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Dwyane Wade uses Hall of Fame speech to praise Allen Iverson
Some NBA players choose a teammate to present them to the Hall of Fame. Dwyane Wade chose his hero.
"I'm a kid from the inner city," Wade said. "Allen Iverson represented us. He just broke the mold...I wore No. 3 because of Allen Iverson. He showed me, 'I can do it it my way. I can be me and still be great.' So I'm thankful for Allen Iverson."
Generally a Hall of Fame presenter talks up the player going into the Hall, but Wade reversed that for a portion of his speech. With Iverson sitting alongside him, Wade spoke directly to the 2001 MVP, who entered the Hall himself in 2016.
Wade told Iverson, "You are a living, breathing reminder that redemption and growth are possible...You are the culture and we love you and we thank you, Allen Iverson."
For his part, Iverson arrived wearing a custom suit jacket featuring Wade's No. 3 Heat jersey on the back.
Iverson wasn't the only person Wade paid tribute to. Wade thanked his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, for "learning every ref’s name and screaming at them, so I didn’t have to, and saving me a lot of fine money."
And at the end, Wade brought up someone he owed "a debt of gratitude" - his father, Dwyane Wade, Sr.
"To know we hustled all the way to the Hall of Fame is God's will," Wade told his father. And while acknowledging his dad's bad knee, he asked him to "Join me on stage, as we take our rightful step into basketball heaven."
As Wade and his father tried to hold back tears, they each told the other they loved them. Then Wade punctuated the speech with a jubilant declaration.
"We in the Hall of Fame, dawg!"
More must-reads:
- Dwyane Wade predicts Hall of Fame for Heat star
- Dwyane Wade responds to being first Marquette alum Hall of Famer
- The 'Team USA Olympic basketball veterans' quiz
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