As a three-time NBA Champion, Olympic Gold medalist, and thirteen-time NBA All-Star, Dwyane Wade has experienced a whirlwind career.
Wade joined the Miami HEAT as the fifth pick of the 2003 NBA Draft. In his first season, the Chicago-area native who also flashed his athletic brilliance for Marquette University achieved NBA All-Rookie Team status. In 2006, Wade led his team to the city’s first-ever NBA Championship. Wade represented the United States in the 2004 Athens Summer Games and brought home the GOLD representing the USA in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In 2012 and 2013, Wade won his second and third NBA Championships. He rejoined the Miami HEAT in February 2018 after playing with the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers. During the 2018-19 season, he became the third player in NBA history to record at least 20,000 points, 5,000 assists, 4,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals, 800 blocks, and 500 three-pointers. He was also recognized for achieving the most blocked shots than any guard in NBA history. In 2020, the Miami HEAT retired Wade’s number three jersey and Northeast 7th Street at Biscayne Boulevard, outside the HEAT arena, was officially designated Dwyane Wade Boulevard. Wade was recently named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history.
Wade officially retired from the NBA after sixteen years following his 2018-19 season. His #OneLastDance farewell tour included jersey exchanges, gifts, and tributes. Wade partnered with Bleacher Report on a D. Wade World Tour apparel series to celebrate the final season of his career and pay tribute to his influence on and off the court.
Wade is readily recognized as a style icon and for paving the way for the NBA fashion revolution. He launched his annual A Night on the RunWade event in 2012 to celebrate his passion for fashion. Wade was selected as an ambassador for the first Men’s Fashion Week in New York City in 2015. In 2017, he collaborated with DSquared2 on a capsule collection for Saks and was the first athlete to partner with Amazon Fashion to create a brand Wade store.
Wade’s business partnerships include Li-Ning, MISSION, Hisense, BallerTV, Stance, Budweiser, Mars Reel, Wade Cellars, 800° Woodfired Kitchen, and D. Wade Burgers.
Wade and Gabrielle Union are launching Proudly, a sustainable baby care brand with specially formulated products dedicated to the unique skincare needs of children of color. Together they have also partnered with Janie and Jack on a Kaavia James Union-Wade collection debuting in early 2022.
In 2018, Wade signed a landmark lifetime deal with Li-Ning to continue to grow his Way of Wade basketball and lifestyle brand. There are currently eleven Wade retail stores across China. He serves as a global ambassador for Li-Ning, and travels to China annually to host the Way of Wade tour. Since the release of Wade’s signature basketball shoes Way of Wade, now in its ninth iteration, WOW has transcended beyond the court. In 2019, he signed NBA player D’Angelo Russell as his first signature athlete to the Way of Wade brand.
Wade’s wine partnership, Wade Cellars, features a Wade Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and Three by Wade, which includes a Napa Valley red blend, California rosé, and a Chenin Blanc. Wade recently joined the UC Davis Executive Leadership Board for the Department of Viticulture and Enology to support their efforts in bringing more diversity to the wine industry.
Launched in 2020, Budweiser’s first zero alcohol beer, Budweiser Zero, with zero sugar is developed and co-founded in partnership with Wade.
Forty-Three is a joint company created by Wade and his former Miami HEAT teammate Udonis Haslem. The company is named after their respective jersey numbers. 800° Woodfired Kitchen is the company’s first venture. They are the owners and operators of the Aventura, Florida location. Wade is also a global partner of 800° Woodfired Kitchen. As their next venture together, Wade and Haslem have launched D. Wade Burgers and UD Wings in partnership with Combo Kitchen, a ghost kitchen enterprise.
Through his production company, 59th & Prairie Entertainment, Wade served as an executive producer of the Sports Emmy-nominated documentary, Shot in the Dark, for FOX Sports with Chance the Rapper. 59th and Prairie partnered with Imagine Documentaries and ESPN on D. Wade: Life Unexpected, a documentary chronicling Wade’s NBA career and life off the court during his final year in the league. He executive produced A Most Beautiful Thing, which chronicles the first African American public high school rowing team in the United States. He produced the Oscar-winning animated short film Hair Love.
On the broadcasting front, Wade signed a multi-year deal to provide creative direction and join Turner Sports as a commentator on TNT’s NBA event coverage and as a regular analyst for the network’s Tuesday night studio coverage alongside Shaquille O’Neal and Candace Parker. Additionally, he has a development deal with his production company and serves as a creative director for Bleacher Report. In partnership with WarnerMedia, Wade executive produces and hosts the award-winning British game show reboot of The Cube on TBS in the U.S.
Wade recently joined the Utah Jazz ownership group, which is the youngest ownership group in the NBA.
In 2015, Wade completed the Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports program at Harvard University. His approach to brand partnerships in a Harvard Business School case study called Dwyane Wade is taught in both the MBA and Executive Education Programs. In 2018, he was appointed as an Executive Fellow.
In 2019, he was named to The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Board of Trustees.
Wade’s proudest accomplishment is being a father. In March 2011, in a landmark legal decision, he earned sole custody of his sons, effectively setting a new precedent for professional male athletes. In September 2012, Wade became a New York Times bestselling author with the release of his first book, A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger than Basketball. Wade and Gabrielle Union have co-authored the New York Times bestselling children’s book, Shady Baby, which is based on their daughter Kaavia James. Wade’s new photographic memoir, DWYANE, takes readers inside Wade’s life and career with a wealth of never-before-told stories and more than 200 beautiful color photographs from Bob Metelus documenting Wade’s journey.
Wade recognizes his true accomplishments go far beyond the basketball court. The Wade Family Foundation provides relief to marginalized communities in need. He uses his platform to help advance racial justice and LGBTQ equality. In recognition of his social activism, he was featured on the 2020 TIME100 list, TIME’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and as one of the special covers of the issue celebrating the list.
He co-founded the Social Change Fund United with Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony to invest in and support organizations focused on empowering communities of color and advocating for the human rights of all Black lives.
In 2016, he launched his Spotlight On initiative after the loss of his cousin to gun violence in Chicago. The initiative aims to give youth hope for a better future by shining a spotlight on youth in the community who are actively changing the city for the better and are empowering others to make change happen. He continued his activism against gun violence and brought awareness to the need for stronger gun control laws by supporting the Parkland students through March for Our Lives and launching a Parkland 17 art exhibit at Florida Art Walk to honor the seventeen lives lost.
Wade received the NBA’s 2012-2013 Community Assist Award in recognition of his efforts in the community and his philanthropic work. In 2015, he was inducted into the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Sports Hall of Champions. In 2017, Wade was awarded the Mannie Jackson Human Spirit Award. He was honored with the Legend Award at the 2019 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Sports Awards.
Wade lives with his family in Los Angeles, CA.