- Dwyane Wade is known for an outstanding career in the NBA.
- He’s currently married to actress Gabrielle Union.
- He shares three children with his ex-wife and one with Gabrielle.
- His daughter, Zaya Wade, recently obtained a legal name and gender change.
Dwyane Wade is one of the greats on the basketball court, having won three NBA championships with the Miami Heat. The 13-time NBA All-Star may have retired in 2019, but he remains great off the court. Dwyane is a dedicated father to his four kids and his nephew. While most might know of Kaavia, Dwyane’s daughter with Gabrielle Union, what about the rest of the D-Wade clan? His daughter, Zaya Wade has made headlines over the past year for obtaining a name and gender change amid pushback from her biological mother — and starting a career as a professional model!
Want to know more about Zaya, Dwyane, and the rest of the clan? Here’s a look at the family that makes Dwyane feel like a champion every day he gets up in the morning.
Kaavia Wade
Born on Nov. 7, 2018, Kaavia James Union Wade is the youngest of Dwyane’s kids. She’s also the first child between D-Wade and Gabrielle Union. Gabrielle announced the newest addition to the family via Instagram. “A LOVELY DAY,” she captioned her photo. “We are sleepless and delirious but so excited to share that our miracle baby arrived last night via surrogate, and 11/7 will forever be etched in our hearts as the most loveliest of all the lovely days. Welcome to the party, sweet girl!”
Kaavia was born via a surrogate due to some unfortunate infertility issues. “For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant — I’ve either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle,” Gabrielle revealed in her book, We’re Going to Need More Wine. Since arriving on the scene, Kaavia has been the definition of a boss baby. The couple has launched a Shady Baby clothing line named after Kaavia, and in 2021, the couple published Shady Baby, a children’s book based on Kaavia. It went on to be a New York Times bestseller.
Zaire Wade
Dwyane and his first wife, Siohvaughn Funches, welcomed Zaire Blessing Dwyane Wade on Feb. 4, 2002. At 6’3, Zaire is attempting to follow in his father’s footsteps. In 2020, he announced that he would take a postgraduate year at Brewster Academy – a private boarding school in New Hampshire — rather than play college basketball in 2020-21, per Bleacher Report. Brewster has produced several NBA players, including Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell.
Zaire was ranked as the No. 197 overall prospect in the 2020 class by 247Sports, and he reportedly had offers from Rhode Island, Toledo, and DePaul. Zaire played high school basketball at Sierra Canyon in California, along with Bronny James, Ziaire Williams, and BJ Boston. However, Zaire fell out of the rotation, which earned the coach some criticism from D-Wade. “My son ain’t playing, and I don’t want to do nothing to the coach,” Dwyane said during a March 2020 episode Inside the NBA, after he was asked if he would attend the state championship game. “So, I won’t be there. … But I’ll be rooting for the kids.”
Zaya Wade
Zaya Wade is Dwyane and Siohvaughn Funches’s second child, born on May 29, 2007. Zaya, who was assigned male at birth, made headlines in 2019 when she attended a Miami Pride parade with her step-mom and siblings. In a February 2020 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Dwyane confirmed that his child identifies as a female and uses she/her pronouns.
“We are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community,” Dwyane said. “We’re proud allies, as well. We take our roles and responsibility as parents very seriously. So when our child comes home with a question or an issue or anything, it’s our job as parents to listen and give them the best information and feedback that we can. That doesn’t change because sexuality is involved with it. Once Zaya, our 12-year-old, came home…and said, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you guys, I think going forward, I’m ready to live my truth. I want to be referenced as she and her. I would love for you guys to call me Zaya.’ Internally, it’s now our job to go out and get information.”
Zaya’s coming-out was greeted with love and support from family and friends. “I’ve told you that I would lay my life down to make sure you are ten toes down and happy on this earth,” Zaire said in an Instagram message to his sister, Zaya. “I don’t care what they think Z, you are my best friend, and I love you, kid, and if it means anything, just know there’s no love lost on this side.”
In August of 2022, Dwyane filed for a legal name and gender change for Zaya, 15, against the wishes of Siohvaughn, who filed a petition the following November over concerns the athlete “may be pressuring our child to move forward with the name and gender change in order to capitalize on the financial opportunities that he has received,” according to documents obtained by PEOPLE. Per the teen’s wishes, her name was officially changed to Zaya Malachi Airamis Wade when the petition was granted in February of 2023.
For those wondering about Dwyane and Siohvaughn, the two separated in August 2007 after roughly five years of marriage. They finalized the divorce in 2010, after a long and bitter process. Dwyane won sole custody of their children in 2011, per ESPN, after the court ruled that Siohvaughn had “embarked on an unstoppable and relentless pattern of conduct for over two years to alienate the children from their father.”
In any case, Zaya has continued to thrive. She made her triumphant runway debut at a Miu Miu fashion show during Paris Fashion Week in March of 2023. Dwyane and Gabrielle have continued to stand behind Zaya and have become advocates for the LGBTQ+ community. While receiving the President’s Award at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards in February of 2023, the couple again spoke out. “I recognize what I’ve been given, and it is my job to uplift the voices of others and share my access and resources,”said Dwyane at the podium. “Zaya, as your father, all I’ve wanted to do was get it right. I’ve sat back and watched how gracefully you’ve taken on the public scrutiny. And even though it’s not easy, I watched you walk out of the house every morning as yourself.”
Xavier Wade
Xavier Zechariah Wade was born on Nov. 10, 2013. He is the only child of Dwyane and Aja Metoyer. The NBA player fathered the child with his longtime friend during a brief split with Gabrielle. “Hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is man up and tell [Gabrielle] that I’ve had a child with somebody else, ‘Dwyane revealed in his 2020 documentary, D. Wade: Life Unexpected. “I couldn’t sleep. I wasn’t eating… When you hold something in that you know is going to come out, and you have this information and you know it’s gonna f-ck somebody’s life up, that you care about, that you love, if it don’t hurt you, then you’re not human.”
After revealing the news to Gabrielle, Dwyane proposed. “She wasn’t just marrying me. She was marrying all this baggage,” Dwyane said in the documentary. She clearly was willing to take the task on because she said yes. The couple wed in August 2014.
Dahveon Morris
In addition to his four biological children, Dwyane has raised Dahveon Morris since he was awarded full custody of his nephew in 2011, per the Miami Herald. Although Dwyane’s sister, Deanna Morris, has parental rights of her son (born on Sep. 17, 2001), Dwyane has taken care of Dahveon. “I felt that [Dahveon] would be kind of left out,” he explained, per Us Weekly, noting that Dahveon and his son Zaire were close and the same age. “I asked my sister, [I said], ‘My environment would be better for him than the environment that he’s living in now.’ She agreed. So I was already getting two. Why not get another one?”