National Basketball Association

Gabrielle Union: Our kids don't play defense because of Dwyane Wade

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:13 p.m. ET

Dan Carson

As you may have heard, the Wade Family made some moves this offseason.

Dwyane Wade and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, are setting up residence in Chicago after the former Miami Heat shooting guard signed with the Bulls.

After much ado about hurt feelings and Pat Riley's absence in the front office in Miami, things are slowly vacillating back toward basketball for Wade and Union, who spoke to ESPN's Cari Champion (h/t The Undefeated's Kelley D. Evans) this week about the game and their relationship.

As Wade noted, his wife is always coaching him, whether he's listening or not:

"Somewhere along the way, I guess my wife thought she was good at basketball," Wade said. "So she feels like she can give me advice. I don't really do well with her giving me advice."

"What I do like about our relationship is when I come out and I don't play good, I like when she looks at me like, 'Yo. What's up?' I also like when she comes out and she does the handshake, like 'You did your thing tonight. I'm proud of you.'"

Union says she just wants to see him play his hardest, and that his penchant for arguing with refs has bled over into their kids, who are late getting back on defense sometimes because they're arguing with refs.

"I get incensed when he doesn't get back on defense and he's arguing a call. It hurts me to the core. It does something to me. It hurts me to my core when I see him not get back on defense. And then we go to AAU with our boys, and guess who's not back on defense arguing a call. I'm like 'I'm wonder!' And [Wade's] going crazy, because our kids are arguing a call or they're showboating and they're not getting back on defense.

And then [Wade]'s incensed. He's that guy at AAU like 'Ahh!' At halftime he's like 'Don't listen to the coach. Meet me at the side. OK, I'm gonna give you some tips.'"

Wade says Union's support is invaluable, but the rest of the advice...not so much.

"For me, it's all about the support. It's all about telling me to pick it up. But the rest of it, it's a bunch of gibberish...telling me how to shoot free throws, telling me to get back. I don't listen to that. She says she was like 90 percent from the free throw when she used to play."

Ah, married love birds. They're so cute at this age.

Dan is on Twitter. His girl always tells him stop pulling up from 40 with his stories but blog is life.