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Wade, the Miami Heat guard who led his team to the 2006 NBA championship and has been battling injuries for much of the two years since, will be named to the U.S. Olympic basketball team Monday, according to a person familiar with the decision. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because USA Basketball won't announce the team until Monday.
Wade's Olympic selection first was reported by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Wade could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The 6-foot-4 guard has been rehabbing since May 5 in Chicago, and hosted USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo there for a workout last week. Colangelo came away impressed, and apparently convinced that Wade's surgically repaired left knee could hold up to the rigors of the Olympic schedule.
The team will formally begin training in mid-July and is scheduled to start the Olympic series of games in Beijing Aug. 10. The gold medal game is Aug. 24, the day the games close.
It would be Wade's second Olympics; he was part of the bronze-medal winning squad in Athens in 2004. And his workouts in Chicago over the past few weeks have been going on with a gold medal at the forefront of his mind.
"It would mean everything to me," Wade told The Associated Press last month. "It's what we talked about after getting the bronze, right after getting that medal, and I really want to be part of the team that puts the USA back on top."
Several other players already have announced they have been informed of their Olympic spot, including Dallas point guard Jason Kidd. The Rocky Mountain News reported last week that Denver forward Carmelo Anthony also was assured an Olympic spot.
Wade missed 31 games last season because of injuries, and the Heat suffered mightily, finishing 15-67 the worst record in the NBA.
He has said repeatedly that whether he plays in Beijing or not, he will be "100 percent" when the Heat open training camp under new head coach Erik Spoelstra in late September.
[Associated Press; By TIM REYNOLDS]
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