Dwyane Wade Also Thinks NBA Olympians Should Be Paid


Ray Allen made waves with his comments last night about his feelings regarding Olympic participants being properly compensated. Dwyane Wade, it turns out, shares a similar opinion (For what it’s worth, teammates LeBron James and Chris Bosh declined to adopt a stance one way or another on the matter.) From ESPN: “Count two-time Olympian and Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade among those who believe NBA players should be paid for playing with Team USA in the Olympics. Wade, the leading scorer on the 2008 national team that won a gold medal in China, said he agreed with Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen that players should be compensated for their time participating in the Summer Games. Allen first addressed the issue Tuesday night in an interview with FoxSports.com before the Celtics beat the Heat in Miami. […] ‘It’s a lot of things you do for the Olympics — a lot of jerseys you sell,’ Wade said. ‘We play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated. Just like I think college players should be compensated as well. Unfortunately, it’s not there. But I think it should be something, you know, there for it … The biggest thing is now you get no rest,’ Wade said. ‘So you go to the end of the season, (Team USA) training camp is two weeks later. You’re giving up a lot to do it. It’s something you want to do. But it’s taxing on your body. You’re not playing for the dollar. But it would be nice if you would get compensated.’ […] ‘I think (jersey) licensing could be a way … maybe licensing may not be fair because everybody won’t get the same amount. (There) should be some way. But that’s something they’ve got to worry about because this will be my last time around.'”