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The son of three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade (l), Zaire Wade (r) is facing felony charges after a California arrest, according to police and court records.
Zaire Wade, the 24-year-old son of Hall of Famer and three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade, was arrested on three felony counts early Sunday morning in Burbank, California, according to a report by NBC 4 Los Angeles, a development that pulled the younger Wade’s professional basketball journey back into the national spotlight.
After Sunday’s arrest, the Zaire Wade case was in the hands of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, with no formal charges filed and no court date set as of Friday, June 26.
Zaire Wade Arrested on Three Felony Counts in Burbank
Burbank Police Department officers responded to a 911 call at approximately 5:30 a.m. Sunday, June 21, after a caller reported hearing a woman screaming at a Burbank residence, according to Dennis Broad of NBC Los Angeles. Responding officers found Zaire Wade in the residence, as well as a woman who had lacerations on her face and body. Paramedics assessed the woman at the scene, but she was not transported to a hospital. Police recovered a handgun from the home following the arrest. Whether that handgun belonged to Wade has not been revealed publicly.
Wade was “arrested and booked for domestic violence, criminal threats and false imprisonment,” a Burbank Police spokesperson told People in a report published Friday. “Detectives will be presenting the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing considerations.”
Officers also issued an emergency protective order for the alleged victim, who has not been publicly identified. Wade posted $50,000 bond and was released the same day, according to TMZ, the outlet that first reported the arrest.
Burbank PD confirmed to multiple outlets that Wade faced only the three charges listed by the department spokesperson, debunking earlier rumors that Wade would face an attempted murder accusation. As of Friday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office had not announced when or if charges would be formally filed. Neither Zaire Wade nor his representatives had issued any public statement, according to Heat Nation. Dwyane Wade, who retired in 2019 after a 16-year NBA career, including 15 seasons with the Miami Heat, also had not commented publicly on his son’s arrest as of Friday.
Zaire Wade’s Basketball Career
Zaire Blessing Dwyane Wade was born Feb. 4, 2002, in Chicago. He played his senior year of high school basketball at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, California, before opting out of college to pursue a professional career directly.
In 2021, he was selected 10th overall in the NBA G League Draft by the Salt Lake City Stars, the Utah Jazz affiliate. His first season lasted 12 games before a March 2022 injury ended his campaign prematurely. Wade averaged 1.8 points per game during that stretch. He signed with the Cape Town Tigers of the Basketball Africa League in February 2023, posting a career-high 17 points on May 4 of that year. Stints with the Macau Black Bears followed. He is currently a free agent.
His father’s career was more illustrious. Dwyane Wade was drafted fifth overall by the Miami Heat in 2003 out of Marquette University, where he had led the Golden Eagles to the Final Four that same spring. Across his 16 NBA seasons, Wade won three championships in 2006, 2012 and 2013, earned NBA Finals MVP honors in 2006, claimed the 2008-09 scoring title at 30.2 points per game and was named to 13 All-Star teams. The Heat retired his No. 3 jersey in 2020. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted him in 2023 as an individual and again in 2025 as a member of the gold medal-winning 2008 U.S. Olympic team.
Post-retirement, Wade took a minority ownership stake in the Utah Jazz and later became a minority stakeholder in the WNBA’s Chicago Sky. His son’s arrest is a developing legal matter, and Zaire Wade is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist who covers MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, boxing, golf, and Olympic sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Newspaper and Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering the Olympics, pro baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
