National Basketball Association

NBA won't let Wade wear tinted goggles

Published Jan. 27, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

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Dwyane Wade will not get the migraine relief he sought from the NBA, after all.

The league rejected the tinted goggles that the Miami Heat guard planned to wear in Thursday night's game against the New York Knicks, saying they were too dark. He wears the glasses to protect his eyes from the bright lights as he recovers from debilitating and unpredictable headaches.

"Now there's gogglegate," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said just hours after he told the media Wade had NBA approval to wear the glasses.

The league approved a pair with less tinting like the ones Wade had been wearing in practice.

Wade had been trying out glasses since missing Miami's game Saturday against Toronto because of a migraine, a problem that has plagued him for years. Spoelstra said the Heat had been sending the league photographs of the goggles leading up to the game but that the NBA first saw them after the shootaround Thursday.

"An unfair advantage by the opponent not being able to see your eyes," Spoelstra said the league told the team.

He added with a laugh, they were "tinted too much — like a car."

The ruling is similar to the one the NFL made several years ago, prohibiting quarterbacks from wearing shields that were too dark.

Wade said he felt better after Wednesday's practice, but when he got off the plane in New York, he experienced blurred vision again and had to take more medication. He apologized to a reporter Thursday for not making eye contact while answering a question because he didn't want to look toward a light.

The decision will not change his plan to wear glasses at the start and hopefully take them off as the game progresses, Spoelstra said.

"I just want to take no chances right now," Wade said after the shootaround. "I want to play."

LeBron James, who was elected to start in the All-Star game along with Wade, said the goggle change will not affect his teammate.

"I think D-Wade will adjust to what's going on or whatever," James said. "Not much of an issue really."

The Heat were without forward Chris Bosh for Thursday's game because of a sprained left ankle. Wade was back to give Miami a Big Two with James after both he and Bosh sat out Saturday.

He still had one major uncertainty heading into his first game with the glasses.

"I don't really know how I look in them yet — I haven't even looked in the mirror," Wade joked. "I've got to make sure I look good in them, too."

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