Watch the trailer for ‘Legacy,’ a new series following 3 athletes with famous fathers as they chase their own dreams

New series shows life for the Wade, Cunningham and Holyfield families.

It’s possible you remember Zaire Wade from an adorable picture he appeared in before he could even shoot a basketball. It was taken, in fact, before his father, Dwyane Wade, even played an NBA game.

Pat Riley, then the coach of the Miami Heat, is holding Zaire as the toddler tries to grab his father’s jersey on the day Dwyane, selected No. 5 overall, was presented to local media.

And while Zaire never quite left the public spotlight — his various playing exploits were covered throughout his youth — we’ve never gotten the behind-the-scenes look at his life that a new discovery+ docuseries, ‘Legacy: In the Shadow of Greatness,’ will offer.

Set to release on March 8, with new episodes appearing weekly, the six-part series also tells the story of high jumper Vashti Cunningham and her father, Randall, and boxer Evan Holyfied and his father, Evander.

The series is directed by Jonathan Hock, an 11-time Emmy Award winner who directed five ESPN 30 for 30 episodes.

For The Win got an exclusive early look at the trailer for the new series:

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Dwyane Wade: Zaire is following his dreams playing professionally

Dwyane Wade expressed how proud he is of Zaire for turning pro and playing in the G League this season.

Future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade on Tuesday expressed how proud he is of his son, Zaire, for turning professional and playing in the NBA G League this season.

Of course, Zaire was drafted by the Salt Lake City Stars last month ahead of the start of the regular season. He elected to play in the G League over the collegiate route after receiving offers from programs like Miami and South Carolina among others.

Dwyane last season became a part-owner of the Utah Jazz, the parent team of the Stars. Zaire said previously that he had no idea he would be selected by the Stars and had quite a moment with his father upon learning he would join Salt Lake City.

The three-time champion, speaking Tuesday on “Good Morning America,” said Zaire is following his dreams by playing professionally this season with Salt Lake City.

People always say Zaire is following in my footsteps and I always say Zaire is following his dreams. He is following his dreams to be 19 years old, to be able to have the opportunity to be able to do that, to turn pro and to have the confidence to take that step. I’m so proud of him.

My wife and I, as a family, our whole goal for our kids is to just give them opportunities we did not have. For them to be able to do the things they want to do, to be able to follow their dreams. To be able to help him get that opportunity and to see him go off and become this young man I get to watch, I’m the proudest father in the world.

Zaire has appeared in each of the first two games of the season for the Stars. He is averaging five points, two rebounds, one steal and one assist after recording 10 points in his debut on Nov. 5. He has played confidently and shown promise through two games.

The opportunity to play in the G League will help him get his professional career up and running and prepare him for the future. He has certainly made his father proud to this point and it will be worth monitoring to see how he progresses this season.

The Stars play next on Wednesday versus the Santa Cruz Warriors. The contest can be streamed on ESPN+ starting at 9 p.m. EST.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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‘It was a surreal feeling’: Zaire Wade thankful for getting drafted by Stars

Zaire called it a blessing to be able to get drafted by the Salt Lake City Stars in the NBA G League last week.

Zaire Wade, the son of future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, on Friday called it a blessing to be able to get drafted by the Salt Lake City Stars in the NBA G League.

The Stars selected Zaire with the 10th pick in the first round after previously playing at Sierra Canyon High School and the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. He had no idea the Stars would take him, and wasn’t sure it would even be in the first round.

Zaire shared a video of his reaction once he learned the Stars had drafted him, and could be seen jumping up and down celebrating with Dwyane and the rest of his family. The moment, Zaire said in an interview with Holly Rowe, was surreal.

It was such a surreal feeling because of all the hard work I’ve been putting in, especially over the past few months. My dad, obviously, is retired now and he has just been around for the past few years more. My stepmom, Gabrielle (Union), was there and just to have the whole family there was a great feeling. That was a natural reaction.

Of course, Dwyane became a part-owner of the Jazz last season but Zaire maintained that he had no idea Salt Lake City would take him in the draft. He previously received collegiate offers from programs like Miami and South Carolina but opted to enter the G League instead.

He has been participating with the Stars in training camp ahead of the start of the preseason on Saturday. The opportunity to play in the G League will help him get his professional career up and running, and prepare him for the future, wherever that may take him.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Zaire Wade has wholesome reaction with Dwyane after getting drafted to G League

Zaire Wade, the son of future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, on Saturday was selected by the Salt Lake City Stars in the NBA G League draft.

Zaire Wade, the son of future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, on Saturday was selected by the Salt Lake City Stars in the NBA G League draft, the affiliate of the Utah Jazz.

The news of the potential pairing was reported earlier this month as Zaire was expected to join the organization. Dwyane last season became a part-owner of the Jazz and likely helped facilitate the move to bring Zaire to the Stars.

Zaire, 19, previously played his senior year at Sierra Canyon High School before transferring to the Brewster Academy for a postgraduate year in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. He was teammates with Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, at Sierra Canyon.

The two shared a wholesome moment together after the pick by the Stars was in.

Zaire, who was considered to be a three-star prospect, had received several collegiate offers from programs such as Miami, South Carolina and TCU among others. He will now have the opportunity to spend time within the Jazz’s organization and continue his basketball career.

The Stars begin the regular season on Nov. 5 versus the OKC Blue.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Zaire Wade expected to play for Jazz’s G League affiliate

Zaire, the son of Dwyane Wade, will reportedly play the upcoming season with the Salt Lake City Stars in the NBA G League.

Zaire Wade, the son of future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, will reportedly play the upcoming season with the Salt Lake City Stars, the NBA G League affiliate of the Utah Jazz.

The news was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Zaire, 19, previously played his senior year at Sierra Canyon High School before transferring to the Brewster Academy for a postgraduate year in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. He was teammates with Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, at Sierra Canyon.

Of course, Dwyane last season became a part-owner of the Jazz and has been seen around the team a number of times. He planned on having an active role with the Jazz, and likely helped facilitate the move to bring Zaire to the Stars this season.

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Zaire, who was considered to be a three-star prospect, had received several collegiate offers from programs such as Miami, South Carolina and TCU among others. He will now have the opportunity to spend time within the Jazz’s organization and continue his basketball career.

The Stars begin the regular season on Nov. 5 versus the OKC Blue.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Top Class: What is it like to be the first person to interview Bronny James?

Top Class director Tevin Tavares shared his experiences about what it was like to create the documentary series about Sierra Canyon.

In the upcoming documentary series, “Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers,” releasing February 26 on Amazon Prime Video, we get an intimate look at the raucous environment that followed every move of the most famous high school basketball team in the country. Viewers are also given their first look into what it’s like to be Bronny James, approved by the James family.

Top Class Director Tevin Tavares doesn’t take the trust he’s been given from the James family lightly. He knows just how special it is to be the first person to conduct an on-camera interview with Bronny.

“Heā€™s guarded,” Tavares said about the James family’s approach to telling the story of Bronny’s basketball career. “Thatā€™s the one thing I will say that I respect about Savannah and LeBron, they make sure that they control the story. Because the amount of questions that reporters would ask him would be wild.”

Bronny typifies the experience for many of the Canyon players. They may have massive followings, but the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers are still kids.Ā Ā 

“I think heā€™s humble, heā€™s smart, intelligent, funny, he loves his siblings. Heā€™s still a kid,” Tavares says. “But he takes the pressure so well. And heā€™s respectful. Every time he saw me and the crew he would say whatā€™s up. He would always joke around on camera. Sometimes he would have the VHS, sometimes Bryce would have the VHS recording stuff. Good, good kid.”

But as Tavares conveys in Top Class exceptionally well, Bronny is one part of an incredibly unique moment in time and a unique program in the country. Sierra Canyon’s basketball team operates almost like a European soccer club, finding players from all over the country and even China, to win at the highest level.

But it’s also a high school, one which the kids like Amari Bailey point out, that is geared towards the success of their students by having small class sizes.

“One day these kids are in Biology class and then the next day they’ve got 17,000 people screaming at them,” Tavares said.

Among some of the more poignant moments in the documentary involve Bailey, who puts on a show when the TrailBlazers make their trip to China after reflecting on how incredible it is to have made it all the way around the world because of a basketball. At 15 years old. Tavares felt a special connection with Bailey.

“Amari is an Aquarius and I’m an Aquarius as well. We didn’t even know if he was going to be featured on camera when we started. But as the season went on and on, the camera started getting more of him and when we sat down with him, he’s so smart. And he was only a sophomore, he was giving me so many gems and I was saying, this kid is light years ahead of his age.”

Perhaps if there’s one constant thread in the story is the struggle these kids face as basketball players with more fans than NBA teams and also the desire to simply be a kid.

And for Tavares, 26, he still finds himself in awe of the moment he was able to capture because of what started as his 18-year old dream. He first got inspired to become a filmmaker because of the legendary “Ringmaker” commercial that Nike made after LeBron James won his first championship ring. That he’s now directed a documentary series executive produced by LeBron, featuring his son, makes it feel “full circle,” as he experienced things he’d ever seen before in sports.

“In Virginia, there was an energy there that was like a college basketball game and a Super Bowl. There was an MC. Like NBA Street type of stuff. It felt like I was at a concert. I played sports all of my life and I had never experienced anything like that before at an NBA game.”

Of course, the Life and Times of the Trailblazers were not all increased followers, adoring fans and a lot of fun. We get to see the not-so-great side to being the son of a superstar with Zaire Wade, but we also see the heartwarming moments when his teammates hold him up.

We also see the team at a time of tragedy across the world following Kobe Bryant’s death, including an intimate look at LeBron James during his first public appearance after Bryant’s death, at a Sierra Canyon game in which they honored Bryant. The team also comes to grips with having their opportunity to win a state championship canceled due to the coronavirus.

There’s been no shortage of coverage of Bronny or Sierra Canyon. But what Top Class is able to do is cut through the noise and bring you an authentic and artistic look at a special group of kids, who both belies the maturity of professionals but also the natural desire to still be a kid while they can.

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Dwyane Wade goes full Dad Mode in 1-on-1 against son Zaire, and the trash talk is so good

This is like every game between a dad and a son, it’s just they’re much, much better.

What I love so much about this clip of Dwyane Wade playing his son, Zaire, is that it’s the quintessential game of 1-on-1 that has been played between any dad and any son in the history of time.

The dad uses his size advantage, posting up his child, getting easy buckets, while his kid frantically works harder and harder until slowly coming to the realization that this game, much like life, is unfair. Yelling ensues, etc. My own dad did this to me. Yours probably did as well.

It’s just in this version of the 1-on-1 game, one of the players is a top-20 NBA player of all time, and the other is a highly touted D-1 prospect. Watch, then please stick around for the end, and the trash talk.

The trash talk at the end is truly the best part. Zaire yelling at his dad, maybe a top-three shooting guard in the history of the NBA, that he should try and do jump shots “and see what happens” is so perfect it warms me. He told Dwyane Wade to see what happens!

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LeBron James shares son Bronny’s Freshman year HS mixtape

LeBron James showed off the highlights of his son Bronny from his freshman season with Sierra Canyon.

It’s been a long time since but one of the forgotten sports events that got cancelled due to the spread of coronavirus throughout the United States was Bronny James Jr. and his Sierra Canyon Trail Blazers squad getting to play for the state championship. After a game-winner by Stanford-bound Ziaire Williams, the Blazers made it to the state championship game before the hiatus of sports in North America. And while the team didn’t get a chance to defend the title they had held for the previous two years, Bronny has plenty to be proud of having played for one of the best high school teams in the country.

Bronny’s Dad LeBron James was plenty proud, sharing this highlight video of Bronny’s freshman season on his Instagram Story.

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Bronny had several big moments as a freshman, including some huge plays in a win against his father’s alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary’s. Bronny has also been testing his “Call of Duty: WARZONE” skills against other NBA players during the quarantine.

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Zaire Wade to go to Brewster Academy for post-grad year

The oldest son of Dwyane Wade will pursue his hoop dreams at the lauded Brewster Academy in New Hampshire.

The oldest son of Dwyane Wade, Zaire Wade, who transferred to Sierra Canyon for his senior season to play with Bronny James, as well as other high-ranked prospects like Stanford’s Ziaire Williams, has decided to take a different path in following his hoop dreams than going straight to college.

Wade will be taking a post-grad year and continuing the pursuit of his hoop dreams at the well-regarded Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. Several NBA players, including Isaiah Thomas, Denver’s Will Barton, Charlotte’s Devonte’ Graham, and Indiana’s TJ Warren, all spent some time at Brewster during their youth. Wade announced his decision on Instagram on Tuesday.

LeBron James shared his best wishes to Wade: “Good luck nephew! Go get it! šŸ™šŸ¾šŸ’ŖšŸ¾ā¤ļø”

According to recruiting analyst Jake Weingarten, Wade has a couple of Division I offers but is deciding to take another year to develop.

Wade dealt with injuries for the first part of the season with Sierra Canyon, while his father Dwyane wasn’t shy to publicly air his displeasure with Sierra Canyon’s coach Andre Chevalier for not giving Zaire enough playing time down the final stretch of the season.Ā Hopefully, for the Wades, the fresh start and the extra year of development will help Zaire have a better runway into his college career.

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