The Miami Heat received an unexpected assist to lure All-Star Dwyane Wade back to play one more season last summer.
In an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, the Heat icon revealed that close friend and former All-Star Carmelo Anthony convinced Wade not to retire during the 2018 offseason.
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.@DwyaneWade wasn't planning on coming back for the 2018-19 season …
He sat down with @Rachel__Nichols and tells her what brought him back to the court for #OneLastDance. pic.twitter.com/UtdjhsUpHS
— ESPN (@espn) April 5, 2019
“He was like ‘Alright, let’s just get down to it. Bro, what are you talking about you gonna retire’. He was really like, I seen it in his, I heard in his voice, I seen it in his eyes,” Wade said. “He was like ‘Yo, you cannot retire and not allow us to celebrate you or to celebrate the career you had’. It was kind of, to me, an eye-opener.”
Wade ended up listening to Anthony and returned for a final NBA season.
While the 16-year veteran is not recording superstar numbers like he did in his younger days, he’s putting on a fantastic final farewell for fans around the world to see.
The All-Star is averaging 14.5 points, 4.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 25.8 minutes per game off the bench this season. Furthermore, Wade is dazzling fans with vintage dunks, defensive plays and buzzer-beaters.
Anthony, on the other hand, is currently out of the league. The 34-year-old was traded from the Houston Rockets to the Chicago Bulls in January before getting released.
In his 10 appearances with the Rockets this season, Anthony put up 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
The Heat take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
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