Zaire Wade, Son of Dwyane Wade, Views Himself as an Underdog. And, No, He Didn't Know He Was Getting Picked By the Stars
In an interview with The Wes Side, the Salt Lake City Stars first-round pick discusses the decision to go straight to the G League and how being Dwyane Wade's son is fuel for the haters.
With sweat dripping onto his Salt Lake City Stars jersey after a practice last week, Zaire Wade sat in a chair to the side of a court and hopped on a Zoom call with a reporter.
It’s been little more than a month since Wade was drafted to the G League, bypassing the traditional collegiate route and offers from Nebraska, DePaul and Rhode Island. In his professional debut, Wade scored 10 points in 22 minutes off the bench, but he hasn’t scored in double figures since. In his first nine games, he is averaging 2.9 points on 33.3% shooting in 13.1 minutes. Those numbers have awoken the #haters, as Wade calls them in several Instagram posts. The ones who have been waiting for this 19-year-old son of future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade to fail.
“I view myself as the underdog because I have a lot of doubt against me and a lot of people wishing or hoping that I don’t make it,” Zaire explained.
“But come watch a game or two and you’ll see that I actually affect the game when I’m in there and it’s not just all about scoring.”
This is someone who appreciates the nuances of basketball that go beyond the athletic highlights that radiate on social media. But Zaire is also no stranger to the limelight. Raised by an NBA star father and a Hollywood actress stepmom, Zaire has 2 million Instagram followers. He was part of a vaunted Sierra Canyon high school team that included Bronny James, son of LeBron James, and a pair of five-star recruits now playing in the NBA. As a senior, his team played in a ballyhooed matchup against LeBron’s alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary’s in a 20,000-seat arena in Columbus, Ohio. Compared to that, his first professional experience in Salt Lake City has been quaint.
So it should not have been a surprise when nearly two weeks before the G League draft, The Athletic reported Zaire would be joining the affiliate of the Utah Jazz — the franchise of which Dwyane is a part-owner. The Wades swear they didn’t know the Stars would take Zaire, and a viral video of his emotional day underscored the family’s elation. Now Zaire is focused on his next step: Making the NBA.
During a video call from the Stars practice facility Friday afternoon, Zaire discussed the path he is trying to blaze from Plantation’s American Heritage and L.A.’s Sierra Canyon, a brief stint at the prep school Brewster Academy and an attempt at Australia’s pro league, to being part of a movement of high schoolers going straight to the G League. This is someone who is impressively self-aware and accepting of the challenge that lies in front of him. He makes sure to point out how fortunate he is and knows he has plenty of support. But of course, as someone with elite athlete blood, it’s the underdog mentality that drives him.
Do you consider L.A. home at this point?
No. I consider Miami home, always.
You’ve moved around a lot early in your life. Chicago, South Florida, L.A., now Salt Lake City. Does it almost feel like you’ve already lived an NBA lifestyle a little bit?
I wouldn’t call it an NBA-player lifestyle, but I think I’ve lived a busy lifestyle, traveling in general, bouncing around. Even last year I was in New Hampshire for a few months at Brewster Academy. So I’m pretty used to traveling around and stuff.
I imagine it could have been pretty hard at times. Being a kid and having to constantly change cities, change schools…
Yeah, man. It definitely was a challenge but I think it helped me with adversity. If I had a certain amount of friends in Miami or a situation that I thought was good and I had to move from that right away and change it all. I think that really helped me, coming here with these older guys, just having to adapt.
Can you take me into the decision to bypass college and go straight to the G League?
First of all, I never knew I was going to the G League until, like, very recent — but I’ll get to that. My senior year, I was at Sierra Canyon, and I tore some ligaments in my ankle and that had forced me to sit for most of the season and then even when I came back I had some problems. So I thought it was best for me to go to prep school and get seen one more time. To go to college, that was the plan. I had some offers but I just wanted to increase them a little bit more. And once we went to prep, unfortunately, COVID happened. I couldn’t really play in any games there. So after that, no colleges was sold on throwing an official offer because they didn’t have enough film for the past year-and-a-half.
One of the big reasons for me going for it was — RIP to Terrence [Clark]. Before he died he said just go for my dreams. So our first initial plan was to go overseas, go the pro route in Australia. Had a few workouts with the teams, got a lot of good feedback. But just exploring all the different options, my dad was like “We can always give the G League a try, see how that goes. You gotta put the work in, bro.” So that’s how it came about.
But you did get an offer from Nebraska. Was Gabrielle Union pushing for you to go there?
(Laughs) She wasn’t pushing me as much as people think. She was very happy to see that Nebraska genuinely saw a lot of interest in me because that was one of the first official offers that I got.
So you scored 10 points in your G League debut, you’re about a month into the season. How has the G League experience been?
It’s been great, man. I’m learning. I’m 19, I just came out of high school, so playing with all these guys here, it’s fun. Every day they all pick me up like big brothers. Sometimes I may get in my own head because I messed up in practice but they always pick me up and I always correct it after that. But, as far as in the game, I’m just finding my niche, finding my role, finding my minutes. That first game, I had the 10 points but we didn’t come up with the W. So now I’m just focused on how I can help the team win. The coaching staff always tells me that we have scorers on this team. I know from the outside looking in a lot of people are looking at my averages and things like that, but come watch a game or two and you’ll see that I actually affect the game when I’m in there and it’s not just all about scoring.
What are some of the things coaches are working with you on? What’s the development process for you?
I think the first thing is turning into a defensive pest. Being my height, my size (He’s listed 6-foot-3, 170 pounds), gotta be able to guard 94 feet. So I’ve been taking on that challenge in the game, putting defense first. In high school, it’s kind of different. No one takes defense as serious as they do out here — and you got to or you’re gonna get exposed. Coach been telling me that defense is gonna be how I earn my minutes on the court. That and making the right reads. I’m a good passer but I’ve been having to work on when to pass and who to pass it to, if that makes sense.
There’s been videos of you working out with NBA players over the summer, Ben Simmons, Jordan Clarkson. Obviously, you’ve hooped with your dad. How has that helped you with the transition to the G League?
When I play with those guys in the summer, the pace is really fast. They shoot, they get out and run after they shoot. Same thing here in the G League. Ball goes up, gotta hurry and sprint back.
You were at Sierra Canyon, a loaded team with Bronnie, B.J. [Boston] and you, and now you’re in the G League. I’ve covered G League games before, it’s a different kind of environment. Not a ton of media coverage. But it’s more of a pure hoops environment. Has that been your experience?
Yeah man, I agree with you. I think high school… it wasn’t a distraction, it was fun, obviously. But we had, what, 20,000 fans at the game we played in [Ohio]. It’s the difference of focusing in on the game and not having all that extra stuff to worry about. You see “Ball is Life” on shirts or “Slam” or whatever, you kind of get distracted in high school. You’re like, “Oh man, lemme try to do something.” Now there ain’t no guys on the baseline trying to catch highlights. Now coach is going to drill you if you do something wrong in film, so that’s really what you play for now.
On Instagram, you talk a lot about being the underdog and haters. I think a lot of people who don’t know you would find that strange from the son of a future Hall of Famer. Where does that come from?
If you go ask anybody, “What do you think of Zaire Wade, do you think he’s gonna be an NBA player?” Most of them will say “No, I don’t think he’s good. I think he’s trash.” That’s where it comes from. It doesn’t matter who my dad is, that’s an underdog right there. But if you go ahead and ask if someone like [Duke freshman] Paolo [Banchero], No. 1 pick, “You think he’s gonna go to the league?” The other person is gonna say yeah. So I view myself as the underdog because I have a lot of doubt against me and a lot of people wishing or hoping that I don’t make it and I don’t succeed. Which is fine. I thank God every day for the situation I’ve been born into and I tell everybody I didn’t ask for this, I’m blessed to have it. I’m not trying to say anything about money or anything like that, I just feel I’m an underdog because not a lot of people believe in me.
And that video of you getting drafted is moving. What were you thinking and feeling when that was happening?
Believe me or not, I didn’t think I was going to get picked by Salt Lake. I don’t know why, but I was just like “Nah, I don’t think so.” And even if I did I was thinking I was gonna be in a different round or whatever. It didn’t matter to me what round I got picked, I just was hoping for the opportunity, man. So when I saw my name, it was like, man… we all saw it at the same time and everybody start screaming. And right after the cameras went off, I just started crying a little bit. I see a lot of comments from people saying “You’re not supposed to be there in the G League,” all this stuff, blah, blah, blah. To be honest, a lot of people last year were saying that they didn’t think I was gonna be here. They didn’t think I was going to make it here. It’s enough for me that I’m here. Now I just gotta keep going and get to the [NBA].
You and your dad say you didn’t know the Stars would draft you, but there was that report a few days before the draft that you were expected to go to Salt Lake City. Where did that come from?
That’s the media switching up things, man. Everybody who was going into the draft, we had to sign a player contract. And as you know [LiAngelo] Ball signed his and the big news came out that Gelo just signed his contract in the G League. That didn’t mean he was going to the Hornets, it was just the standard contract for the G League. So the day after my dad was like “Are you ready to sign your contract?” Not saying that you’re getting signed, just the standard contract to get drafted. I said yeah, and that was a big decision, a big moment, and he posted it [on social media]. I guess a lot of people thought I was signing a contract directly with the Stars.
The goal obviously is to make it to the NBA. What do you think your next steps are? How do you get there?
Man, first I need to get this mental thing down pat. Stay locked in, get over this hump of listening to the outside noise, all that extra stuff, things like that. On the court, physically, just keep improving every day. Coach tells me that I’m trying to build a brick wall and you can’t put all the bricks on there at once. Day by day, place one brick at a time perfectly. So right now I’m just placing the bricks.
This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed.