Jan 19, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Former Miami Heat player Dwayne Wade walks court-side during the second half of the game between the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks at Kaseya Center. Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Dwyane Wade may no longer be with TNT Sports, but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the loop on the NBA’s media rights negotiations. On his podcast, The Wine Down with Dwyane Wade, he hinted at the potential financial windfall for the league and its players when discussing the TV deal, even letting out a “cha-ching” sound.

Wade’s return to NBA media isn’t out of the question. Alongside Noah Eagle and LaChina Robinson, Wade will call Team USA Basketball games for NBC in Paris. That’s led to speculation that this could be a grand opportunity for both NBC and Wade, as Comcast finds itself in the driver’s seat in acquiring the NBA rights.

While Wade isn’t directly involved in those conversations, even with his newly announced gig, he weighed in on what a new media rights deal would mean for the players.

“What it means for the players is obviously salaries are gonna go up,” he said. “I’m sure they’re gonna figure out a way to not give everybody money right away, but over the course of time, percentage it up, that over the next few years — once the deal is done — maybe it raises 10% this year, another 10% the next year.

“The last Collective Bargaining Agreement, the last TV deal, the players got it. So, that’s why the salaries went up quickly. They didn’t slowly do it. Because we were over on the players’ side like, ‘Give me mine now.’ I think going forward, they would do that. It’s going to be so much money in the pot, and so it allows more money for everyone to do more things.

“So it’s going to be pretty cool to kind of watch, you know, these next ways of athletes. I mean, some guys are going to make a billion dollars from basketball. A billion dollars from the game of basketball — if done right. Like, some guys are gonna be able to make $100 million possibly per year when you talk about supermax and all these extra things you can add to the deals.

“It’s about to get good for these guys.”

Wade’s not thinking about returning to the NBA, but he does have a 10-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter, so he’s getting in the lab with his kids.

With a potential financial boom on the horizon, the NBA and its players are poised to enter a new era. Whether Wade ends up calling games for NBC or stays grounded with his stake in the Utah Jazz, his optimistic outlook reflects the exciting possibilities that lie ahead for the league and its stars.

[The Wine Down with Dwyane Wade]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.