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Chicago native and future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade returned to his hometown shortly after the Miami Heat selected him with the fifth overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.
A big party was thrown for him after hearing his name called in the draft. In the midst of the event, as Wade recalled in an interview with The Athletic, he was told by his cousin that Michael Jordan wanted to stop in and congratulate him on being drafted but there was a small problem.
Wade was told Jordan was not allowed to enter the party.
“So we run out the door, run up front where they won’t let him in,” Wade said. “‘Why y’all won’t let Jordan in?’ Somebody was like, ‘He wouldn’t pay.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ So I run outside and Michael Jordan is out there on a motorcycle, surrounded by like 30 dudes. I run up to him. I’m in awe, of course, a young kid. And he said, ‘I just wanted to come by and show you some love.’ I think he said something about them trippin’ at the front, or something like that.
But he’s like, ‘I just wanted to come by and show you some love. Congratulations on getting drafted.’ And I was just like, ‘Man, thank you for coming.’ I couldn’t believe it. ‘Thank you for coming. You want to come in?’ And he’s like, ‘Nah, nah, we good. I just came by to show you some love.’ And he rode off on his motorcycle.
Ahead of the debut of the “The Last Dance” documentary on ESPN, which covers the final season of the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty with Jordan, those that knew Jordan or played against him are recalling old stories of meeting him with Wade offering his draft party interaction.
ESPN moved up the debut of the highly-anticipated documentary from June to Sunday in order to help fill the void of live sports due to the coronavirus pandemic. The series is years in the making as 106 people were interviewed, including Jordan himself.
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