--- title: Dwayne Wade Cried After He Heard He Was Prince's Favorite description: Dwayne Wade got emotional after finding out that he was the Purple's One's favorite player. canonical: https://time.com/4316831/dwayne-wade-prince-basketball-player/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-03T19:44:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:32:06.035Z og:title: Dwayne Wade Cried After Learning He Was Prince's Favorite Player og:description: Here's what made him tear up og:url: https://time.com/4316831/dwayne-wade-prince-basketball-player/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3579b743be5ee41/698891ae5f570f0aa2b20c1d/dwyane-wade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Charlotte Hornets v Miami Heat- Game Five og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dwayne Wade Cried After Learning He Was Prince's Favorite Player twitter:description: Here's what made him tear up twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3579b743be5ee41/698891ae5f570f0aa2b20c1d/dwyane-wade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dwayne Wade Cried After Finding Out He Was Prince's Favorite Basketball Player  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 3, 2016 7:44 PM UTC  Dwyane Wade on April 27, 2016 in Miami, Fla. Dwyane Wade on April 27, 2016 in Miami, Fla.Issac Baldizon—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 3, 2016 7:44 PM UTC If you watched the final Round 1 game between the [Miami Heat](http://time.com/4249878/miami-heat-mascot-flip-fail/?iid=sr-link1) and the Charlotte Hornets this weekend, you probably caught Dwayne Wade tearing up during the National Anthem. Wade’s emotional state wasn’t nerves for the game, however — it turns out that the [13 season NBA champ](http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1838712024001%5F2124464,00.html) has just learned that he was [Prince](http://time.com/4303558/prince-dead-paisley-park-57/?iid=sr-link2)‘s favorite basketball player. Wade took to Twitter last night to explain his waterworks, which were apparently triggered by listening to a recent radio interview with the late legendary musician. > [](https://twitter.com/DwyaneWade/status/727249909800419329) > [](https://twitter.com/DwyaneWade/status/727250169419419648) > [](https://twitter.com/DwyaneWade/status/727250573658042373) Prince singling out Wade as his favorite baller was a compliment of the highest order and not just because of the artist’s icon status; the Purple One was a [talented basketball player himself](http://time.com/4304366/prince-dead-sports-wnba-basketball-minnesota-lynx/), playing the game throughout high school and perhaps most memorably beating Charlie and Eddie Murphy in a now-legendary pickup game that eventually became a beloved [Dave Chapelle skit](http://www.cc.com/video-clips/e748yj/chappelle-s-show-charlie-murphy-s-true-hollywood-stories---prince---uncensored). You can listen to the full audio of Damaris Lewis’ interview with Prince below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4316831/dwayne-wade-prince-basketball-player/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4316831/dwayne-wade-prince-basketball-player/"},"headline":"Dwayne Wade Cried After Finding Out He Was Prince's Favorite Basketball Player","datePublished":"2016-05-03T19:44:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:06.035Z","description":"Here's what turned on the waterworks.","url":"https://time.com/4316831/dwayne-wade-prince-basketball-player/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Basketball","Sports topic","Prince","Miami Heat"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3579b743be5ee41/698891ae5f570f0aa2b20c1d/dwyane-wade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3579b743be5ee41/698891ae5f570f0aa2b20c1d/dwyane-wade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Charlotte Hornets v Miami Heat- Game Five","caption":"Dwyane Wade on April 27, 2016 in Miami, Fla.","creditText":"Issac Baldizon—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4316831/dwayne-wade-prince-basketball-player/","name":"Dwayne Wade Cried After Finding Out He Was Prince's Favorite Basketball Player"}}]}] ```