Dwyane Wade Dishes On His Injuries Before The 2008 Olympics
On Netflix’s new documentary “The Redeem Team” former Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade touched on his 2007 injuries and how it affected his role in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“So I had come off a serious injury and it took a while for me to build myself to be back to that place that a lot didn’t think I would,” Wade said. “No one thought I would even be on the Olympic team because I didn’t recover the way I needed to and then I was having knee problems so I got surgery on both.”
While playing in a game against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 21, 2007, Wade dislocated his left shoulder and had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair. After missing 23 games, he returned back to the active roster.
However, about the 2007 playoffs, he decided to have successful surgeries on his injured shoulder and left knee. After the surgery, he went back to Chicago to rehabilitate his knee.
In the documentary, legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski mentioned Wade, to him, was “critical”.
“Coach K definitely wanted me to be a part of the team,” Wade stated. “Right? But Jerry Colangelo had some questions.”
“I did share with me, like, my thoughts I talked about when he came into the league,” sports executive Colangelo said. “He was really hungry, and he really established himself. But it appeared to me, from a distance, I felt that was missing. He wasn’t the same guy.”
Wade’s former teammate, Chris Bosh, chimed in, as well.
“You see the ascension and then injury,” Bosh mentioned. “And let’s be frank. The Heat sucked that year before and I think the year before that too. I mean, they had a rough run of it.”
Wade then discussed the journey he went through during that time.
“They had to come up to Chicago, watch me train, watch me work out. You know, talk to my trainer,” he said. “I did understand that but I was pissed because it was just a part of, like, my never-ending story of, you know, always feeling like they don’t appreciate you. You’ve been forgotten.”
“I was just trying to get myself back, get myself, you know, to that place,” Wade continued. “But I’m just sitting back watching like ‘Okay where do I fit in?’ Because I didn’t know if I fit in anymore.”
The 2008 USA Basketball Team would go on to defeat Spain and win the gold. Wade was their leading scorer with 16 points per game.
Cory Nelson is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson
