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6 Years After Drug Suspension, 2X NBA All-Star Opens up About Sharing Heartfelt Moment With Hall of Fame Inductee Dwyane Wade: “It Meant a Lot to Me”

Published 08/14/2023, 1:14 AM EDT

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After playing 16 seasons in the league with three different teams, Dwyane Wade was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame. One of the greatest two guards to ever play the game, The Flash had one hell of a stellar career. During his time in the league, the Miami Heat legend had his fair share of ups and downs, along with winning three NBA championships. All the while helping opposing players as well. One such heartwarming Wade story lately came from a former Chicago Bulls All-Star.

This ex-center shared a heartfelt moment he had with the Hall of Famer during one of the lowest points in his career in the NBA without Wade knowing about it.

Former All-Star shares his Dwyane Wade story

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Former NBA All-Star Joakim Noah recently appeared on The Old Man and The Three Podcast with JJ Redick. Noah talked about a heartfelt moment he had with Dwyane Wade during his time with the New York Knicks.

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Noah said, “My first year, I had a knee injury, I had a shoulder injury, two surgeries. I had a drug suspension you know I didn’t want to play basketball anymore and I remember I was like okay. I get past all that and I’m back in the gym and I’m like a shell of myself.”

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“It’s probably like my second or third time after those two surgeries back in the gym and I’m at Pepperdine in Malibu,” Noah continued. “D-Wade has his coach on the other side of the court and I’m on the other side of the court and I’m Legit embarrassed. I’m like yo, I can’t, I can barely move and I remember.”

What stuck with Noah after all these years?

Joakim Noah went on to talk about his playing against Dwyane Wade and how it was back then. He said, “It was bad, like okay. We were competing against these guys but it was like it was bad blood. Like they weren’t f***ing with us, we weren’t f***ing  with them and like it was personal.”

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“And I remember like him being in the gym and like I didn’t even know where to put myself and I remember him on the sideline being like, ‘yo good luck and keep it up’. And I don’t even know if he knows this but it just like meant a lot to me and it said a lot. I was like, Yo, you know what? This. There are things that are just bigger than this you know.”

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Watch This Story: Hours before the controversial car show update, a $45 million rich rapper shows valuable Heat asset to Dwyane Wade

Clearly, Wade being a veteran by then knew how it was to come back from injuries and still compete on a high level. And his gesture towards Noah stuck with him even after these years.

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Written by:

Abhishek Dhariwal

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Abhishek Dhariwal is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports with a background in journalism and mass communication. Abhishek uses storytelling along with feedback gathering to curate elegant and exclusive content for ES. His writing covers a wide range of topics, from in-game coverage to off-court activities of NBA stars.
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Edited by:

Bilal Handoo