Dwyane Wade is still one of the most famous NBA stars in the world despite retiring in 2019. However, he was a rookie this summer, calling the men’s basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics for NBC.
While his unusual catchphrases and cheering for Team USA got some attention, Wade was a passionate and smart announcer, even in his first go-round in the booth.
In an interview on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast released Thursday, NBC Olympics president and executive producer Molly Solomon gave full support for Wade and his future as a game analyst.
“It was a joy to watch him grow as a broadcaster,” Solomon said. “We took a swing with Dwyane. He had never really called games. He had done studio components. But when I talked to him about the opportunity, he was so smart and insightful in his comments that I knew it could translate. But we all know how difficult it is to call games because it’s so fast, but you see him growing every single day.”
Solomon explained that she and NBC loved some of Wade’s less-polished moments on the call. Wade was more than willing to work on his craft and improve.
“We would give him feedback, it would be incorporated the next day,” Solomon said. “We always knew he could analyze what was on the court, but could he do storytelling, could he go big-picture, and the energy? And we didn’t put him in a box. I know a couple of times, he would say things to Noah (Eagle) like, ‘great call, partner,’ and we love that joy. We didn’t want to make him follow the announcer rules, and I thought that was kind of the fun around it. So yes, I do think he has a future, and he was really a great teammate, a joy to work with.”
Solomon only oversees the Olympics at NBC, so it won’t be up to her whether the network pursues Wade full-time for its NBA booth starting next fall. But given that Wade already expressed interest in staying on to call the league in which he won four championships, Solomon likely wouldn’t be so positive if other executives at NBC didn’t share that sentiment.
With about a year to go until NBC will kick off its first year back with NBA rights, the network has time to talk with Wade about a full-time game analyst gig. But his first trial run went as well as anyone could have hoped.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.