The Heat will be without Dwyane Wade for the near future.
Wade told the Associated Press on Sunday that he will miss at least another week before resuming his final Heat season to continue bonding with and caring for his newborn daughter. Wade and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union-Wade, had the baby via a surrogate on Wednesday.
The baby’s name has not been publicly released yet. Wade posted a photo on Instagram of himself carrying his daughter at his Los Angeles home.
It’s Wade’s fourth child and Union’s first. Wade has three sons — Zaire, Xavier and Zion.
“With my daughter coming a couple weeks early, she’s a little tiny right now, so we’re making sure health-wise that she’s OK,” Wade said to the Associated Press. “And for me, once I leave and go back to the season, not really being able to be with me everywhere I go, this time right now, this bonding moment with my daughter is the most important thing in my life at this time.”
Missing another week means the Heat will be without Wade, at the minimum, in Monday’s game against the 76ers, Wednesday’s game against the Nets, Friday’s game against the Pacers and Sunday’s game against LeBron James and the Lakers. Wade, before he retires, will have one other regular-season opportunity to faces James, when the Heat travels to take on the Lakers on Dec. 10.
Wade has already missed the Heat’s past three games due to the birth of his daughter.
When asked about Wade’s availability on Friday, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the team will give the 12-time All-Star “as much time as he needs.”
In a memoir, “We’re Going To Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True,” released in 2017, Union-Wade opened up about her struggles to have a baby with Wade and revealed she’s had multiple miscarriages. Wade, 36, married Union-Wade, 46, in August 2014.
When Wade announced in a September video he would return to the Heat for one final NBA season, he spoke about how much family factored into his decision: “Can I deal with the travel? Can I be away from my family? Is it selfish of me to continue to be away from my family? Can I miss my son’s games? Can I not be there at moments that they need me? Can I not read to my kids as much as I want? Can I not be there to support wife. These things to you guys might seem small. But to me, they’re real.”
What wasn’t known publicly at that time was that he and Union were expecting the birth of their first child together.
“Our situation is different,” Wade said to the Associated Press. “The world expects moms to take time off from work. They never expect dads to be the ones who take time away. Because of the route we took to this, it’s important that not also my wife but also me take this time. I was going to take the whole year. I was going to retire this summer. But I decided to just take a little time in between instead.”
Wade is averaging 14.3 points on 45 percent shooting, four rebounds and 2.9 assists in nine games this season.