Chicago Sky headcoach and General ManagerJames Wade is now aWNBA champion.- He became emotional reflecting on his uphill battle to a WNBA title as a
Black man from Memphis.
James Wade has always had to prove himself.
A Black man from Memphis, Tennessee, the 46-year-old coach was rarely afforded the benefit of the doubt. He had his intelligence questioned and had to deal with prejudgements based on the color of his skin.
Still, he persevered. And now, the Chicago Sky head coach and general manager has proven himself in the biggest way; he is a WNBA champion.
Wade led the Sky to victory over the Phoenix Mercury in the 2021 WNBA Finals, both through calling the plays from the front of Chicago's bench and by organizing the team's structure from the front office. He was the mastermind behind recruiting two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker away from Los Angeles and back home to the Windy City this offseason. He also orchestrated a scheme that highlighted Parker's strengths while successfully incorporating stars like Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, and WNBA Finals Kahleah Copper.
After the Sky clinched the series with an 80-74 victory at Wintrust Arena Sunday afternoon, Wade joined the media for an emotional press conference in which he reflected on his journey to the peak of his coaching career.
"Y'all try to make me cry a lot," Wade began. "I'm not going to do it."
"It's big to do something in this space when - and I'm just going to keep it real - I've always had to prove my intelligence. Always," he continued. "So, how do you do that? You do that through hard work. And they say, okay, he's a hard worker, but the hard work gets your intelligence in the room. So once you work hard, people start to listen to you."
Wade then spoke to the importance of representing "good visibility" rather than "the visibility that they try to put on us," presumably referring to stereotypes that systemically work against Black people - and particularly Black men.
"It's not just for my son - it's for every young Black kid that comes up behind me that you pre-judge because they have their pants down or they have their hat on backwards," Wade said, turning his championship hat around to underscore the point. "... But never judge a book by its cover. I'm not perfect by no means, but I'm always trying to do the right thing, and it has nothing to do with my color."
-Kareem Copeland (@kareemcopeland) October 17, 2021
The 2019 WNBA Coach of the Year also discussed how meaningful it was to have one of his mentors - former WNBA head coach Dan Hughes - in the stands for the biggest win of his career. The retired Seattle Storm playcaller offered Wade one of the first big breaks of his career when he was the head coach of the San Antonio Stars, which have since rebranded as the Las Vegas Aces.
Wade first served as a coaching intern under Hughes with a focus on player development. He moved up the ranks from there, becoming a full-time staffer and assistant coach before moving on to the Minnesota Lynx. Wade said Hughes was "the first person who told me that I was going to be a great head coach."
The newly-minted champion underscored how impactful it was "to have somebody - especially a middle-aged white man who doesn't look nothing like you, doesn't come from your experiences - to say, 'Hey, look, I believe in you.'"
"I thought I was going to be an intern for him for three years, and he hired me as an assistant after the first year, and I have no idea why he did that," Wade said. "He's an amazing man, and I don't think he'll get enough credit. He changed my life. He absolutely changed my life, and I'm forever indebted to him."