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NBA great Dwyane Wade was back in South Florida on Thursday to do battle again. The Hall of Famer spent more than 14 seasons as a guard for the Miami Heat, winning three championships, having Miami-Dade County nicknamed “Wade County,” and he still leads the franchise in everything from points and rebounds to personal fouls. But the fight he outlined Thursday at The Elevate Prize Foundation’s Make Good Famous Summit, after receiving the nonprofit’s Elevate Prize Catalyst Award, may be the most personal of all. “We’ve done so many great things here so it wasn’t easy to leave,” Wade told The Associated Press in an interview before the award ceremony. “But the community wasn’t here for Zaya, so the community wasn’t here for us.”
Even before retiring, the basketballer started Haslem Housing Venture to develop affordable housing in Miami-Dade County. Magellan, whose other principal is Amay Inamdar, has a portfolio of about 17 affordable housing projects with 2,000 units in Florida and Texas, according to its website.
Heat arena will now be called Kaseya Center
The arena where the Miami Heat play their home games now has yet another new name after Miami-Dade County commissioners voted to enter into a 17-year deal to call the facility Kaseya Center. The name change takes effect immediately. Kaseya, a Miami-based software company, will pay $117.37 million over the 17 years, with much of that going to the county. The Heat will receive $2 million annually as part of the deal.
Doug Hanks: If not the Kaseya Center, who else would have bought naming rights for the Miami Heat arena. Miami-Dade COO Jimmy Morales said other companies in talks were: Aroma360, Wild Fork, iHeart Radio, and UBS…
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Heat arena to get new name soon?
The Miami Heat’s brief era playing in the Miami-Dade Arena may be coming to an end before the playoffs as Miami-Dade County tries to land a new naming-rights deal with a global software company with headquarters on Brickell Avenue. Kaseya is in talks with the administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to finalize a deal for putting its name on the waterfront arena that’s owned by the county and managed by the Heat, Levine Cava’s office confirmed Thursday afternoon.
A combination of terror and anxiety swept over Jarrett Allen as he writhed in pain on the Miami-Dade Arena hardwood. It was March 10. The Cavs were losing to the Heat. Veteran reserve Ricky Rubio had just misfired on a 3-point attempt that led to Allen and Miami center Bam Adebayo leaping for the rebound -- a frightening play that ended with Allen getting raked across the right eye, grabbing his face, crumbling to the court and kicking his legs while an organization feared the worst and held its breath.
On Tuesday, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office dropped the misdemeanor battery charge, saying that although they have pictures showing the victim’s injuries, “without the victim’s sworn testimony, the state does not have a good faith basis to file charges against the defendant.”
Ira Winderman: Arena workers still wearing FTX embroidered shirts. This will be an ongoing process. Plus, Miami-Dade Arena embroidery might become moot if new naming rights are secured in short order.
Heat's arena renamed as Miami-Dade Arena
Barry Jackson: Arena formerly known as FTX Arena will now be known as Miami-Dade Arena while county & team search for new naming rights partner. "The Heat's House" would have been a lot more fun, but so be it. FTX signage will be removed in weeks ahead. Heat-Bucks an ABC national game tomorrow.
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Tim Reynolds: Miami Heat and Miami-Dade County release statement saying they will "work aggressively to identify a new naming rights partner for the arena." (My add: It would be wise if they worked together on this one.)
The naming rights deal between FTX and Miami-Dade County was terminated Wednesday by a federal bankruptcy court, a move that allows the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange’s brand to be stripped from the arena where the NBA’s Miami Heat play. The order means that before long — and probably starting very soon — all FTX signage and advertising at the arena will be removed. There was no immediate word from the Heat or the county on when the process will begin.
Former NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire was arrested overnight Sunday at his Brickell Key condominium in Miami on one count of misdemeanor battery, a domestic violence charge according to Stoudemire’s Miami-Dade Corrections online entry. The alleged victim, according to an arrest report obtained by the Miami Herald: one of Stoudemire’s two daughters. The arrest report doesn’t say whether the child allegedly struck was the 17-year-old girl or the 14-year-old girl among the four children of Stoudemire, 40, and ex-wife Alexis Stoudemire. What it does say is the child told police that the 6-foot-10, 255-pound Stoudemire, who ended his NBA career with the Miami Heat in 2016, punched her in the jaw and slapped her hard enough to draw blood. “I observed blood stains on the victim’s sweater and sweatpants,” the arrest report states. “The mother of the victim showed me the photo she received from her daughter, which shows the victim crying and blood running down her face.”
Tim Reynolds: Miami-Dade County has filed a motion in federal court to immediately terminate the FTX Arena naming rights agreement. Obviously, this was expected.
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