Dwyane Wade: Age, weight, height, partner, and controversy of this basketball legend

39-year old Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr (born January 17, 1983) was born in Chicago, Illinois, and is an American former basketball player.  

He spent the major chunk of his 16-year playing career with the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Wade has been a 3-time member of the All-Defensive Team, an 8-time member of the All-NBA Team. Additionally, he is a 13-time NBA All-Star and has also won three NBA championships.

He is also known for his exceptional skills and is an all-time leader in points, shots made, assists, shots taken, games, and steals. 

Wade is 6 ft 4 in tall and he weighs 100 kg.

With the Marquette Golden Eagles, Wade had a successful college basketball career. In 2003, he also led the team to the Final Four.

Wade was drafted fifth overall by the ‘Heat’ for the 2003 NBA draft. He led the Heat to their first NBA Championship in his third season.

Commonly known as the “Redeem Team”, the United States men’s basketball team was led by Wade during the 2008 Summer Olympics. He helped them capture the gold medal.

He earned his first NBA scoring title in the 2008–09 season where he helped the league in scoring. Wade was selected as the NBA All-Star Game MVP in 2010.

He helped guide Miami to win back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. Additionally, with LeBron James and Chris Bosh, he led Miami to win four consecutive NBA Finals from 2011 to 2014.

Wade retired and finished his playing career with the Heat in 2019 before he left Miami to play for the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers throughout 2016-2018. 

Early life and early career

Wade was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 17, 1982. He is the second child to his father, Dwayne Wade Sr. and his mother JoLinda.

Wade’s mother had two children when she married Wade Sr. and they both had two children together. However, they both got separated when Wade was four months old.

Wade expressed his childhood as difficult since his mother was a drug addict and used to be in and out of prison. This affected Wade in a bad way.

One day his sister tricked him into thinking they were going to the movies and took him to live with his father and stepmother.

Afterward, he used to visit his mother occasionally.

Soon, his father moved the family to Robbins, Illinois and he did not get to see his mother for around two years. 

Controlling temptations towards drugs and gangs, Wade turned to basketball and football. He gave all the credits for this to his sister Tragil as she helped him to move in the right direction without getting distracted.

Wade’s one source of motivation is Michael Jordan who has inspired his playing style.

His career in basketball bloomed by 2001.

His mother also vowed to bring more change in her life and also mentioned that she has not been using drugs for some time.

Wade helped his school team, the Golden Eagles, finish a game with a 27–6 record, scoring 21.5 points.

JoLinda, Wade’s mother, was released from prison and three days later, for the first time in five years, she saw him playing basketball.

Wade led his team to enter into the Final Four for the first time since Golden Eagle’s 1977 national championship season. 

Career

During a match against the New Orleans Hornets, Wade hit a running jumper when 1.3 seconds were left in the final quarter and helped the Heat to win.

However, the Heat lost the series against the top-seeded team the Indiana Pacers with the best record in the NBA. 

In the 2006–07 season, Wade missed 31 games due to injury, despite which, he was named to his third progressive All-Star Game and received All-NBA honors.

In this season, the Heat struggled with injuries in general. While playing a match with Houston Rockets Wade dislocated his left shoulder and he had to leave the court in a wheelchair.

Wade returned to the sport after missing 23 games. 

Wade led the Heat with his average of 23.5 points, 6.3 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per contest during the 2007 playoffs. But, Chicago Bulls swept them off in the first round.

After these playoffs, Wade had to go through several surgeries to get his dislocated left shoulder and left knee repaired. All of the surgeries ended successfully.

Even after the surgeries, Wade did not feel right and it did not allow him to join USA Basketball in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. 

With a two-year deal worth approximately $47 million, Wade joined his hometown team, the Chicago Bulls in July 2016.

The relationship between Wade and the Heat ended badly. The team also offered him a two-year, $20 million contract though Wade felt it was unacceptable for him.

The Bulls reached an agreement on a buyout with Wade on September 24, 2017, after trading Butler and waiving Rondo for three months.

Wade was signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers after three days, though he did not get to play much; he shot only 7-for-25 in the first three games.

Wade showed his wish to take a bench role, becoming leader of the second unit after a blowout loss to the Orlando Magic.

Controversy

Wade had his share of controversy after a social media post where he supported Nick Cannon’s tweet in which he called Europeans, Jewish people, and white people “savages”.

Wade’s tweet created and attracted 2,000 responses in just two hours. However, he deleted the tweet and afterward cleared that he was not supporting what Nick said.

Personal life

In 2002, Wade got married to Siohvaughn Funches, his high school girlfriend. After an acrimonious court battle, they both got separated (2007) and divorced in 2010.

Wade got custody of his two children and he was also raising the son of his sister, Deanna (his nephew).

In 2008, Wade started dating an American actor, voice artist, and author, Gabrielle Union.

Due to career demands, they both had to briefly split in 2013. Afterward, he conceived a son with Aja Metoyer.

In December 2013, Wade and Union got engaged and got married the next year in Miami. They both had a girl together.

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