Welcome back to the real world, Dwyane Wade.
The former NBA superstar shared a funny story with Sports Illustrated’s Rohan Nadkarni this week in which he detailed his experience doing average-person things, like clothes shopping. Wade, who retired from the NBA in April after 17 seasons, said he was “freaking out” during a recent visit to an Old Navy store in Los Angeles because he had no idea how much Old Navy clothes cost.
“Okay so, what I was freaking out about — if you want to call it freaking out — was the prices,” Wade said, clarifying a story first told by his wife, Gabrielle Union, on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” back in May. “I’m sure some guys do, but I got to a point, especially being so known in Miami — which is a good thing but at times when it comes to personal life stuff, it can be tough — where I hadn’t been to a store in so long. I had a chef to go shopping, a stylist to do this, all that. I don’t really go shopping, so I don’t really know the prices of stuff.
“So I go into Old Navy and I start buying stuff. So I grabbed what I felt was like, (laughs), a lot of stuff, like it’s got to be $100,000. Not a $100,000 but just speaking in that sense. I got up to the register and it was like $500. I was like, ‘Holy s–t, I thought this was way more.’
“So I’m kind of freaking out about that kind of stuff. And just to be able to be in L.A. and go shopping and nobody notices me was a cool experience. I never thought I would say that 16 years ago when I wanted people to notice me. Now I’m going places hoping people don’t, so I can enjoy myself and not have anxiety or anything.”
Wade, 37, admits he’s enjoying retirement, particularly because he feels the three NBA championships he won with the Miami Heat “complete” his storied playing career. Now, he’s embarking on exciting new adventures in far-flung places … like the mall and the grocery store.
