Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade has been announced as a nominee for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023.
Wade, along with Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Gregg Popovich and the 1976 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team are all first-time nominees.
It’s a huge honor for Wade, who is arguably the greatest player in Miami Heat franchise history and one of the best shooting guards in NBA history.
The Class of 2023 inductees will be unveiled during the NCAA Final Four in Houston on April 1, 2023 with the enshrinement weekend beginning on Friday, Aug. 11 of next year.
A 13-time All-Star, Wade is an easy pick to make the Hall of Fame, as he put together a terrific collegiate career before becoming one of the best NBA players of his era.
Now, Wade is a part of the ownership group for the Utah Jazz, showing that he has made a lifetime commitment to the game of basketball on several different levels.
In his storied NBA career, Wade averaged 22.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 48.0 percent from the field. He won a scoring title in the 2008-09 season and was an All-NBA selection eight times in his career.
Wade led the Heat to three NBA titles during his career, winning his first title over the Dallas Mavericks in the 2005-06 season. He won the Finals MVP award in that series, averaging 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game in the six contests in the series.
Later on in his career, Wade teamed up with LeBron James and Chris Bosh to form the Big 3 in Miami. The trio went to four consecutive NBA Finals, winning two, before James left in free agency to rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Wade didn’t spend his entire career in Miami, playing for the Chicago Bulls and Cavs as well, but he came back to South Beach to finish his career with the Heat.
The three-time champion last played in the NBA for Miami during the 2018-19 campaign, and he was named an All-Star for the final time that season.
Heat fans have to be happy to see Wade on the cusp of such an amazing honor after all he did for the franchise in his NBA career.