4. Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Wade, who is commonly known as Flash, D-Wade and Father Prime, is revered by many in Chicago and beyond for making his mark in the NBA and giving back to the city that made him.
Wade’s journey to NBA stardom began in October of 2003 when he made his debut with the Miami Heat. He would form a long-time bond with organization and its fanbase in ways only some could dream of.
A young Wade helped lead the Heat to one of three NBA championship titles in 2006.
When the opportunity to team up with both LeBron James and Chris Bosh arose, Wade and the Heat embraced the three-headed monster of a super team that was created in the summer of 2010.
Wade proved to be the ultimate team player for many years. During the Heat’s successful run in the 2010s, he accepted the burden often times in a financial sense to keep the roster in tact.
But, of course, all good things must come to an end, as did the super team when it dissolved.
The good news is the Heat remained largely competitive year after year. This isn’t to say that Wade and his team didn’t face adversity. A history filled with injuries and issues with durability led Wade to adjust the way he approached the game in the later years. Still, his value to the Heat organization more often than not trumped what his would-be replacements could provide. But for a failure to agree to a new contract, Wade and the Heat parted ways in 2016 for a brief period of time only to reunite again in 2018.
Wade announced his retirement from the league in April of 2019. Since then, he has been keeping busy working as a TNT NBA analyst, making appearances for Turner/CBS and completing projects for both Bleacher Report and his media company, 59th & Prairie.
Among some of Wade’s most esteemed accolades include three NBA championship titles, 13 All-Star Team nods, one final MVP award, eight All-NBA Team selections and three All-Defense Team honors.
Wade was born in Chicago. He attended high school at Richards High School in Oak Lawn, Illinois and went to college at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Wade has a 100% chance of getting inducted as a player into the Hall of Fame.