To put the icing on the cake that was Dwyane Wade‘s final home game in Miami (April 9), former President Barack Obama recorded a video message for the Heat player, commemorating “a career for the record books.” As No. 44 reminisced on Wade’s 16-year run and three NBA title championship rings, Obama applied a little bit of humor into his monologue, stating his own basketball career was cut short.
“I know what you’re going through because saying goodbye to a career that you love is never easy. I’ve been there,” Obama said. “In my case, though, I didn’t really have a choice. My knees were shot, so I had to give up basketball forever. You, on the other hand, look like you’re still hooping out there and I imagine it’s a little tougher when you’ve just completed one of the greatest careers in NBA history.”
While Wade said “this is the end of the basketball part of me” in #WadeCounty, he plans to continue his philanthropic efforts in the 305. “It’s like, all a body of work, all the injuries, all the surgeries, all the tough times,” he continued, per The Washington Post. “It led up to this moment. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to my last game in this arena, to my last season.” The Heat defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 122-99.
No. 44 salutes No. 3. #L3GACY
Special words for @DwyaneWade from @BarackObama! pic.twitter.com/GADfeq4jT6
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 10, 2019
We’re not crying. You’re crying. 😭 pic.twitter.com/fC47gyDGgy
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 9, 2019
Wade played with the Heat from 2003-2016. He was the fifth draft pick after his tenure at Marquette University. He later played for his hometown’s Chicago Bulls before signing to the Cleveland Cavaliers a year later. To round out his trajectory, the father-of-three returned to Miami to close the book on his professional career.
The event arrives a day after Wade’s Budweiser commercial tugged at viewers’ tear ducts. The pattern of trading jerseys at the end of each game was swapped out for memorabilia from a few people that Wade assisted in dire times, one being his mother, Jolinda Wade, and how she defeated her drug addiction thanks to her son’s tenacity.
You get a jersey! You get a jersey! You get a jersey!@DwyaneWade swaps jerseys with everybody! #L3GACY #OneLastDance pic.twitter.com/u1yvD73NbE
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 10, 2019