With the lockout in full effect and players busy making summer plans, Dwyane Wade is looking forward to his upcoming trip to China. Speaking at his D. Wade All-Star Basketball Camp in Fort Lauderdale, the Miami Heat star briefly met with the media after spending time with the campers. With several events scheduled during the summer, Wade was clearly the most excited about the prospects of returning to where he won Olympic gold with future teammates LeBron James and Chris Bosh.
“I’m really looking forward to going back to China. I haven’t been there since the Olympics. I read on Twitter and Facebook that a lot of fans in China want me to come back and are already marking the day that I come over there so I’m excited to finally come back over there and just enjoy China.”
Of course, he’ll be there for the fans and to promote his sponsors but his itinerary in China include a planned visit to a very interesting location.
“I want to go to different places,” continued Wade. “I told Brand Jordan that I want to go see where the magic happens, where the sneakers are made and I want to meet the people that make the sneakers.”
This is something I’ve personally never heard of where a sponsored athlete has actually expressed a desire to meet the workers that make his shoes. I had always imagined Wade to be a sneaker-head but this really proves his devotion to his hobby. Asked to clarify why he’s interested in visiting a shoe factory, Wade’s eyes practically beamed with joy as he spoke.
“I’m just the kind of person that I like to thank people,” he said. “I’m a sneaker guy and these are sneakers that I’ve been loving for so many years. I want to go over there and shake the hands that made them. Just to show them appreciation and thank them for doing it and for their talents. Because when my box is coming and I know I’ve got some new sneakers, you know how excited I am. So I want to go over there and give them the same excitement if I can.”
As for returning to the Dream Team, Wade claims he hasn’t made a decision yet whether he’ll participate in next summer’s Olympics in London and likely won’t do so until next year.
“We’ll see, it depends on a lot of things,” Wade said. “It depends on health, obviously. It depends on if I have a position, if the team needs me. I’ll be on it if they want me to but there will be a lot going into that decision. I’ll sit down with the people who I respect when it comes to that. I have to really sit down and think about it but right now I’m just in the middle. That’s so far away from right now. I got a lot of things to focus on before I get there.”
