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Future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade revealed on Monday that he initially didn’t think he was going be selected fifth overall by the Miami Heat in the 2003 NBA Draft.
Of course, LeBron James was the No. 1 overall pick that year while Darko Milicic, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh were the next three selections, respectively. From there, as Wade said on “The Old Man & the Three” podcast with J.J. Redick, he had no idea what would happen next.
After the first four selections were made, Wade said he thought either the Chicago Bulls would take him at No. 7 or the Orlando Magic would select him with the 15th overall pick.
I was actually eying the Orlando Magic because Doc Rivers, who was a former Marquette Golden Eagle, he told me, he said: ‘Listen, if you’re there, I’m taking you.’ I felt very confident that Doc Rivers was going to draft me. They had the 15th pick that year; T-Mac was still there.
I actually thought that if one team was going to draft me high, it was going to be the Chicago Bulls. They had the seventh pick at the time. I worked out with the Bulls twice, I was a hometown kid. They had unfortunately just lost Jay Williams, who had an amazing rookie season. I was like, ‘If there is any team outside of Doc Rivers and Orlando at 15 that would pick me, it would be Chicago.’ So, I’m like seven or 15, one of those picks.
Of course, the Heat selected Wade with the fifth overall pick. Wade said that he worked out with the Heat during the pre-draft process but Pat Riley didn’t give him any indication that he would select him. Once he found out, though, he was ecstatic to learn he was going to Miami.
I’m like: ‘Here we go! Who’s going five?’ Next thing you know, my agent comes over and says, ‘Hey, the Heat are about to take you at five.’ I’m just like, ‘What?!’ It was mind-boggling to me that I was about to go the fifth pick in the draft. I was literally like, ‘I’ll be 15th.’ It just happened, man. It was like an out-of-body experience. I remember just going numb.
I had [my son] Zaire, who is now 18 years old, on my lap at the time. It was a cool experience because I didn’t expect anything. I knew I got invited to the green room so I knew teams liked me. I didn’t really have a lot of information. I was there because I was invited and I felt that maybe Doc would grab me. Maybe he won’t let me stay in this green room all day.
Wade ultimately spent just over 14 seasons with the Heat until he retired last year. The organization retired his No. 3 jersey after he helped win three NBA championships while averaging 22.7 points, 5.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds in 948 career games.
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