The three-time NBA champion was hesitant before agreeing to be the frontman for The Cube, an adaptation of a megapopular British show that Wade will host—and also sometimes participate in.
His preparation for the role was extensive.
“Bro, I had all the hesitation,” Wade told Sports Illustrated over the phone earlier this week about his latest project.
Wade says he still keeps in touch with some of the contestants he met on the show, chatting with them on social media.
And so every time a contestant finished one game, they had to step out, they had to go inside and clean the cube.
And being inside there, and then when that door shut, it just feels crazy.
When you sign up to do something like this, what I want to know is how do you get over the fear of embarrassment? Because it would be really easy for you to not do too much.
But for me it’s like when you fear something—and it’s not everything because it’s still birds and snakes out there that I fear and I ain’t been able to conquer it.
SI: I could never be a game-show host because whenever I watch game shows, I get too upset when people lose.
Like after my first show with Sam and T.J., I remember after that day, I remember thinking, Why didn’t y’all tell me I was going to be this invested? I’m emotionally drained.
SI: I’m getting so stressed out just thinking of that.
And understand what I mean when I say this, right? Because everyone is like, He’s played in the Olympics; he played in the NBA Finals.
Knowing that they called you in to try to accomplish these goals that they set out to accomplish.
What I’ve always done is I just put down things on paper that I want to be a part of one day, right? I always do a yearly list of this is what I would love to accomplish.
D-Wade, the person everyone seen play basketball, that was me being who I needed to be out there on the floor.
A lot of us are, you know, very excited to get back into life.
When I go to restaurants, I ask a lot of questions to somms. I drink wine and that’s how I really know what I like because I just drink enough of it to see what I like, what I don’t like.