DeMar DeRozan had a very real conversation about mental health after retiring when Dwyane Wade featured on the second episode of his podcast, Dinners with DeMar. Mental wellness is the running theme of his show and D-Wade is a big proponent of the same. It stems from his own experiences which he expressed on this show.

Wade confessed he had a reserved personality as a young man which he carried forward when he retired in 2019. “When I was retiring I was like, ‘Okay, I never really been… I never been to therapy really.'” He goes on to credit Gabrielle Union for her support at that time. “My wife has introduced me to a few things along the way but I never really been to therapy.”

A lot of NBA stars are open about the difficult transition from actively playing in the NBA to retirement. That was a difficult phase for the Miami Heat legend too. “I was like you know what one thing I do know is since basketball was my therapy, what am I going to do with all this built-up emotions that I normally will pour out onto the basketball floor, onto my opponents, my rage, my anger?”

Wade’s fear was those emotions will pour out on the people closest to him. “And I didn’t want to do that to my family.” His search for an outlet and a person to talk to led him to seek therapy after retirement.

From there, Wade was able to recalibrate and discover many outlets to maintain his mental health. He said he’s gotten into meditation, yoga, wellness apps, as well as works with a life coach. He also adopted ‘me time’ into his routine like waking up at the crack of dawn to enjoy some solitude at the beach. And it wouldn’t have been possible if he didn’t take the first step into therapy.

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The 3x NBA champion admitted that therapy made him understand that basketball is not his only outlet. His approach has extended towards his family too.

Mental Health is a Wade Family priority

After 16 seasons, Dwyane Wade called it an NBA career in 2019. He said one of the things on his retirement checklist was seeing a therapist. Back then he admitted that he was resistant to the idea until Union introduced him to it. Since then, he’s been determined to break the stigma surrounding mental health.

Gabrielle Union told Russell Westbrook’s wife, Nina, that it took her a while to convince the NBA star to get into therapy. She then said that he’s become a different person since therapy. Union and Wade get both couples and individual therapy. She confirmed that it has made their marriage stronger.

They also make sure the older kids like Zaire and Zaya can access all the resources for their own mental health needs. Through their vocal advocacy, they break the stigma one step at a time.

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