Dwyane Wade gets real about Olympics basketball broadcasting debut on NBC

The men’s basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics not only features perhaps the best American team ever assembled, but also one of the most legendary NBA athletes ever to call games on the mic for NBC in Dwyane Wade.

Fans were hyped during Wade’s debut for new NBA broadcaster NBC alongside Noah Eagle in Paris over the weekend, calling Victor Wembanyama and France downing Brazil while Kevin Durant made his return from injury for Team USA to lead a blowout victory over Serbia.

Still, while Wade’s enthusiasm and instincts make him a natural on color commentary, it’s clear he is still pretty green as a broadcaster. During Team USA’s win over reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and Serbia, Wade acknowledged he was having trouble not saying “we” about the Americans. And he was clearly very attached to a few new catch phrases.

Wade embraced being a rookie broadcaster in a post on X after the first weekend of games, reposting a fan’s video claiming Wade didn’t know what he was doing but was having fun.

“Yooo, the accuracy,” he wrote back. 

Yooo 🤣 The accuracy 🤣 https://t.co/VrdnWiOfpj

— DWade (@DwyaneWade) July 28, 2024

Especially in the early round games, featuring lopsided results and some unknown teams and players, all NBC and its viewers really need is a smart, entertaining analyst. Time will tell whether in a truly big moment, Wade will snap into basketball breakdown mode and how his style changes.

Still, like Jamal Crawford showed on TNT during this year’s NBA postseason, younger energy and passion each go a long way. Wade is more than capable of bringing fans into a moment. If he’s basketball’s Rowdy Gaines for now, that’s just fine too.

Wade cohosted the Tuesday edition of TNT’s NBA studio show from 2019-2022.

Either way, Wade took the humble approach to criticism here and proved he is eager to accept feedback from fans, learn, and get better.

[Dwyane Wade on X]