had a great relationship with SPO because SPO would work me out he's my workout guy right so I like SPO but I didn't know sport was a coach and so when he first got there he was a terrible coach but he was a great guy to prepare you he was gonna work his ass off you no one was going to outwork him right no one was going to be more prepared to him he just had to learn when to call a timeout right what plays to run out of timeouts what late game like all these things that you got to learn as a coach as a star player I had to go to work with Coach right and that's what our relationship is what it is today because we went through this right we went through thank you this and we went through all of it because the journey right of a young coach and so that whole we walked in to try to get him fired I don't know if I was in that meeting right but maybe I was I don't know I don't remember that I remember trying to get a fight Lebron leaving Miami yeah did you guys have a conversation did you know he was thinking about leaving Miami and did you think he'd go back to Cleveland uh I didn't know he was thinking about it right away man we just had a four-year run that was not what I was thinking about right um I didn't think Cleveland was on the on the docket at all right uh once that letter came out four years prior I was like well it's over for them yeah yeah I appreciate that yeah yeah um and so I I when we went into free agency that summer um I didn't think that we were we wasn't coming back right right I thought we was going to read too right that's what teams do they read too right um and so once I started hearing the noise on the outside and I started hearing Cleveland I started seeing things I was like oh it's some true to noise right some truth to noise yeah there's truth even in a lot yeah there's something in there and I didn't even know it was a thing because we never talked about right hey I'm that was never our conversation right and so when I did get the information from him um that he was headed back to Cleveland um I mean I took it like I'll take everything else I took it on a chin because I'm not a selfish guy I mean I do I have selfish acts and selfish moments but my whole being is not selfish and so that's what that man want to do for his life like I support him doing it I just gotta now figure out my life right because I had a whole different plan correct for how I wanted mine to go right and you know one thing I told him in that moment we were sitting outside the plane I think even the camera crew might have got us talking because we had just flew back in from Vegas before the announcement was made the next day and we're sitting out there and I told him I said man listen everybody's gonna win no matter what you do if you stay here we all win LeBron James stays in Miami we win you go to Cleveland Cleveland's going to win honestly you got to do what's best for LeBron right and so this is what's best for LeBron James Savannah James Bryce and Ronnie and Missouri wasn't at that stage that this was better for your family you got my if you're looking for blessing for me you got my blessing right right I'm not gonna hold you back now I gotta go deal with my side because I had a whole different mentality I opted out of my deal I did all these things because I'm like hey we retooled it right and so a lot of people like to say like was it a part of me that was a little pissed yeah I'm human right I don't want to lose the best player in the game what do we do why did we lose him right and also too now I got to figure out my future right right because I've given up a lot of my stardom not giving them my place for you to for you to step in and help lead us and so it took me a while and Brian and I had a conversation later once before I got to Cleveland about that moment and how I felt right like and how he felt we sat down as men and we talked about that moment and we moved on from it that was a difficult time for you because you gave up 20 million dollars that wasn't repaid to you yeah you don't get money back my hey money don't come back people you can make more but you ain't getting everything I don't care what nobody tell y'all you can't recruit that money the current Miami Heat I've never seen it uh D Wade I'm I'm a little older you I'm a lot older than you and I followed the game probably longer than you been a lot I've never seen anybody like Jimmy Butler I've never seen a guy Play One Way in the regular season and then play another way in the playoffs I've never seen it me neither not at the levels no yes yeah how does a guy that's you know I mean he's a good player don't get me wrong but if you look at in a playoff you talk about his story he's like he has historically great playoff games how does he do that yes well I mean I don't know how he does it but what I would say what I learned um you guys welcome for me going to Chicago by the way um what I say what I learned about Jimmy when I got a chance to be around him in Chicago for this season is some players lead with their IQ yeah LeBron will break down a whole fourth quarter for you every play in the press conference and you like oh man he's the smartest basketball player ever because he has a high IQ right Jimmy Butler don't lead with his IQ Jimmy Butler leaves with his toughness right Jimmy Butler is one of the smartest basketball players that I've ever been around right right it's just it's just how you decide to look at it so when the playoffs come everything slows down right you get to learn everyone's Tendencies and all this so you ain't got to be traveling playing all the difference because you focused on one opponent one opponent this is one of the smartest players that I've ever been around also too in the midst of being a smart player some players have that switch that they can turn on everyone doesn't have it but certain players have it Jimmy Butler has shown us over his career and you go back in all the playoffs you're like oh damn Jimmy was in that Eastern Conference Final Jimmy was in that Jimmy was in that he's been a part of teams he saw players like he like he's a he's a student he watched Derrick Rose he watched me when I came in Chicago like he was everywhere I was at Jimmy was at because he wanted that that knowledge right and so you put his work ethics that he has that is second to none um you put the confidence that Miami give him to say Hey you the guy you're the guy right like think about it all we want sometimes to be seen yes Miami was like yo Jimmy let me wipe this off oh I see you you're crazy right all right you go crazy Matt y'all crazy let's go do this you give him that confidence and also too you give someone who's smart and also and Jimmy's like Jordan in a sense in this way he's always looking for something to piss him off so in the New York series I was like oh he had tips he's all about tips he amazing stuff about what teal did to him when tibson did everything for him but he didn't make something while we practice in Minnesota he was like it wasn't about the Knicks right it's about Tibbs so he has that he can go to that level where he can zone out and focus on one thing or somebody and so he just it's it's everyone can't do that right he has that switch right they say he's he's a tough teammate to have coaches say he's a tough player to coach why because he gonna do it his way no to be coaching we got to do what the coach say right yeah that ain't Jimmy don't I'm not saying he's a bad play like a bad team a bad person Jimmy knows the game right Jimmy knows the work he puts in the game right right he's very committed to that no one is going to outwork me no one is going to know this better than me not even you coach right so you can't just throw something out there the gym he's going to challenge you on he'll ask you why are we doing that he's gonna challenge you right and you you want your you want your best players to challenge you that's how it makes you a better Coach right but when you get a reputation in a in a space that they don't want you to challenge right now you're you're a problem right back yeah you're going to a situation where they like oh you're challenging me let me challenge you back right okay that was a good challenge dap it up let's go and that's what he found so he found a home in a place that they both Gotta Love Miami ain't for everybody right and Jimmy Butler is not for everybody and so Minnesota Philly Chicago right they experience Jimmy is not for everyone right because Jimmy is going to challenge you he's going to challenge your organization and I know I said he's gonna walk in and say demand players he's going to challenge you to play at his level he's going to challenge you to be where he is and work how he works and all these things right and so no one likes to be challenged right you're a problem if you challenge me right you mentioned earlier that you were very very surprised that LeBron went back to Cleveland given that the letter that Dan Gilbert the owner who had worked so closely with LeBron James with the things that he said because now all of a sudden it's not about basketball you made it personal how is LeBron LeBron is a very forgiving person because there are guys that's taking shots at him that he's willing to embrace again like oh now we maybe cool later for that how is he able to forget because you know we don't we're not most people aren't as forgiving or as forgetful as he is especially when you look if you say something to me in private just me and you know okay cool like I don't rock with you no more but cool but when you put it out there for a 25 100 million people to read nah I can't rock with you on that level no more bro yeah bigger man than me yeah I'm Petty yeah how did he set that aside I don't I don't know like and that's why I never thought Cleveland was in play right you know I mean not saying that I never thought he was gonna be in Miami forever like anyone thinking that way but I never thought Cleve was in Play because I'm Petty and so if I was going off of how I would have done it no I'm no I'm not coming back to you right but at the same time man um it was LeBron has a journey and it's bigger than a letter that Dan Gilbert could put out right it's bigger than what someone's sitting across the table from you may say right is bigger than because when you like he's been King James since he was 12 years old right he has had a vision for how he wants this to go and if you allow all these individuals to get in the way of your vision then it becomes theirs what they want for your career yeah that's what he wants for his right and so I looked at that move going back to Cleveland as this man first of all bigger man than me in that moment right to go back but it wasn't about Dan Gilbert it wasn't about the Cleveland Cavaliers it's about LeBron James and his family and what he won't accomplish and how he see his career going and so to be to be able to fly higher than most people right like LeBron playing has been at 40 000 feet since he took off right right man hit some turbulence then with that we landed yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I landed in my plane back in 2019. he's been at 40 000 in in higher since he started right and so to be at that level you have to look above and and he looked above right and got what he needed for his career right yeah I think the most interesting thing that you I'm sorry in his community the community because that he was important I promise yeah and and I say that and I'm sorry to interrupt but I say that to say when he went back he implemented something that was bigger than basketball right that's when you was like I see you he implemented I promise right he implemented the schools which now has implemented the housing and it was about the the the community of Cleveland that he wanted to he wanted them to feel like winners right right yeah and in the midst of it yeah we all have our feelings about how and why because that's we're human but if I'm looking at it from his standpoint I'm like oh I see you right you you up here and we all was like we all were down here looking up like bro you shouldn't do that right D Wade I think you're a phenomenal basketball player you've accomplished a lie but I think your greatest accomplishment is the way you've embraced your child wanting to transition that's not an easy thing to do because we all have if you have a daughter you have an idea what you think your daughter was going to be and what you wanted to become one thousand if you have a son you have an idea of what you want especially if you play sports I want my son to play sports either doctor if I'm a doctor I want my son to be a doctor lawyer yada yada yada yeah but for you to embrace Zaya to embrace her journey how how did how did you come to because obviously you had to sit down and you had a conversation she could comes to you and she sits down and she says Dad this is how I'm feeling this is how I'm thinking and you say what well it's not my journey like I'm not I'm not that selfish I can't make your journey in your life about me okay right like I just can't do that right like yes and I was telling someone to set a day when ziya was born she was born May 29th uh which is Carmelo's birthday right right happy belated birthday to my brother um toast to my brother in his retirement by the way told some this this right here if I listen by um so if y'all go look at it I have Zaya LeBron has Bryce Melo has Cayenne all within about a two three week spam I like kids will grow hooping together right oh we we oh you think yeah well we're gonna have three baby yeah we are yeah so yeah like obviously I had a boy I had another boy that was my second boy in a row I'm like okay with this what we do we're hooking family right and see what happens when you start making plans for other people right right that's her journey that's her journey but you playing it out you played oh you couldn't tell me we weren't gonna be on the circuit right now maybe we hoping we got Wade in the back we got you got to wear waves on we we doing it too right then I got to meet my child and a lot of people like to talk about Zaya's transition Zion to me Zaya hasn't transitioned into anything but a kid and now a young uh going into young adult I've watched her go through life it hasn't been no transition for us right it's been a transition for the world but for us I see the same kid right that I've seen since May 29th 2017. right nothing has changed did you know were this it were there signs yeah did she because you know boy if you play with trucks girls play with dogs you know girls dress up boys do this so you saw signs of the earth very early age yeah that my my my she he's not like what I'm thinking a boy should be or what I was when I was that age yeah I mean think about this I mean we you're in the locker room I'm in the locker yeah right we don't we we ignorant I'm gonna say ignit and so I come from a culture of man throwing around the f word yes yes that one around the gay word yes just like it's high by right just don't write around right and so I have a child at home that we're basketball baseball we doing what what you do right hey let's play this having shot at home is like I don't want that I want to take I want to go that I want to take dance lessons Okay well let's go to dance I will try to home when I come home she got the shirt wrapped around her head like it's like long hair I got shot at home that I'm watching wear certain things that's different than what I would buy for my son right right and so this is at three years old so I'm in my home my wife and I we have a conversation about it right and for me instead of walking in to say hey stop that [ __ ] cut that [ __ ] like you like people try to do it try to stop you whenever you're doing when you're doing something uh for you that they don't like right right so instead of me walking a room saying stop that [ __ ] it was my job to sit back and say okay let's have a conversation without you let's see where this goes right and so my first conversation with her was about hey understanding what you like to wear and how you like to be in the house right outside of this house they're not ready for that right right I don't even know if we were ready for that right and so we slowly just let her be who she wanted to be in our home is that your first wife or this with Gabby this is what guys okay be who you want to be in that home and we gonna watch it we gonna learn along this journey because at that moment I think you know and and the thing that's a blessing in my life is that I that I that I got with my wife at the time I got my wife because it exposed me to the world right it exposed me to friends I have some of my best friends or um Jason and Adair will everybody know it's my style of Jason his husband is a dare right I got a chance to be exposed to them early and we all have our thoughts about like how we perceive people who you know are gay right who are right man and man right it was woman and woman we like that but as a man and man we have uh perception right so I got a chance to spend time with him be around them and vacation with them all this and that I'm like what this perception that I had right it's not even a question in my mind those are my friends right I don't look at them I don't look at any other they're they're married they love each other right they argue like we argue all the same nothing so that's their life I ain't leaving nobody else so I had experience right and so in the midst of that experience through the world because I was out of my community I was out of what my uncles and my dad and everybody yeah they told me yeah I'm now looking at the world and I'm looking at my child and so I got a chance to watch my child nine years before the world even heard about Zaya right so when everyone started telling me what my child is I'm like how you going I've been here a whole while and I talked to my child do you talk to my child because I do right and so I sat down and talked to my child about you know as she was growing up about the things she wanted right and I tried to make sure that the things that she wanted what she would work hard at was presented to her not what I wanted right and that's the problem with us is we're gonna and and I would like to say this because of the NBA or because of my basketball talents and because of all these things I've been put in a position where I actually could wait and allow my kids to grow up and I don't have to say hey I need help with these bills right hey you got to do this right you got to be that because some communities some households they have to do that because of their circumstances right we don't have time to figure out who you want to be and what you want to do right we had to figure it out on your time figure it out on your time right and then now you get you get kids who's late in their life they didn't have their relationship with their parents early on because their parents had to make them whatever the culture was whatever the time was our time was different right so we had an opportunity to sit back and say you know what I don't want all my kids to be exactly the same right anyway right so you know what my three-year-old son at this time desire let me let Zion let me see what let me see what Zion want to do right and slowly but surely Zaya started growing and we started watching she's been unwavering and now the second of this is Zaya like that's why I like it's funny to me I'm like in the world I'm like everybody on the outside got something to say in the inside we talking about school we talking about um like like I sit down with my child we talk about hey okay so the doctor said this what do we got to do like let's talk about your health let's talk about what the future looked like right I'm talking about real life things right because everybody is outside you ain't talking about that gossip because the gossip is is we all the same right tell me let's go into all these communities in LA and you're going to see everybody's different right everyone lives different everyone is different everyone loves different right so because I'm an athlete and because you know I had a I had a boy at Birth y'all expect that this boy's supposed to do XYZ just like Zaire had expectations to be an NBA superstar because I had them and blah blah blah so everyone else on the outside have the expectations of my family and my kids right how are you gonna have expectations of my father and my kids when I'm still learning I'm still trying to are you still trying to figure it out I'm just trying to figure out because I didn't grow up in this in this environment right right so let me check myself right because if I make it about me I'm gonna have a kid that's gonna go through life that's gonna be miserable that's gonna go through life uh I I think the statistics on kids especially in the transgender Community when it comes to Suicide it's very high correct right when you don't be when you're not seen right when you're not seeing just as a person who get up every day and work hard and grind we got a problem with it right right you got a problem when no one sees you so if I got a kid in my house that I can't see and I don't take time to look at and see then this kid is going to feel unloved and I want it from it from from the father who's mother you guys know my my situation right my ex-wife is very public right it's been very public and very nice right I am the parent in the house I have to see you right I have to hear you right and and so my child and I have a very open honest straightforward Right Between the Eyes relationship right about the journey who you are what you're experiencing because I don't know right because I've never experienced that and it was never shown to me that it was hey it was okay it was never it was never presented to me and so being in a position that I'm in as a father it's my job to understand to to be able to say okay everybody I don't want y'all commenting on my life I don't want y'all commenting on my daughter's gender my daughter's sexuality that's not what I want but because we're public figures and because I know it's other kids in the world like Zion is other dads in a world like me and it will be forever right because we all are not the same right then I allow then I share a little bit of her journey a little bit of our journey right because we're both going on the journey that neither one of us knew we will be on right right like this this entire journey and so I don't think about I think about the safety of my kids right I think about the safety of other kids in the trans Community I think about you know how the world is trying to hush and and Exile our entire Community like you do not exist right as black people do we know about that yeah we do damn right we do right and we the main ones that are talking about the trans Community the main ones that won't open and accept and we want the world to accept us like what are we doing right and so I'm playing a different playing field than most people who comment on my life right because I understand the position that I'm in a lot of black families in the communities they don't see or hear don't get a chance to hear these stories from right don't get a chance to see these things from us and so yeah I I'm sure to a lot of people I look crazy right I don't care about looking crazy to y'all I care about making sure that I'm there for my kids how difficult is it not to have the support of the other parent with what Zaya is going through and I think the thing is that probably what Zaya wants most is for her parents to understand the journey that she's chose to Embark upon and be accepting of that Journey that she's embarking upon and you have accepted it jumped on this thing with both feet but it seems like he's getting some resistance from a mother is that difficult for you because you see us hurting the child it's difficult it's difficult for me so I can't even imagine what it's like for her does she talk to you about it does she have a relationship with her mom she has whatever relationship that she wants to have I assume she's 16 years old yeah you know she's getting older and so you know the relationship is controlled by phones now she lives her mother doesn't live here right I'm she lives in my home but you go forth you don't force Zaya to pick up the phone and call her mom you don't force the mom to like because you know sometimes you know kids like did you call your dad ever now my daughter came to live with me my oldest daughter came to stay with me and her mom would get into it you know how women get into it and she go days when I call I said no we're not gonna do that pick up the phone and call you whatever you got going on no matter how you mad at her she's mad at you we're not gonna do that you don't do that they don't have that relationship oh okay that's a different relationship um it got to be both ways and you're talking about a kid like zayas she's very Advanced she's way she's way above right everybody thinks she is right you're talking about a kid who has experienced something that I don't even know about when it comes to the relationship that she's um had to try to have with her mother she's been living with me since she was two and a half three years old right um and as I had said very openly like my ex-wife ain't in part all this right and so what I will do is I will give credit to my wife who has stepped in and stepped up took it on their rollers and become a figure not a mother that's not her mom you know I mean I know it's title stepmom bonus moms right she's become a consistent figure in her life right as a woman who she they can have conversations talk about things that I just can't help her with okay in the midst of all of what's going on like I'm I only know what I know and I only know what questions I can go out and ask right but they have different conversations and I can't it's different trust right so you know for you know I remember watching my dad step up and be a stepdad and I didn't I just knew it was a lot of other kids around I didn't know really what it meant right but to be that's a heroic position to be to step in to someone else's child yeah yeah and become an important figure in their lives and she has been in this journey because I would be lost right if it was just man's eye out here on this journey right and so to be able to have not only my wife to be able to have our community right it allows us to be able to go through all this feeling like we have armor you might be the biggest desire and yourself might be the biggest advocate for the trans Community because who you are yeah and you can put someone famous because like you said they'll heard like man nobody know who you guys are nobody even cares about you but you give it a face you give it a name yeah let me ask you this D wait I mean because like you said you've had Zaya since she was two and a half in uh Zaire your oldest son how was it being in the NBA and being a single player well I mean first of all I had my community is large right it's not none I ever like I didn't get divorced I'm like yo let me get them kids yeah yeah no I was like let me get an Easter he's getting these streets getting these Miami streets getting these Miami if you buy him a nice I like that what I got what the two kids at the crib hey Mama yeah it changed everything and for me man I wrote a book about it right you know how my life became bigger than basketball um because at that moment when I had to fight for custody because it became I had to fight for exactly because it wasn't just hey joint custody let's raise these kids right um it became for me it was like okay what's the most important thing in your life is basketball more important than your kids for you to get them the way you played you're an NBA player you're a professional athlete for the judge to say nah the kids going with him do you know what that means well I know dude I I know yeah I dealt with it all I've dealt with y'all hey for a a father to get custody of the kids is not a is not an easy task it's not and I mean it's a lot of you know a lot of things I could say about that but I'm very thankful that I did get custody at the time I did especially being desire's father there's been a way different Journey yeah if because it seems like your your ex is not as accepting of her situation as you are my ex don't live in my world neither she don't live in our world right you don't understand so she doesn't understand she's not around she's not a she's not exposed to like you said your stylist and her husband his husband and some of the community that you've been exposed to since Zaya has undertaken this this transition this part of the world Shannon I Go Everywhere I Go to communities all around the world I see I see difference in everywhere and everybody I see different ways that husband and wife live right in so many different ways yeah I'm bad I don't care what you do I'm vibing you cool husband husband you cool are we cool you also you want some f stuff I want some f stuff too I provide right so if she's not she's not exposed to the the life that I've been able to do right it's a lot of people that that I know that's not exposed now they become accepting of it because the love for me my family ziya or just because they feel like they need to be in the fold but when it comes to how I'm able to love and accept from what I learned growing up is because of my experiences and where I've been right people that I've been able to get connected to it we don't if you haven't been able to do that right if your passport ain't stamped if your relationships ain't larger than the ones you grew up with in your community right you're going to stay at a certain level of thinking and how it should be right the world looks so different than it did when I grew up in Robbins Illinois right and so the world is colorful man it's beautiful it's Unique right and my daughter's a part of that colorful beautiful unique world and so why not Embrace her just like I want to be accepted I want to be embraced right right like we all want to be embraced and accepted for who we are right and so I don't when I look at my daughter I look at someone just like me that's trying to be accepted that's trying to learn that's trying to grow that's trying to exist right in this world and I don't look at gender I don't look at sexuality I don't look at her choices and how she want to be when I'm doors closed I don't want to know what you do right you don't what we do right you know what I mean right and so it's my job to make sure alone this journey as she's growing up that I sit with her I have conversations with her doctor about hey how does this journey affect my daughter how does it affect her her mind how does it affect her physical how does whatever it is right I need to learn instead of sitting there like no no you ain't you ain't do that why why would I do that why would I she gonna get to her life real soon she'll be 18 right it's happening so why would I stunt your growth as as a human being while you're living under my roof and I know one day you're gonna better do what you want to do so this is this is what you want to do you want to play sports you want to dance you want to do this let me help you do it because we have resources right we have people we can contact we have people that you know I mean that can open up doors and so for me man it's parenting is not making you in my likeness right you look like me that's enough that's it but you're not me right and so I got to get to know you and a lot of parents either don't want to do it because it's that's actually been a parent right can't do it because of circumstances right can't do it because uh once again circumstance of how Community gonna look at you right how the man gonna look at you at work like we I understand the journey I understand that everyone can't just be accepted and Open Arms about it I get it we're good but also in the midst of just understand that you're stunning the growth of your kids we have a small window when we have an impact on our kids lives okay right small and a small a small window that's ending in my life was I she's turning 16. right yeah as we go on I'll still be but that impact and that voice will be in front of your roots she'll be out on the home and then so what am I teaching her what lessons I'm teaching her about the world that she's going out in right that the world only looks this way no baby the world is unique the world is colorful so my daughter is going she's going on on this world and she's finding people that that looks like her that talks like her that has the same dreams as her the same thoughts as her just like I did in the NBA I found people that was connected with me right and that was my community and so we just got it's just a different Community than me and and this is I just look at it different man man you'll be you still there I mean you'll be blowed up the other man the weather bro I'm listening I don't know how I'm always in pop culture man Gabby you're welcome my wife your wife because she made the comment about you and her split 50 50. yeah can you can you get into that can you clarify I don't know if I've ever heard of a situation especially a married couple yeah okay we dating yeah that thing might be you know hey I got the movie tickets you get the popcorn and the candy yeah you know we think about the dinner you uh you leave the tip you do the valet but she's like 50 50 household and I think she kind of explain it but you gotta be I got you here so you can you know what I was saying I was like you know what's crazy when you have it's it's think pieces that's going around the world right about me and my wife right and I haven't said I haven't given no color to this right but it's think piece is going around about me as a man right and I'm like that's right that man make his wife all right so let's talk about it so the whole 50 50 concept right okay so I understand what 50 50 means right 50 50 means that everything in life you got your half and I got my hat right and we're gonna put this [ __ ] together try to make a hundred right okay we buy 12 with the groceries you put in the hood I put it that's how 50 50 goes that's how we look that is not how our relationship works all right we don't see everybody think 50 50 they think hey if he getting a sandwich you got to put 50 on that right he got he got a 100 200 whatever people think I got that's not how it works right 50 50 in our household is first of all let's say I have 20 to 50 responsibilities right and my wife have 20 to 50 responsibilities and when I say that that means she has a mother she has her sisters she has her dad she has her she has a lot of things that she's responsible for right you know what she does right she pays 100 of that right you know what I do I pay 100 of my life when our life come together my wife is a working actress right who spends time away from the family to go work to do our job we decided together because I think I said one time we was in Miami I said something about it being my house that I paid for oh I looked at me she was like you will never say that to me again when it's something that we share and so my wife was like that when we moved to LA I got half on it you will never say my house again wow she said you could say that in the arena and so in our life a home 50 50. we purchased it together right our daughter anything that goes on our daughter 50 50 we share it together no it's some things I pick up or something she pick up what she does something I do something right if we take a if we take a yacht trip we could do a 50 50 or I can do it myself but my wife is a working woman right she's a boss and an independent woman her own life right she's like I'm gonna put you know what that little 200 that little uh 200 that she was gonna spend on this I'm gonna throw something else on that we're gonna go on a bigger trip we're gonna ball up like this is my wife right right like I don't know about y'all but I like having a wife that's like that's cool you can do that the house we live in thank God the Hidden Hills nice house right whatever Millions we could have had a house a nice house on my 50 too right been it had been nice she was like no let me put something else on and let us live a little differently oh yeah they got a little bigger so we probably shared three things in our life that we 50 50 on right everything else I'm one thousand percent and she's one thousand percent right and so we decided that certain pieces of our life we would share in it but D Wade that works for y'all well who who why did why does it matter if it's 75-25 if it's if it's 85 15 that's your life why everybody is so consumed what goes on in everybody else household when they household effed up well listen that's a whole nother story and that's just the story they're like oh man you see that D Wade making why I mean I would just saying I was just joking I wish I wish I wish I could make my I don't make my wife do anything first of all right if I could we wouldn't be in the headlines all the time I'm like when you stop talking you know what I'm saying my wife is she gonna respond that you you see you say something you get out of pocket with us if my wife had his microphone way before I did y'all been watching bring it on for a long time right she been bringing it on for a long time so like when she say 50 50 and people take a clip of it yeah I understand like I like listen I listen to all the think pieces I laugh I'm like oh okay that's a point right there I get that but but I understand your point they took it in this little interpretation that you're 50 50 everything right no it don't work like that all right I'll do all right for myself right but in certain moments that we want to do better together right we do better together and what I am first of all listen I told my wife I said hey baby listen you're not about to be taking all this time away from the family building your wealth while I'm spending all mine right well I don't know where they do that at all I know is you know I mean she come home and be like hey baby it was good I move on from you and I spent all my cheeks yeah right right she didn't build all her cheers how many kids I had before we started yeah Ex-Wives like all kind of stuff right right but cheese go all over the place right she's just building on her cheese no spitting on mine right that's the way they do that you know they don't do it anyway yeah no you know you know what I'm saying oh now I ain't do this by myself though I've been out of those wings so everybody thinks 50 50 means that hey baby I need hey babe I'm gonna go get this sandwich you gotta you got you got ten dollars on it right come on y'all y'all gotta be come on man like y'all got to stop this y'all because what do you have before he met me is what he had before he met me now what we accumulate together that's what we got but that's what we rock with yeah yeah and what she has like and that's the thing not now I told her the same way I signed a prenup too right but you a millionaire yeah you got money you work hard for yourself right you should have I think everybody I think everybody should have a free gun why not you get insurance don't you right because you people like I mean I ain't happy when I didn't have anything I said I'm outside of prenup they're like sharp why you go inside a freedom you ain't got nothing I say so if I leave I want 100 of my nothing I don't want 50 of my nothing nothing I don't want nothing I don't know but what I don't want to do is if she decide to move on from me she got 200 and I got 10. exactly exactly I've been spending all my money on all these dance recitals all these games all this these trips everything and I understand like oh man take care of everything I do I take care of my mama I take care of my daddy I take care of boom boom boom boom boom yeah when it comes to me and my wife I take it like in this in another thing we're going trips we're going all this stuff y'all see the big trips right now my wife will put on a big trip it's a whole calendar year right well I had to step in and I had to make sure that the relationship is spicy right that is sexiness my credit card gets used through everything you feel me yeah so yeah we 50 50 in three I got about 50 to 100 things that I pay for that I'm responsible for everybody so thank you all for the thing piece you have a zombie the youngest daughter yeah that you through surrogacy and you said that you and your wife had a lot a lot of miscarriages and you had a conversation with her you sought it out one night said baby come on now I can't keep putting you through this yeah because you saw the the pain and the anguish that it was causing her yeah and as she's hurting you're hurting even more because you know how bad she wants to be yeah if being a stepmom is fine but there's something about your own yeah and you saw the pain that it was causing her and you said baby we ain't got to do this no more yeah what was that how what was that conversation like it was a tough conversation um as a man you want to you want to stay out the way and get out the way when it comes to this whole birthing conversation right about kids because you won't do much right right yeah a minute you got the fun job you don't do much so you know it took me a long time to even say that to my wife right because I knew what was important for her and also knew what was important for us right she knew I wanted a daughter she knew I wanted to you know to grow my families you know I want to grow our family once we start having conversations about that right a family right and to watch her go down the journey um if anybody know the journey it's a lot of shots yeah yeah um it's a lot of doctor visits it's a lot of things to make you feel like you're not like like that you're not a whole person that you're empty that you don't have this that you don't have that it's a lot of is it because did she feel less than a woman because she couldn't have it so but it's a lot of steps leading to that that make you feel less thin yeah right because it could take someone over here like this yeah I have 12 kids yeah yeah and so being there all the conversations with the doctors all the conversations with my wife all the pain all the helping her take shots all of watching her take shots I'll watch for five years the miscarriage is the at the end of the day for me I was like baby like I married you I want to go down this journey of life with you we don't know how long this journey don't last and so what is what this is doing is this is taken away from you right it's putting your health In Harm's Way this picture don't work without you right so if it's not you it ain't no expanding this family right and so it became a point where we started becoming dangerous for her to continue to keep doing all the things she was doing for all the years right and so that was a hard conversation for me to have right because I'm not doing nothing I'm just holding your hand i'm just supporting right just listening right my body's physically not going through any of these things right and so I don't want to step in in the way of our dreams and your journey but then in the day the Journey Don't this picture don't exist without you this picture now we gotta have the star in this in this movie and you're the star in this movie and so she listened um because that's what it was about it was about getting to the ultimate goal of having you know a miracle chat having our daughter right and every day I look at my daughter man I smile at her because she don't even know how how much work went into getting her here how much her mother wanted her how much her dad wanted her and everybody that around the doctors and surrogate mother and all the people that helped her helped us get to this point where we were able to every day wake up and hear Daddy and hear Mommy right for my daughter right I'm gonna get you out of here on this one D Wade there was some infidelity in the relationship or there's something that transpired was it harder for you to sit down and have a conversation and to tell her that something had happened outside the relationship or losing the finals way harder to have a conversation with my now wife right um who wasn't at the time but my now wife about it like you try to think of everything possible because you think about what you're gonna say and you also thinking about how she's gonna react yeah I mean you're thinking about it all it's all scary one the whole situation is is scary enough right your public figure that's right yeah yeah but you you've heard you know that this is gonna hurt that you've been building a relationship with and a life with right yeah and no matter what people say on the outside or what people want to think this and that like ultimately like you gotta sit with you and you got to sit with this person if this is who you're gonna be with right and I had to I had to sit with my wife about this well my now wife about this um and had this conversation you told her before it came became public yeah yeah I did because I I I don't know D waiting she stuck with you that thing to come public and you ain't have the conversation with her man listen let me tell you I couldn't I couldn't have gotten through that moment without her sticking with me you know I mean like it was a we were in the playoffs I think even in going into the finals that whatever that was man that was that was a rough time for me bro so you got a lot on your mind you got a lot on your mind you're keeping you know you're keeping something from people you love right and it's heavy at night when they get quiet yeah it uses you and your thoughts yeah them thoughts is loud and it gets it gets loud up here in his mind and so it came to a point where yeah way before you know and I tried the pussyfoot around it I tried to break up with her hey you know things has been bad lately hey we've been having a little distance in our relationship anyway like I tried all that right she kept showing up and so it hasn't been perfect it would never be perfect but that was nine years ago right and we still we go to therapy right been a therapy right we've had shouts about it we've had regular conversations about it and so it's been something that is going to continue to be something that I have to work at and work on it doesn't go away because years come or because I say I'm sorry or whatever it is and so the hardest part of it the way to know that you've done this and it's probably always going to be a source of contention it's always going to be something that could possibly be brought up it might be 10 years from now it might be 15 you guys might be 75 years old yeah and you still might have to well when it comes to my wife and I yeah that's that's hard we gotta always it's always there but when it comes to my son that's hard for him this is gonna always be there right he's done nothing right sustain that's on him for no reason right right right and I think about that more than I you know like we're adults right and we're gonna get through it right or we ain't gonna get through it right right we we're adults in this space right this is a young kid right who has already got a negative impact um next to his name right and he hasn't even had a chance to accomplish right and he already got a negative next to his name because of how he was brought into this world right um and I think about that I think about my my you know the son that bears my name right and I think about my wife like of course I think about I think about all my kids I think about it all but ultimately what I do know is at the end of the day this is my family this is my story we gonna get through this how are we going to get through right but we gonna get through it you feel me and so you know um I think you know time distance space it doesn't help it um but it makes it it allows you to see things differently when you have time away from it and so my wife and I are nine years later are in a different space where we able to have different conversations about right that moment about the future of my son about how we want to incorporate how we want to be and that's just one aspect of this long journey right uh but ultimately for me it's all about making her understand that I'm continue to grow I'm continue to you know to to work on myself um not understand but show her right right and she's showing me right this goes both ways but in this instance but also too at the same time love my kids right this my this is my story right and I didn't ask for it to all be this way right you I don't know what's coming in the future but right now this is all mine and so as good as it looked or as bad as it seems it's mine right and I'm thankful to even have the good in my life and I'm also thankful to have the things that's a little uncomfortable to talk about and deal with and experience because that makes you live a full life right and so that's all I'm trying to do just trying to figure out a way to live a full life together congratulations on the Hall of Fame thank you congratulations on the wide wine cellars go ahead and get you a couple of bottles D Wade appreciate you bro thank you bro I appreciate it all my life sacrifice hustle baby price wanna slice got to roll a dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life [Music] all my life [Music]

Channel: Club Shay Shay

Views: 2,019,303

Keywords: Club Shay Shay, fs1, fox sports, fs1 Club Shay Shay, fox, fox youtube, foxsports youtube, fs1 youtube, Club Shay Shay youtube, Shannon Sharpe podcast, Sharpe podcast, Shannon podcast, Club Shay Shay Shannon Sharpe, Club Shay Shay podcast, Shay Shay podcast, Shay Shay, Shannon Sharpe Club, Dwyane Wade, LeBron Retiring, Gabrielle Union 50/50 Comment, NBA all star, hall of famer, Jimmy Butler, miami heat

Id: 9EYhx1M2s1o

Length: 131min 49sec (7909 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 12 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/Awkward_Objective_79]

The heat kind of did him dirty. His facial expressions are golden. He found an excellent partner. I hope his daughter lives a healthy life.

Edit: His ex-wife is a really bad mother.

[u/ICONOCLAAST]

WokeWade 🫡

[u/TrumpTrumpTrump007]

Timestamps