Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wade was planning to go to All-Star weekend in New York anyway, already having lined up a number of off-court events.
Whether he plays in the game, that's murky at best.
Wade was one of the Eastern Conference All-Star reserve selections announced Thursday, along with Miami Heat teammate Chris Bosh. But Wade's status for that game — and Heat contests leading up to the NBA's midseason showcase on Feb. 15 — is unclear because of his strained right hamstring, the latest of many Miami maladies this season.
This much is certain: Wade won't play Friday when Miami hosts Dallas. The way he sounded, his return won't be soon.
"When you work as hard as me, to deal with the same thing, it's kind of frustrating," said Wade, now an 11-time All-Star selection. "But what are you to do?"
Wade was hurt in the third quarter of Miami's loss to Milwaukee on Tuesday. He's had issues with both hamstrings this year, with two previous injuries costing him nine games. After sitting out Miami's practice on Thursday, Wade said he thinks this strain might make recovery harder.
"I just want to play with our whole team," said Bosh, who is an All-Star for the 10th time.
His wish won't come true anytime soon.
With Wade and Luol Deng (calf) already out for Friday at least, Miami will almost certainly use a 19th different starting lineup in 46 games. The Heat have had 10 different players miss time this year with illness or injury, and the total of man-games lost to such problems will climb to at least 106 on Friday night.
"I haven't seen nothing this bizarre," Wade said. "Obviously, teams have dealt with this, different players in and out. But here in Miami, I haven't seen nothing this bizarre. Anytime that we get to the point that we're feeling the least bit comfortable about our team and where we're at and what we can do, something happens."
Wade acknowledged the toll on his body added up during Miami's four straight trips to the NBA Finals, something that former Miami teammate LeBron James is dealing with now in Cleveland.
Wade said some people might recover from such a strain in 2-3 weeks, but said he's taking things day by day.
"I was like 'Why can I get a bruised wrist or something? Why can't I fall on my wrist or elbow or something?' I'll take that right now," Wade said. "When it comes to the muscles, certain things, you can't play with. There's other things when you get injured you can play with."
This isn't one of them.
When Wade finished talking to reporters Thursday, he offered a most ominous sign off.
"I won't be seeing y'all for a little while," Wade said.
NOTES: In a rare twist, the Heat are giving multiyear season-ticket holders, who are already locked into 2015-16, a reduction on their agreed-upon price for next season. They're offering another discount for 2016-17 if they choose to extend. The team is essentially giving some money back to people who have already bought long-term plans and did so with a promise that better days may be coming. "Our plan is clearly defined ... put a team on the court that can compete now while positioning ourselves to pursue players that can help us add to our championship legacy," Heat business operations president Eric Woolworth wrote.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
