Retirement can wait at least one more year for Dwyane Wade.
The 36-year-old is staying with the Miami Heat, announcing on Sunday that he's returning for a 16th and final NBA season.
He basically spent the entirety of the past four months weighing his options, and retirement was an extremely real possibility in his mind.
Instead, he'll be back in Miami, as the Heat desperately hoped. He's expected to sign a $2.4 million, one-year deal later this week.
"I've always did things my way," Wade said in an emotional social media video that he recorded on Sunday afternoon and released in the evening.
"Whether they've good or whether they've been bad, I got here because I've done things the way I feel is right for me and right for my family.
"And what I feel is right ... I feel it's right to ask you guys to join me for one last dance, for one last season.
"This is it. I've given this game everything that I have, and I'm happy about that, and I'm going to give it for one last season."
Wade is Miami's career leader in points, assists, steals and games played.
A person familiar with Wade's thinking told The Associated Press that the guard was strongly considering retirement until late last week, when Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and others made a late push to help him decide.
Wade's return basically means that Miami will have the same team as last season, when it went 44-38 and claimed the No.6 seed in the eastern conference playoffs.
This time, though, the Heat will have Wade from the season's outset.
Wade returned to the Heat in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers last February.
He appeared in 26 games with Miami, all off the bench and averaged 12.9 points.
Share
