Dwyane Wade mulls overseas, stands by Michael Jordan, puzzled by Shaq

Dwyane Wade was planning to be in the air Thursday. Instead, he finds himself grounded in the reality that his short-term NBA future is up in the air.

On a day he should have been in flight to Cleveland for a Friday game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Miami Heat guard instead found himself at the Jose Marti Gym, on the set of a commercial shoot for a new Gatorade campaign that is launching early next year.

Launching, most likely, in the void of an NBA backdrop.

That had Wade considering where he stands in his career, with whom he stands, and how he stands with a former teammate.
In an interview with the Sun Sentinel, Wade said he plans to play competitive basketball this season, even if it means playing overseas amid the lockout.

But he also said he would not allow the lockout get in the way of his marketing relationship with Michael Jordan, even with the Charlotte Bobcats owner taking a hard-line stance against the players during the stalled negotiations over a new collective-bargaining agreement.

As for a former teammate using the lockout to break the locker-room code, Wade shook his head and smiled when Shaquille O'Neal's name was raised.

Foremost, Wade expressed disappointment over the lockout impasse.

"I can't imagine going a year without basketball and I don't think that will happen," he said. "Some way, some how, I'm going to be part of a team.

"I can't see myself sitting out a full year, not playing basketball, at some kind of high level. Obviously, the level I want to be playing on is the NBA level and that's what we're going continue to try to do, but if that is not the case, I will try to find a way where I can play at a high level."

With the lockout in its fifth month, he said it just might be time for Plan B.

"I have gotten on the phone with my agent, saying, 'Listen, maybe we need to peak our head on the other side and see the possibilities,' " he said of playing overseas. "Obviously, to have a season and go back January 1st and to know you need 30 days once the deal is complete, something's got to be done soon. But you've got to open up the possibility, so I am looking."

Relaxed amid the mayhem of the commercial shoot, Wade smiled through the interview, notably wearing a Jordan Brand sleeveless T-shirt.

Amid the recent height of lockout rancor, Jordan was singled out by several of Wade's union brethren for his uncompromising lockout stance against the players. Wade is among the leading endorsers of Jordan's apparel.

"I really didn't need to get involved in all that," Wade said. "Obviously I wear a different hat than certain other guys that got involved in it. And I stay away from it. I have an obligation and I have a job to do and I'm going to do my job."

Several players vowed to shun Jordan's merchandise, including Paul George, Klay Thompson and, most notably, Washington Wizards guard Nick Young, who posted on his Twitter account, "I'm not wearing Jordans no more. Can't believe what I just seen and heard from M.J. Elvis Done Left The Building."

"That's on Nick Young," Wade said. "That's his moment. Obviously, that's his own choice and decision and, you know, that's something he's going to have to deal with. I can't let that affect me. I have my own things to run, my own stuff to think about what I'm doing with my own shoes.

"Obviously, I heard about it, because you can't do nothing but hear about everything now, because there's nothing else to do."

Amid that void of games entered O'Neal, with his just-released autobiography and ensuing media blitz. Included in that blitz have been O'Neal tales of unease with then-Heat coach Pat Riley and Wade during the center's final days in South Florida, after the three shared in the 2006 NBA championship.

Wade said he felt O'Neal violated the players' code in revealing an ugly practice-court incident with Riley that led to O'Neal and Jason Williams being banished from the gym.

"Obviously I was there, so I knew some of the stuff that went down, so I laughed," Wade said. "It's not for the outside to know."

As for O'Neal now speaking of a diminished relationship with Wade, Wade said he was surprised.

"I did hear that and I didn't really understand that part," he said. "It's not the same relationship, but that won't be because I didn't want it to be. It's just the way it is.

"I've always praised Shaq and thanked him for everything he did for my career and for the Miami Heat, but he wanted to move on and he moved on."