What was Dwyane Wade doing at BYU last week? A lot, actually

Salt Lake City may have hosted the NBA’s All-Star festivities earlier this year, but Provo took its turn welcoming basketball royalty.

Hall of Fame shooting guard and current Utah Jazz co-owner Dwyane Wade made a pair of appearances at BYU this week, dishing out pieces of wisdom to a number of students and athletes eager to learn from one of the sport’s most decorated individuals.

Wade first joined Jazz majority owner Ryan Smith on Wednesday morning as a guest speaker in the business career lecture series course that Smith oversees. As word of Wade’s visit spread around campus, students flooded the N. Eldon Tanner Building auditorium to full capacity.

Sharing the stage with Smith, the three-time NBA champion shared insights and experiences from his career over the past two decades, including playing alongside LeBron James in Miami, being part of the U.S. “redeem team” in the 2008 Summer Olympics and joining Utah’s ownership group in April 2021. Wade also shared about his various business ventures and investments along with expressing appreciation for his family.

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Upon concluding his remarks, the Miami Heat legend was gifted a custom, vintage jacket by BYU men’s basketball guard and aspiring fashion designer Trey Stewart.

“To see (Wade) wear something made by Trey ... that was unbelievable,” Stewart’s teammate Trevin Knell said.

Wade must have been really keen on Stewart’s jacket, as he wore it at the Marriott Center on Thursday afternoon when he made a surprise appearance at BYU’s practice. The 13-time All-Star sat courtside with Smith, sipping on Sodalicious as the Cougar players tried to contain their amazement throughout their scrimmage.

Following practice, Wade reunited for a photo op with Stewart and his jacket before addressing the team, sharing a message which Knell felt “we all needed to hear.”

The 2009 NBA scoring leader then faced off with BYU associate athletic director Brian Santiago and others in a spontaneous shooting competition, showcasing his silky-smooth jump shot as he seemingly refused to miss.

“It’s cool to be around that type of greatness,” Stewart said. “I remember being a little kid and playing in the driveway, I was always pretending to be Dwyane Wade. Having him here to give us advice, you can’t replicate that anywhere else.”

While Wade’s visit became a core basketball memory for the Cougars in attendance, Wade himself came away from it with some new ammunition to poke fun at one of his notable Jazz colleagues in a Friday interview on KSL Sports Zone’s “Hans and Scotty G.”

“One thing I’m proud of and I’m grateful for,” Wade joked, “is that Danny Ainge cannot say that he’s the greatest player to come through BYU anymore because I walked through the halls.”