Dwyane Wade’s Wife Gabrielle Admits Losing Her Mind Over Husband’s Infamous “Purple Shirt Man” Encounter

Some would still hold the ‘Purple Shirt Man’ responsible for the Charlotte Hornets’ loss in playoffs to the Miami Heat. For those who are unaware, the guy was a fan of the Hornets, who thought heckling Dwyane Wade could help his team secure a win over the Miami Heat. Little did he know The Flash would lose his patience against the Hornets, leading the Heat to a 97-90 win. However, it was not just Wade but his wife as well who lost her temper that day, as revealed recently.  

This comes after Josh Richardson recalled the whole incident in a recent episode of ‘The OGs’. Union Wade shared The OGs’ Instagram post to her IG story section and captioned it, “One of my favorite “F-U” moments of @dwyanewade career. I was losing my mind!!!” Meanwhile, D-Wade also shared The OGs’ post to his IG story and wrote, “Purple Shirt Man 🤫.” 

Appearing on the show with Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller, Richardson had faced the question of the best performance he ever saw from one of his teammates. The question straight away took the 30-year-old NBA star to the game with ‘Purple Shirt Man’. Josh recalled being in the stands when Dwyane Wade made around 25 points in Game 6, tying the series at 3-3. Speaking precisely, the 13x All-Star scored team-high 23 points in that game against the Hornets.  

Notably, Wade is not known for making many 3-point attempts, as he has averaged just 1.8 three-point field goal attempts in his career. But the heckling by ‘Purple Shirt Guy’ and him telling Wade to retire changed something inside The Flash. He went on to land 2 of his 2 3-point attempts, further bringing the field goals to 10 of 20. 

“D-Wade shooting step back threes, turn around and looking at this dude at the sidelines all the way back. I was like, ‘No way’. And I’m literally standing on the wing every time down the court, throwing him the ball…” Richardson recalled on the podcast. 

The ‘Purple Shirt Man’ from Dwyane Wade’s popular story

According to a 2016 article by The Charlotte Observer’s Theoden Janes, the Purple Shirt Guy’s real name was Michael Deason, who was in his 40s when the incident occurred. And he had refused to take the blame for the Hornets’ loss in Game 6.

“No, I didn’t lose the game for them last night. Hell, did I win the game for them in Game 3 and 4? Because I was cheering a hell of a lot louder in Game 3 and 4,” Deason told Theoden Janes. According to the article in The Charlotte Observer, Deason was a season-ticket holder for about seven years, who drove down to every game from the Greensboro area.

However, the incident with the Heat was not a one-time thing, as Deason had claimed that there was bad blood between him and the franchise. “Those guys, they don’t like me… The coach (Erik Spoelstra) doesn’t like me, the players get in trouble if they talk to me,” he revealed. The dynamic, thus, led Deason to step it up a little when the Heat played in his home turf. And he emerged successful in stepping it up, for even today many would remember who the ‘Purple Shirt Guy’ was.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.