Dwyane Wade just embarked on a whole new venture. The NBA Hall of Famer is the guest co-host for this week of Today With Jenna & Friends, and his daughter Kaavia James had the sweetest message for him at the start of his first broadcast.
The talk show aired a clip of Wade’s 6-year-old daughter — who he shares with wife Gabrielle Union — giving her dad a pep talk from what looks like her bed. The basketball legend’s eyes instantly lit up with surprise and excitement when he saw his youngest on the screen.
“I love you so much that you’re my favorite friend ever — I ever met,” she said, flopping her head forward for emphasis.
“And I also want to thank you and good luck. I love seeing you on tv and I love you so much,” she concluded, blowing her dad a double-handed kiss.
Host Jenna Bush Hager was so touched by “Shady Baby’s” message. “Oh my gosh, that’s so sweet!” she said.
“That’s my twin right there,” Wade said. And he means it. There have been many times when followers thought Kaavia was her dad’s clone or said she “looks more like Dwyane Wade than Dwyane Wade.”
“We ride,” he continued. ” … She loves me.”
And it wasn’t only the clear-cut love that Hager was obsessed with, but also the fact that Kaavia called him her “favorite friend.”
“Yeah we’re friends,” Wade said with a smile. “And then I’ll be [strict] daddy sometimes. She gets to see that side, her eyes get big when she sees daddy.”
Wade is also her basketball coach and trainer (no big deal), so she gets to see his side where his “voice is a little deeper” and his eyes “squint a little.” Ya know, just typical coach stuff.
“But I’m glad that she thinks we’re friends,” he continued.
Viewers were equally touched, insisting in the Instagram comments that more than one thing can be true. “Yes! You can be friend AND parent,” one person said. Another added, “Awe… adorable 🥰 she’s such a sweetheart!”
We doubt Kaavia is the only one of Wade’s four kids who thinks of him as a “friend AND parent.” He certainly has an ultra-tight bond with his daughter Zaya whom he shares with ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches along with sons Zaire and Xavier.
In February, the 17-year-old shared the most wholesome video of herself making vision boards with her dad. (We’re talking magazines, scissors, glue sticks, markers — the whole shebang!) Wade makes multiple vision boards a year, and so he sat down with his daughter to make a new one as part of an ongoing video series for the Translatable Project — a safe space and resource hub that the father-daughter duo created for LGBTQIA+ youth and their support systems.
Wade really is so much more than a sometimes-strict dad. He is a friend, a coach, a trainer, a fellow crafter, a co-founder, and now, a guest talk show host too!
Before you go, check out Kaavia James’ very best ‘Shady Baby’ moments.
