3 Years After Tragic Loss, Emotional Dwyane Wade Has A Tear Jerking Message For His ‘Second Father’: “Hank Will Be…”

Now that he’s a Hall of Famer himself, Dwyane Wade hangs out with stars bestowed with the same honor. The 3x NBA champion was recently seen repping Chicago alongside another NBA legend who also suited up for the Miami Heat in the past. The two legends of the game share another common connection. They were both represented by someone Wade considered a “father figure” until his demise in 2020. And The Flash made sure to give a shoutout to his ‘second father‘ after his HoF induction.

Wade couldn’t resist showing off his meeting with the former Heat star. They share more than a few similarities, but one is very close to the hearts of the Chicago natives.

Dwyane Wade and 5x All-Star’s common connection

The induction ceremony at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is always a star-studded affair. You’re bound to catch NBA pros, especially other HoF-ers in the signature orange jacket created by Haggar and the HoF logo, at the event. Dwyane Wade wasn’t just chilling with his presenter, Allen Iverson. He also ran into another Heat legend.

Tim Hardaway Sr. was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022. Wearing the recognizable Haggar jacket, he met Wade and had a warm interaction. The Connect?captured that meeting and shared the clip of them doing a cool handshake in cinematic slow motion on Instagram. They captioned it, “#DwyaneWade x #TimHardaway CHI-TOWN HALL OF FAMERS.”

In case fans didn’t notice the original post, Wade made sure of it by sharing this post on his Instagram Stories. He wrote a heartfelt message in his Stories to accompany the video. “Hank is proud of us both @ back to back hall of famers.”

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And he even dropped a comment on the original post. “[salute emoji] to a legend!”?he wrote under the post. But who was Hank? Widely regarded as one of the best sports agents in the business, Henry Hank Thomas represented NBA stars like Tim Hardaway Sr. Udonis Haslem, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade.

The basketball world was struck by the loss of Hank in 2020. Wade has referred to Hank as his “second father”?and was deeply affected by his loss. He’s sure Thomas would be proud of his players achieving great things still, including Hardaway and Wade’s back-to-back HoF honors in 2022 and 2023. That’s not the only connection between Wade and Hardaway, though.

The Flash and The Bug go way back

Hardaway’s son, Tim Hardaway Jr. proclaimed ‘The Flash’ was his favorite player since Tim Jr. grew up in Miami when his dad played with Heat from 1996 to 2001. The 31-year-old currently plays for the Dallas Mavericks.

Hardaway Jr. once said,?“The Miami Heat weren’t really doing all that well since they got rid of [Alonzo Mourning and my dad]…” Dwyane Wade, a Chicago native like Hardaway Sr., started his NBA career in 2003 with the franchise. For a while, he had a residence not far from where the Hardaways lived.

It wasn’t long before the future NBA champion met the NBA legend and his son. “Ever since that day that I met him, he’s been my favorite player, all through his career.” What are your thoughts on Wade remembering his second father just days after the HoF ceremony? Let us know in the comments.

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