Chicago native Dwyane Wade was a guest on Wednesday morning's Dan Patrick Show, which aired on Comcast SportsNet. The Miami Heat guard talked with the show's namesake and host about his offseason during the ongoing NBA lockout, fatherhood and a new product he's endorsing, Court Grip, which is designed to improve traction on shoes while playing basketball.
Wade also spoke to Patrick about his prospects of playing professionally overseas this season
"I don't know. I'm a father first. I have to make decisions on what's best for my kids, first of all. If it gets to that point where I have to make the hard decision, then I would think about it, but right now. I still have hopes that the NBA season will still come about. But not now, not thinking of it yet," said Wade.
"Well, it's a lot of rumors," he continued. "I didn't see a contract. I just heard rumors. The best rumor, I think it was like, to play for, I think at the time, 2 million or something like that.
"It was some rumors with a China team. That was before they came out with the ruling that if you play for a China team, you're stuck over there."
However, he emphasized that he has no concrete offers on the table.
"No, nothing that I've seen and is something that I can consider and look at, and can say, 'If this doesn't work out,' because I'm not focusing on it and my team understands what our focus is. My focus is getting back in the NBA because I have kids and I can't just uproot and move like that, so things will have to be decided and changed if I have to do that," he said. "I'm just enjoying time being a more active parent."
NBA
Wade also reflected upon his childhood in Chicago -- "Obviously I was Michael Jordan a lot of times growing up," he said about the common practice of pretending to be an NBA player when shooting hoops as a youth -- telling a humorous story about attending a Bulls game.
"I was playing with a team at the time where if you win the championship of a certain league, you get to go play at halftime of the Bulls' games. It just so happened that we went to go play before the Bulls game -- it wasn't halftime, but it was before the Bulls game -- this one and we won the championship on the court and got to stay for the game," said Wade. "The Bulls were coming in as we were sitting there and watching the dancers. So, Jordan and Phil Jackson were coming in and I run with everybody else and I try to shake Michael and Scottie Pippen's hands, and I can't get to them. So the only person I see is Phil and I shake Phil Jackson's hand and I go to the bathroom as a kid, and I say, 'Oh my God, I'm never washing this hand,' and then, I use the bathroom and I wash my hand.
"No, Phil is not really a fan of the Miami Heat," he added when asked if he's ever related the tale to the Hall of Fame coach. "I've never told him that story before."
Wade, who was neutral when asked if he was a fan of the Cubs or White Sox -- "I was a Chicago fan; I supported both."
Wade also chimed in on the NBA finals. "Today, because I've been asked questions about it," he said when asked about the last time he thought about the Heat's loss to the Mavericks. "Yeah, can't stand it," the All-Star guard added when asked about television commercials highlighting Dallas' title. "The worst thing on TV."
"I would like to say at one point, I will because I would want to learn from it, not just have an experience, but watch it and learn what went wrong," Wade continued, referencing watching tape of the series. "I probably won't watch it until the very, very end, but I will watch a lot of it."
The 2006 Finals MVP said Dirk Nowitzki, the 2011 Finals MVP was entitled to use Court Grip, the product he was hawking, although his rival wouldn't get any freebies.
"Yeah, Nowitzki is allowed to get it. He's got to go buy it," Wade quipped. "No, I wouldn't give him any more advantages than he already has because he's already a great player."
Aggrey Sam is CSNChicago.com's Bulls Insider. Follow him @CSNBullsInsider on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bulls information and his take on the team, the NBA and much more.