Dorell Wright: "My environment, you got gangs, you got drugs, you just got the streets. And a lot of my friends growing up got caught up in the street life. What kept me out of the streets was sports. Like I said, I played three different sports, so that's practice, that's training, that's games. So I had no time. I used to be mad as hell when my dad would say, 'Hey, it's time to come in, we got to go to this training, this training.' And I used to be like, 'But,' and he was like, 'Your friends are going to be there when you get back.' And sure enough, I come back from practice or workout, my friends would be still right there."
More on Dorell Wright: Recent HoopsHype Rumors
Steph Curry came into the NBA as an undersized and undervalued point guard. It took years for him to find his
voice, but a surprise player helped him out along the way."Dorell Wright was a guy my second or third year that just had a charisma about him," Curry saidon the "Fudd Around and Find Out" podcast. "He connected with pretty much everybody in the locker room, so I kind of got to see how he navigated that space. He was a champion in Miami, so he had been around a successful veteran team. He had seen how it’s done, and even in that short amount of time, I learned a lot from him." — 5/15/2026 NBC Sports Bay Area
Tony Allen: Did you see the upcoming of Stephen Curry when you were that early when you got there? Dorell Wright: Not in time, bro. Like I knew he was a good player. I knew I was getting with a point guard that like to share it, could shoot it. One thing that stood out the most was the work ethic. It had been times me and Monta Ellis be like, "Yo, Steph, we got a game tonight." You know, it's an hour after shoot around, cuz me and Monta would go straight from shoot around to a lift all the time, and then you would see Steph through the window still on the court and it's like, "Bro, get some rest, bro." You know, us teaching him like, "Yo, take care of yourself." But he wanted it so bad, where nothing was going to deny that. And he put the time in. He put the hours in. He was a good teammate. We all know Steph is a solid dude. When it happened, I was definitely shocked, but I wasn't surprised because of me seeing when nobody was watching. He was really putting that time and work in. For sure. — 3/29/2026 YouTube
The Heat at Tuesday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks at Kaseya Center will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the franchise’s first championship, won in 2006. Expected in attendance for the night, which will offer a halftime presentation and other game elements of commemoration, are 2006 Heat champions Earl Barron, Michael Doleac, Udonis Haslem, Jason Kapono, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton, Wayne Simien, Dwyane Wade, Antoine Walker, and Dorell Wright. Fellow Heat 2006 champions Jason Williams, James Posey, Derek Anderson and Shandon Anderson will not be in attendance. — 2/2/2026 South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Dwyane Wade: Y’all know how good Norman is. He was an All-Star this year out there in the West. And so, for the Heat to be able to get a player like that with Bam with Tyler, as the one-two options, like, all right, great! All right, let's go. Dorell Wright: He's a Heat culture guy. He spoke on that when he got traded and talked about him going to Miami that he's Heat culture. He checks all the boxes. He checks all the boxes for a Heat guy. — 7/16/2025 YouTube
Dorell Wright: If I coach, it'll have to be for the Miami Heat or the San Antonio Spurs. That's the only stability. No Golden State. That's the only stability in the NBA. Everybody else, you're going to move your whole family and you're going to be out in about a year or two. — 4/29/2025 YouTube
Dorell Wright: "I remember Pat Riley calling my agent right before they drafted me and said, 'Do you think Dorell can handle Miami?' I told him, 'Yeah, what do you mean?' I had no idea about Miami other than what I saw on TV. The first day I got there, I realized, 'This is what they were talking about.' Then I’m on South Beach hanging with my teammates, being grown at 18 and 19. Pat called me into the office, 'Man, you need to stop hanging out on the beach. You're underage. You need to go to the University of Miami with people your age.' " — 9/12/2024 YouTube
Brady Hawk: Delon Wright: “I wish I was here earlier in my career. Watching my brother, watching D-Wade.” — 2/22/2024 Twitter @BradyHawk305
Tim Reynolds: Among the former Heat players expected to attend tomorrow in support of Udonis Haslem on the jersey night: Jason Williams, Goran Dragic, Dorell Wright, Tim Hardaway, Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, Quentin Richardson and Shane Battier. — 1/18/2024 Twitter @ByTimReynolds
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Dorell Wright credits sports with keeping him away from gangs, drugs and street life
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