“I’ve never been an analyst. Jumping into the Olympics has been a big challenge.” Earlier this year, Dwyane Wade spoke about the challenging role at the Olympics, which was different from his previous TNT stint. The 3x Champion worked alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Candace Parker & Adam Lefkoe from 2019 to 22. But recently NBC Sports handpicked the Olympian as its color commentator for the Paris Olympics. However, it’s not NBC, that is currently scouting the Heat legend for a studio role.

Two months ago, Richard Deitsch of The Athletic, said that Dwyane Wade would get strong consideration for an analyst position. An Instagram page shared that news and the Heat legend got backing from 2 former stars. His Heat teammate Udonis Haslem wrote, “Yessir…🫡.” And free agent analyst Jamal Crawford commented, “As he should! Respect.” Despite the positive support, ESPN did not consider the Marquette alumnus a frontrunner for the role.

Dwyane Wade was not the first choice a month ago

Previously Marchand shared a list of the top four candidates at ESPN. Plus, he also mentioned a fifth option, but none of them included Dwyane Wade. The senior writer at The Athletic reported Grant Hill, Jay Bilas, Tim Legler, and Richard Jefferson and explained the reasoning for the same.

The void of JJ Redick who accepted the coaching role with the Lakers could potentially be filled by former Duke stars. Hill currently is under contract with TNT Sports but Bilas is ESPN’s top college basketball commentator and also covers the NBA Draft. However, many consider the latter an outside-the-box choice, plus Marchand revealed the choice to be a “longshot.” However, people who are not a long shot are Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson.

Legler is considered a choice that is flying under the radar. But recently there were reports of him discussing a new contract and that ESPN leadership was on board with Legler getting more opportunities. Lastly, the person who was the front runner before the management zeroed in on Redick. Once again, Jefferson has emerged as the top choice.

In the same Marchand report, he stated another possibility of ESPN using only a two-man booth of just Breen and Burke. However, it seems that Dwyane Wade is on the list now. Maybe with no update from NBC and Amazon, ESPN felt it might be the right time to approach the Heat legend.