Dwyane Wade is looking back on the moment he found out he was being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
“It became real when I got the call, you know?” Wade, 41, told Craig Melvin on TODAY Monday. “And all the memories come back. Like, everything that you’ve been through. The moments you wanted to quit … everything rushed back.
"But ultimately, I was just like, ‘Are y’all sure y’all got the right number?’” he added with a laugh.
Wade was inducted into the hall of fame in a ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Aug. 12.
The three-time NBA champion told Craig that while he wasn’t completely surprised to be receiving the honor, he still had to process the news.
“I thought I put a career together that will put me in a place where I could be first-ballot,” he said. “But it’s still different when you get that call.”
Wade was inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside several fellow NBA greats, including Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker and Pau Gasol.
“This is one of the greatest Hall of Fame classes ever,” Wade said. “What a way to end my career, to be a part of one of the greatest teams ever to go into the Hall of Fame.”
Wade played for the Miami Heat for the majority of his career: from 2003 to 2016, and again from 2018 to 2019.
He won three NBA championships, was a 13-time NBA All-Star, and in 2021, he was named one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history.
As he looks back on his incredible career, Wade is fully owning his achievements.
“It’s a lot of great players that (have) come through Miami,” he said on TODAY. “It will be a lot of great players. And one day, it would be someone else that would challenge it, and they will say they’re the greatest. But not today. Today, it’s me.”
Craig also asked Wade what he would like people to say about the way he played the game.
“That I gave my all to it,” Wade said. “And at the end of the day, my all landed me 13 All-Stars, three championships, top 75, Hall of Fame, and so forth and so on. You can’t take it from me. I did it.”
Wade celebrated his hall of fame induction over the weekend with an emotional acceptance speech.
He brought his dad, Dwyane Tyrone Wade, on stage with him and thanked him for his guidance and support.
“This one right here, this one is for my father. I love you, and I’m thankful for you,” he said. “We’re in the Hall of Fame, dawg!”