Dwyane Wade offers high praise for 76ers: 'This is the future of the NBA'
Dwyane Wade admitted he's contemplated his future and his potential retirement, but he didn't want to focus on that in the wake of Miami's first-round exit against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night.
He did, however, want to dish on the future of the NBA — a future he says belongs to the Sixers.
"You want to see nothing but good things for those guys," Wade, 36, said after his Heat were ousted in Game 5, 104-91. "This is the future of the NBA. The NBA is in great hands with Ben (Simmons) and Joel (Embiid) and those kind of individuals."
With the win, the Sixers became the first Eastern Conference team to reach the second round of these playoffs. It was also Philadelphia's first playoff series victory since 2012.
Wade said he's "fine" with losing to a team like Philadelphia.
"You can lose with effort," the future Hall of Famer said. "You can lose to a better team. And that's what they were. And that's what they are. It was no secret about that."
MORE: Five reasons the 76ers are the favorites in the East after beating Heat
Simmons, who Wade compared to "that guy in Cleveland" (LeBron James), and Embiid, who's already one of the best two-way centers in the NBA, headline the Sixers' young core that arguably has the most long-term potential of any team in the league.
"Sometimes, an organization, they get lucky and they get to draft someone special," Wade said. "These guys got to draft more than one person special. And you're able to build around that. That's what these guys have the ability to do.
" ... I believe in them guys. I believe that they're going to be special for a while, but also, if they believe that they can do it now, they can."
The Sixers await the winner of the Boston-Milwaukee series, which the Celtics lead 3-2.
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