Terry Rozier cites Dwyane Wade as main reason for Heat trade

To put it plainly, Wade is Rozier’s favorite basketball player since he grew up in Ohio, a state where he mentioned everybody else was a fan of LeBron James. However, he related more to Wade’s play style in comparison to James and ever since then “it just stuck with me.”

“That love started because I grew up in Ohio where everybody was a LeBron fan,” Rozier said. “But I’m not 6-foot-9, so I definitely related more to D-Wade. Just ever since he was at Marquette, just how competitive he was. So I started liking him early and it just stuck with me.”

Rozier and Wade had a jersey swap in 2019

Rozier has been open about his fandom for Wade, ever since they swapped jerseys with each other during the latter’s farewell season in a game against the Charlotte Hornets. There was a story told by Wade in 2019 where he mentioned how Rozier texted the legend very early in the morning and asked about the jersey swap.

“I got a text at 4 in the morning from Terry Rozier,” Wade said in 2019 per The Miami Herald. “He’s like, ‘Yo, I’m going to need that jersey.’ So I go and I look at when we’re playing them, thinking we’re about to play Boston. I’m like, ‘We don’t play y’all till January.’ So he put his request in early and let me know at 4 in the morning to make sure that when we play them, he needed that jersey. We have that kind of relationship.”

Full circle moment for Rozier and the Heat

Rozier said he has a room in his home that’s filled with a multitude of jerseys as Wade’s is front and center. The 30-year old Heat star guard would go on to say that besides Wade being his favorite player, he “modeled” his game after him.

“He’s my favorite player, he’s one of the main reasons why I play basketball, he’s who I modeled my game after,” Rozier said. “So it was only right that I got his jersey. That’s probably why I texted him two months before we actually played him. It probably just popped in my mind, but I wanted to make sure we got that out the way before anything. I didn’t want to ask him too late. But I’m glad I did and I’m glad my dream came full circle.”

The former Hornets guard will now look to live up to the standard Wade set for the franchise and be a part of winning as with the Heat this season, he’s averaging 15.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and five assists per game while shooting 41 percent from the field. With 10 games left in the season, Miami is 39-33 which puts them seventh in the Eastern Conference as their next game is against the Portland Trail Blazers Friday night.