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Former Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade has revealed the reason that he decided to move his family out of South Florida after spending virtually his entire playing career in the area.
The 41-year-old Wade, who was drafted by the Miami Heat in 2003 and won three NBA championships with the team, recently said that he moved his family out of Florida because his family does not feel “accepted or comfortable there.”
Wade’s 15-year-old daughter Zaya came out as transgender a few years ago.
“That’s another reason why I don’t live in [Florida]. A lot of people don’t know that,” Wade recently told Rachel Nichols on an episode of the Showtime series Headliners. “I have to make decisions for my family, not just personal, individual decisions.”
“You know, obviously, the taxes is great. Having Wade County is great. But my family would not be accepted or feel comfortable there. And, so that’s one of the reasons why I don’t live there,” Wade said.
Despite the roots that Wade established in Miami during his 14 seasons with the Heat, Wade has since invested in the Utah Jazz back in 2021 to become a minority owner in the franchise.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Wade — who averaged 22 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds per game during his playing career — will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Wade famously formed a “Big Three” with LeBron James and Chris Bosh on the Heat in the early 2010s, which resulted in the team making four straight NBA Finals, winning two of them.
After his first 13 seasons in Miami, Wade made largely unsuccessful stops in Chicago with the Bulls and in Cleveland with the Cavaliers before ultimately returning to the Heat for his final NBA season in 2018-19.
Since retiring, in addition to investing in the Utah Jazz, Wade has been using his platform to advocate for transgender rights as a result of his experiences with his daughter.