Dwyane Wade has found his fountain of youth, and it includes a lot of sweating.
In his 16th and final NBA season, the 36-year-old Heat guard is still constantly looking for an edge.
What’s working for Wade this season? Extra work behind the scenes, outside of shootaround, practices and games.
In advance of Monday’s win in Detroit over the Pistons, Wade made time for hot yoga even before the start of morning shootaround. It’s that extra sweat he’s chasing this season, and it’s working.
“He had a big time workout today, yoga and working out before our shootaround,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the Heat moving on to begin a four-game home stand Wednesday against the Spurs. “And our shootarounds aren’t the easiest. But he’s found the fountain of youth, and he’ll continue to get younger because of that work ethic.”
Wade, who signed a one-year, $2.4 million veteran’s minimum deal to return to the Heat this past summer, finished Monday’s contest with 18 points on 8 of 15 shooting. The performance included three dunks, which is two more than he had over the first eight games of the season.
Wade had not converted three or more dunks in a game since the Heat’s playoff win over the Raptors in Game 4 of their second-round series on May 9, 2016.
“I went to hot yoga this morning. I think it was the yoga,” Wade said with a smile. “As [Udonis Haslem] said, it was fast breaks, so I should dunk them. But, you know, I just had an opportunity. I’m getting my legs under me now. I’ve definitely been feeling a lot better over the last week and a half, so I’m getting my legs back.”
Feeling better and playing better.
Over the past three games, Wade has averaged 18.7 points on 55.3 percent shooting from the field and 46.2 percent shooting from three-point range to go with three assists. He’s now scored at least 18 in five of the Heat’s past seven games.
Wade, who has played as the first reserve off the bench in most games, is averaging 14.3 points, four rebounds and 2.9 assists this season. And he’s played in each of Miami’s first nine regular-season games, including both ends of the team’s first two back-to-back sets.
Among bench players who have played in at least five games this season, Wade’s scoring average ranks 10th.
Wade is getting his points a little differently this season, too. He’s averaging a career-high four three-point shot attempts per game and is making the shot at a career-best 41.7 percent rate.
It’s just part of the evolution of Wade’s game. Even in his final NBA season, he’s still making tweaks and looking for an edge.
“I love seeing this version of Dwyane over the years and how he’s evolved and how much work he’s put in behind the scenes that nobody sees,” Spoelstra said. “The fountain of youth is a bunch of work, a bunch of sweat, a bunch of pushing your body to exhaustion when nobody is watching just to keep that edge.”
Whiteside’s MRI negative
An MRI on Heat center Hassan Whiteside’s injured right knee returned negative. He’s listed as questionable for Wednesday’s home game against the Spurs.
Whiteside missed Monday’s win over the Pistons because of the injury after hurting his knee in Saturday’s loss to the Hawks. It marked the first game he’s missed this season.
Whiteside missed 28 games due to various injuries last season. But 18 of them were because of two separate bone bruises on his left knee.
This time, the right knee is the one bothering Whiteside.
The Heat remains without James Johnson and Dion Waiters, who have yet to play this season and will not play Wednesday. Johnson is recovering from May hernia surgery and Waiters is recovering from January ankle surgery.