Dwyane Wade wears many hats after the NBA: Father, entrepreneur, cancer survivor
Dwyane Wade's résumé could have stopped at three-time NBA champion, 13-time NBA All-Star and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer. But his basketball success has given him access to a wide range of people and opportunities, in ventures involving sports, education, entertainment, food and wine. His post-basketball duties expanded with last month's announcement that he would join Prime Video's NBA coverage for the 2025-26 season as an in-game and studio analyst.
Wade is considered one of the best players in NBA history because of his versatility on the court. In his post-NBA career, doing a little bit of everything still defines him.
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Wade is the father of four children (and the guardian of a fifth), and he advocates for LGBTQ+ youth in solidarity with his daughter Zaya, who is transgender. He is married to actress Gabrielle Union. He's a brand ambassador, a fashionista, a podcaster.
He's a cancer survivor, as well.
With everything, Wade has a personal mission: Help people enter spaces they might not normally have access to.
'Not everyone is going to be invited into that room, so you can hold the door open to see if others can come in,' Wade told The Athletic. 'If not, make sure that you're doing your job, giving back to the people that you hope will walk through those doors.'
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It's been a challenging 18 months for Wade. On the Jan. 30 episode of his podcast, 'The Why with Dwyane Wade,' he revealed he had a cancerous tumor removed from his right kidney on Dec. 18, 2023.
Wade admitted he hadn't been as diligent about getting physicals since his playing days ended, but he eventually saw a doctor after having urinary and stomach issues. What specialists eventually discovered was a three-centimeter mass on his kidney: Stage 1 cancer.
'That moment was probably the weakest point I've ever felt in my life,' Wade said on the podcast. 'The moments I was by myself, I was struggling.'
Wade, 43, tries to use his private experiences to lead public conversations that could help others, and he wanted to bring awareness to men's health issues.
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Additionally, his experiences with fatherhood have been an ongoing teachable moment. Wade published a book in 2012 sharing stories about his journey as a parent. More than a decade later, Wade works to be a protector for Zaya.
Wade didn't plan on parenting publicly, but celebrity status and social media have made it difficult — though he has been careful with Zaya. In being her biggest supporter, Wade has tried to be an example for other parents in how to handle attacks on transgender rights and vitriol aimed at their families. Wade's basketball career is revered in Miami (the nickname 'Wade County' is a play on Dade County), but his family moved to California after his playing career in part because he didn't believe his family would be 'accepted' amid Florida's anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
Wade doesn't allow hate to change his parenting approach.
'I'm such a proud father, and I try to post my kids,' Wade said. 'So, as my child got older and got confident and comfortable with us talking more about her and talking more about her situation, that's when we did.'
Through his Dwyane Wade Family Foundation, Wade aims to provide resources to marginalized communities. The foundation also assisted in starting Translatable, a digital platform and online community — operated by both Wade and Zaya — that states it's 'a safe space for LGBTQIA+ youth to express themselves and is a resource hub for our parents, families and support systems.'
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'We want to put our narrative out there, as well,' Wade said. 'We know that other families, other kids, other people will be dealing with this and will go through these things. This is happening in real time.'
Since his cancer diagnosis, Wade has continued to live a busy life. His post-NBA biography includes ownership stakes in five sports franchises: the NBA's Utah Jazz, the NHL's Utah Hockey Club, the WNBA's Chicago Sky, the MLS' Real Salt Lake and the NWSL's Utah Royals. Other business partnerships include Versace; his wine brand, Wade Cellars; and PROUDLY, which makes hair and skin products for babies and children of color.
Wade is also the founder of the production company 59th & Prairie Entertainment, and he has served as an executive producer on multiple projects, including award-winning Netflix documentaries ''The Redeem Team' and 'The Dads.' Add his new Prime Video duties to his growing list of projects.
'If you see a lot of the investments and things that I've done, it's in the world of entertainment, sports, the different teams I've invested in,' he said. 'That's how I can utilize myself, because that's where my strengths are.
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'I wanted to jump right into my strengths when I retired — and then obviously learn other things along the way.'
Wade's interest in entrepreneurship increased after a shoulder injury briefly sidelined him during the 2006-07 season. His business manager, Lisa Joseph-Metelus, said she considers him a 'unicorn.' Wade has his hands on a lot of projects but tries to be intentional about what he attaches his name to, meticulously analyzing potential ventures.
'His curiosity is what drives a lot of the work that we do,' Joseph-Metelus said. 'He has no ego when it comes to understanding the process of something or learning or being put in a position where he says, 'I want to learn.''
Wade also takes risks, particularly with fashion. Jokes have been cracked about some of his choices. He's attended Fashion Week events in various cities around the world. He's worn capri pants and carried handbags when others wouldn't.
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But he doesn't regret taking chances.
'I looked out in the space, and I didn't see many people in this fashion space that look like me as a Black American former athlete, someone 6-foot-4 who is a little unconventional when you think of fashion,' Wade said. 'No one is doing that, so why can't I?'
He continued: 'Sometimes you have to understand that if you're comfortable in it, if you're so confident in what you're doing, (it's) going to take people an amount of time before they catch up. It's OK to be in the beginning phases of doing something. I've seen it in a lot of aspects of my life.'
Wade has become a fixture in fashion. He has an apparel deal with Versace. He announced a deal with Swiss watchmaker Hublot more than a decade ago.
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Wade also has made inroads — for himself and others — in the food and beverage industry. He visited Napa Valley during harvest season in 2014 and connected with the Pahlmeyer family, then partnered with them to create Wade Cellars. He then started Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon and Three by Wade Red Blend in 2015, to be sold in China.
George Walker III is a Wade Cellars brand ambassador and was the company's first full-time employee. Walker worked in hospitality in Michigan but wanted to learn how to actually make wine. In 2020, he emailed Wade Cellars to ask about internships.
While there were no internships, Wade Cellars told Walker there was a position available to run day-to-day operations. Walker pivoted and moved to Napa. He's now been with Wade's company for five years, and his role has grown to include marketing, social media and market share.
When Walker started, Wade Cellars was in 10 states. By the end of 2021, it was in 44 states.
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'(Wade has a) passion for creating space for people that aren't always represented,' Walker said. 'What convinced me was hearing his passion for that, but also just for connectivity in general.'
Walker isn't the only person in Wade's orbit who credits the NBA Hall of Famer with providing an opportunity. Chef Richard Ingraham once was a hairstylist for Joseph-Metelus, and also taught culinary arts at Miami Northwestern High School.
Joseph-Metelus reached out to Ingraham because Wade was looking for a personal chef. That connection allowed Ingraham — a non-sports fan who admittedly didn't know who Wade was at the time — to eventually quit his teaching job and live out a culinary dream. Ingraham credits Wade and Union with helping to start his first company, Chef RLI, a network to connect chefs with celebrities and sports figures.
'One day, (Wade) walked in the door and he was like, 'Hey, Chris Bosh asked if we knew of any chefs; we told him that you had a company and you put chefs in people's homes,'' Ingraham recalled. 'I was like, 'Yo, I don't have that.''
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But neither Wade nor Union took no for an answer. That unexpected nudge was a springboard for Ingraham's business, and his work with Wade also helped him write two cookbooks.
'Dwyane gave me the latitude to be able to have the time to write these books, to take pictures of food, to prepare the type of food that I've prepared,' Ingraham said. 'Every single dish in the books is something that has been prepared in this house. … I don't take those types of things for granted.'
Wade also puts on the When We Gather Food & Wine festivals, which highlight chefs and sommeliers of color throughout the U.S. In September 2022, Wade brought his festival to an Inglewood, Calif., establishment owned by sisters LeAnn and Leslie Jones. 1010 Wine & Events calls itself 'the first and only wine bar in Inglewood.'
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The Jones sisters had received media attention before, but Wade's association took their exposure to another level.
'Every time I get to speak about him in the wine space, I love to do it,' Leslie said. 'I think that he, better than anyone, has used his platform and used his celebrity (status) to push the Black wine community along.'
'He brought on all Black-owned wine brands to be the vendors,' added Leslie, referring to Wade serving as the first director of culture and vibes during the 2023 Blue Note Jazz Festival in Napa, Calif. 'That's really powerful to me, because it's not just talking … it's putting action to it.'
In 2021, Wade was asked to join the executive leadership board for the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology, a program that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees related to the wine industry. Wade, noting the lack of diversity in the field, said he wanted to create a program 'where we are able to bring in Black and Brown people so we can learn about the wine industry and understand it.'
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Ben Montpetit, Ph.D., associate professor and department chair at UC Davis, said Wade has been a 'great partner' for the program. The university in 2023 held an Influencers Bootcamp, a two-day event hosting faculty and advisers from schools around the country, HBCUs included, to learn more about the program and potential careers in the industry. Wade served as host.
'He's done a tremendous amount of work to help us reach new communities and students who might not necessarily have been exposed to wine in the past (and) might not be thinking about this as a career in the future,' Montpetit said.
The idea of reshaping the culture around him has always appealed to Wade. He made nearly $200 million for his NBA career alone, per Spotrac; that doesn't include outside endorsements and deals with other companies. Creating opportunities is fulfilling, he said.
Particularly when it can benefit others.
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'You know how it is on Thanksgiving when that plate is full? You just keep adding stuff on top of it, or you go back and get another plate,' Wade said. 'I'm just getting started. So hopefully, I'm just in the middle ground and this is halftime as a 43-year-old man.'
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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