Dwayne Wade’s farewell tour through the NBA in his last season with the Miami Heat came with a lot of pomp and circumstance. He was honored at various venues — especially in Chicago — and at the end of games he would swap jerseys with an opponent and take some photos to amass a collection of jerseys from his final season.
The concept was wildly popular, and even spawned a beer commercial. But after a wild NBA offseason, the now-retired Wade says his jersey collection is rapidly looking out of date. Wade’s now-former Miami Heat team has been part of that chaos, signing Jimmy Butler in free agency and apparently taking part in a number of different trade talks, including for Russell Westbrook.
But as news spread that Westbrook is headed to Houston in a deal for Chris Paul, Wade’s initial reaction was surprise. He later told his Twitter followers that he had a lot to say about the deals that would, for now, remain private.
He did then make a pretty funny joke about his jersey swap tradition and how the collection now looks “kinda bootleg.”
Some photographic evidence does show that, well, a lot of these players will be sporting new threads this fall.
It’s been reported that Paul might still end up in Miami, too, so perhaps Wade should not ask for a replacement jersey from him just yet.