D.Wade All Day

Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. (born January 17, 1982) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames include "Flash" and "D-Wade". Wade was named 2006 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. Despite the unorthodox spelling, Wade's first name is pronounced as Dwayne; often in print media, it is misspelled as such. Wade has established himself as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league. He had the top selling jersey in the NBA for nearly two years, as he led the NBA in jersey sales from the 2005 NBA playoffs, until the mid-point of the 2006-07 NBA season.

After entering the league with little fanfare as the fifth pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Wade has become one of the most accomplished young players in the NBA today. Having made the All-Rookie team in his first season and the All-Star team the following four seasons, Wade led the Miami Heat to their first NBA Championship in franchise history in his third pro campaign. He was named the 2006 NBA Finals MVP as he led the Heat to a 4–2 series win over the Dallas Mavericks. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Wade led the United States Men's Basketball team, commonly known as the Redeem Team, in scoring, as they captured gold medal honors in Beijing, China.

Early Life

Dwyane Wade was born in the Southside of Chicago, Illinois to Dwyane Sr. and Jolinda Wade. He cites one of his older sisters, Tragil, as the individual most responsible for his childhood upbringing and for steering him in the proper direction. His parents divorced and he lived with his father and stepmother in Robbins, Illinois during his childhood. As a child growing up in the Chicago area Wade idolized former Chicago Bulls star Micheal Jordan  and has said he patterns his game after him. Wade attended Herold L.Richards H.S. in Oak Lawn. He did not see a lot of playing time his  sophomore year as his stepbrother, Demetris McDaniel, was the star of the team. Wade grew four inches in the summer before his  junior year and proceeded to average 20.7 points and  7.6 rebounds per game. Wade then averaged 27.0 points and 11.0 rebounds his senior year, and led his team to a 24–5 record. They advanced to the title game of the Class AA Eisenhower Sectional, during the season he set school records for points (676) and steals (106) in a season. Wade was recruited by only three schools — Marquette University, Illinois State and DePaul University as a result of academic problems

 Off the Court Life

Wade married his high school sweetheart Siohvaughn Funches but filed for a divorce in 2007. He has two sons, Zaire Blessing Dwyane Wade (February 4, 2002) and Zion Malachi Airamis Wade (May 29, 2007). In February 2009, Wade sued his estranged wife and two of her lawyers over accusations that he had given her a sexually transmitted disease through an extramarital affair and for alleging that he had abandoned his children.

Wade's nicknames include D-Wade and Flash, which was given to him by former teammate Shaquille O'Neal who would sing, "He's the greatest in the Universe," in reference to the Queen song of the same name from the 1980 film Flash Gordon. Wade is also a devout Christian and chose the number 3 because it represents the Holy Trinity.^[63][64] He tithes 10% of his salary to a church in Chicago.

The Heat's 2005 NBA Playoff run and Wade's performances with Shaquille O'Neal hampered by injury, led to an explosion of media attention and rapid increase in Wade's popularity. During those playoffs, Wade's jersey became the top selling jersey in the league and remained so for nearly two years.After the Heat's success and Wade's memorable performances during the 2006 NBA Playoffs, Wade was further elevated into the public's eye and appeared on several talk shows, including Late Show with David Letterman and Live with Regis and Kelly.

Wade has been featured in a number of magazine articles and publications. In 2005, he was featured on People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People,and in 2006 he was named the NBA's best dressed player by GQ Magazine. In 2007, Esquire named him to their 4th annual Best Dressed Men in the World list for the second straight year.

Wade has endorsement deals with companies such as Gatorade, Lincoln, Staples, Sean John, T-Mobile, and Topps. He has his own line of shoes with Converse named "The Wade" and a series of Sidekick phones known as the D-Wade Edition with T-Mobile.

Wade has established an impressive list of accomplishments including the following:

• NBA Champion: 2006
• NBA Finals MVP: 2006
• 5-time NBA All-Star: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• 3-time All-NBA:

• Second Team: 2005, 2006
• Third Team: 2007

• All-Defense:

• Second Team: 2005

• NBA All-Rookie Team: 2004
• NBA All-Star Skills Challenge Champion: 2006, 2007
• Bronze medal with Team USA, 2004 Summer Olympic Games
• Gold medal with Team USA, 2008 Summer Olympic Games
• Bronze medal with Team USA, 2006 FIBA World Championship
• 2006 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year