Dwyane Wade Becomes A Minority Owner Of The Utah Jazz

Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Wade Becomes A Minority Owner Of The Utah Jazz

After retiring from the NBA in 2019, Dwyane Wade is taking on a new role in the league.

He has just bought an ownership stake in the Utah Jazz.

Dwyane Wade joins the likes of Grant Hill, who purchased a stake in the Atlanta Hawks, Shaquille O’Neal, who has a stake in the Sacramento Kings, and Michael Jordan, who is a majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. Magic Johnson once owned a 4% stake in his former team, Los Angeles Lakers.

Michael Jordan

The former Miami Heat star wants to have a very involved role as a minority owner, according to ESPN. 

He told the sports franchise,

“This goes way beyond the dream I had to just play basketball in the NBA. I’ve seen Shaq do it in Sacramento. I’ve seen Grant Hill do it in Atlanta. I’ve seen Jordan do it in Charlotte. If this partnership is going to be anything like my relationship is with Ryan, there are going to be a lot of things that I’ll want to be involved in.”

He continued and said the ownership role is one he takes seriously as it’s not often someone in the black community is able to reach the milestone.

“Unfortunately, people in my community don’t get this opportunity, and I do not take it lightly to have this opportunity. To make real change, this is where you have to be — at the top — and Ryan knows that. I’m thankful for him, and I know too that I bring a lot to this partnership outside of just my basketball knowledge and skills.”

“The respect I that I have for that [Heat] organization will not go anywhere, the love that I have for the [Heat] fans — that goes nowhere. But this is about the next phase of my life as an investor, a businessman, an entrepreneur. For me, this is an opportunity to grow.”

Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Wade reportedly sat down with majority owner and team governor Ryan Smith not long after he played his final game. While Wade hoped to get a better understanding of Smith’s tech expertise, Smith suggested Wade have an ownership stake in the team after it was purchased for $1.66 billion in October. The ownership group includes Smith and his wife, Ashley; investor and Accel partner Ryan Sweeney; Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes; and previous owners the Miller family.

Smith said of Wade,

“Dwyane has had a chance to be part of so many different [ownership] groups if he wanted that. We’ve basically been in discussion from the time we closed on the team on how we can get this done. Like I run my tech business, you want the brightest people around.

“There is a broad picture here. It’s much more than just basketball. This league is the biggest platform that there is, and we ran toward that. This isn’t a league where we came in saying, ‘Hey, this has gone somewhere we’re not comfortable with.’ This is actually what we signed up for. We’re the newest ownership group. We’re the youngest. Dwyane’s a perfect fit.

It wasn’t like we wanted more partners; that wasn’t what we were trying to do. I want to work with Dwyane on and off the court, on the business side, and so do our partners — because of who he is as a human being and what he’s accomplished. Those are the kinds of people you want around.”

Congrats to Dwyane Wade!