Dwyane Wade unveils new shoe — inspired by fans — at private All-Star event

12:17 PMDwyane Wade made quite an entrance through a small, intimate crowd of fans — set to the track of Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares.” He stood on the stage and accepted the fanfare that some of his biggest fans — many in Miami jerseys bearing his name, some in Chicago jerseys — gave him at an event designed to unveil his limited edition All-Star WOW6 shoe, Moments.

There was a raffle to see who would be taking home the new limited edition shoe, one of only 30 created — which, quite appropriately was inspired by his intense fan base — and the first winner was an enthusiastic little girl who couldn’t have been much older than 3. “It’s like an out-of-body kind of thing,” the three-time NBA champion and 2010 All-Star MVP told The Undefeated after a shootaround at the Los Angeles Athletic Club with some lucky fans. “You don’t wake up knowing that people feel that way about you, right? It’s so cool when the moments happen and when you feel that people have appreciated the work you’ve done … The energy is great. And everyone wants to feel appreciated.”

The private reception and playing event was billed as Wade’s All-Star Open-Run and was held with Li-Ning. Participants could work on skill drills with NBA trainer Tyler Relph. The shoe unveiling was the exclamation point on the event. “We always did an All-Star shoe,” said Wade. “One year we only did 50 pair. We’ve always kept it limited.” He says he wanted to do this — even not being an All-Star this year — because his fans continue to vote for him to be in the All-Star game and want to see him play, after all these years, “so we decided to change the name of the All-Star shoe to Moments,” Wade said. “This was a big moment for me to see my fans’ support, and still want to see me in the game.”