Dwyane Wade likely to play in regular-season opener despite custody battle
While the revamped roster of the Miami Heat held an open scrimmage in front of 5,000 season ticket holders on Sunday 17 October, one key player was not in the building. In fact, he wasn’t
even in the same city.
Dwyane Wade, an important cog in Miami’s
Big Three, was in Chicago going through drills with assistant trainer Rey Jaffet as he continues his recovery from a strained right hamstring suffered during the first three minutes of the Heat’s first pre-season game on Tuesday 5 October.
But the main reason Wade was in his hometown of Chicago instead of his adopted town of Miami was because the shooting guard was testifying in court at his ongoing custody battle for his
two young boys, aged eight and three. The court proceedings, which began weeks ago and resumed Monday, have gotten ugly, with his ex-wife Siohvaughn Wade alleging her husband abandoned their children, owned guns, and consumed drugs.
The NBA player gave his version of the story today, denying all the allegations and saying that his ex-wife abused him, throwing a marble object at him during an argument at their home
in Florida.
"For the first time I have an opportunity to have my voice heard," Wade said before addressing the court.
While the Heat, including All-Star LeBron James, want to give Wade all the time he needs to sort out his family issues, they are hoping for the case to get resolved quickly so that he
can return to the court.
"What he's dealing with is way bigger than basketball," James said. "So when he's ready to come back, when he's ready to return, we'll accept him with open arms, of course. We'll make
sure we hold it down here. What he has going on, we're all in support, this whole organization, us as teammates, us as friends, us as a family."
On his Twitter feed, Wade said he won’t be back in time to play in tonight’s game against the Charlotte Bobcats. He was hoping to play in at least one of the Heat’s last two pre-season
games against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday 21 October and the Orlando Magic the following night. With his ongoing issues off the court, this now seems unlikely but Heat coach Erik Spoelstra remained hopeful that his All-Star would be back in time for the
start of the regular season on Tuesday 26 October.
"Hopefully," Spoelstra said, "if there's no setback."
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