“I went to sleep knowing before his decision. As his friend, I’m just supportive.” (c) Dwyane Wade
Nearly three weeks since LeBron James revealed his return to Cleveland, former teammate Dwyane Wade went into exile away from the media to prepare for the next chapter in his NBA career. During his time with friend James in Miami, the two won consecutive titles in 2012-13 and went to the NBA Finals all four years together – splitting their seasons at 2-2.
Following reports of Pat Riley revealing he sent multiple text, emails and phone calls to James that were never returned, Wade finally came out and discussed friend’s decision. The South Florida Sun Sentinel and 7 News Miami were granted Wade’s first words in nearly a month following the NBA Finals to discuss LeBron departure and his future back with the Miami Heat.
Watch D-Wade’s brief interview and a look ahead into the 2015 NBA Season.
“Yeah, I went to sleep knowing. He called me the next day. But I knew then. Obviously he still had to say the final yay or nay, but I knew. I could tell. As his friend, I’m just supportive. As crazy as that might sound, I’m supportive of my friends doing what makes them happy. Obviously, same thing with him in this situation. You’ve gotta do what makes you happy — selfishly do what makes you happy. The decision to go back home was that.”
Home Is Where The Heart Is… My Home,My City,My House..#HeatLifer http://t.co/lMmP2JTDQY
— THREE (@DwyaneWade) July 15, 2014
“It was a different summer for us. It’s no secret, obviously, it’s been a change in how we looked the last four years by losing LeBron to Cleveland. I think our ownership has done a great job so far of trying to not replace but recover from that. The only thing we do as a franchise and as players is we move forward. “I’ll just say I’m lighter right now than I was when I came to training camp last year. How about that? But I’m not where I want to be. I’m not there. I’m not at the training camp weight that I want to be at.”
Ready for the next challenge in my career. #HeatNation goes on! pic.twitter.com/tAFXFSLTCk
— Chris Bosh (@chrisbosh) July 12, 2014
“One thing about sports is your teammates become influential. The influence they have on you is second to none. A guy like Ray Allen has had [an influence] on a few of us in a sense of nutrition and how to do certain things has been pretty cool. The challenge in the summer, when it’s the time you just want to be lazy, travel the world and eat, and the challenge of not doing that and changing your diet … I did it for 30 days. It was very tough. One thing I will tell them is I can’t go back five years. I ain’t trying to go back five years. If we all could, we would, but that’s not likely … I really don’t know how it’s going to be. I’m used to something from the last four years, so until we get into training camp and the preseason games, you really don’t know how it’s going to be yet.”
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