Dwyane Wade knows it's the season for giving

Dwyane Wade, right, of the Miami Heat shoots a reverse layup against Brian Skinner of the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last Wednesday. Wade hosted a Christmas event for children in Florida recently. PHOTO: AFP

A kid jumped atop a picnic table, threw his tiny arms in the air and let out a loud, delightful shriek.

"Here he comes!" yelled the boy, who couldn't have been older than eight or nine.

With that, the 250 or so underprivileged kids crammed in the back of a South Florida arcade began stampeding toward the guest of honor. Their tiny hands smudged the windows he walked by on his way to greet them, and they all began screaming indistinguishably as he neared the entrance.

Later, when asked what he thought of the tiny mob, Dwyane Wade shook his head and laughed.

"That was cool," Wade said. "Crazy. It's something that's very special to me."

The Miami Heat guard is an NBA champion, a finals MVP for his work against the Dallas Mavericks last June, a multimillionaire and one of US sport's most recognizable faces.

Yet he still marvels about making kids yell when he shows up to throw a Christmas party.

"See, to us, this is what the holidays are about now," says Siohvaughn Wade, Dwyane's wife.

It used to be different.

The Wades would do what just about everyone else does on Christmas morning: Wake up early, rush to the tree and start ripping into the pile of wrapped boxes.

That was before they could afford to give themselves whatever they wanted.

These days, with Wade in the final year of his first NBA contract -- one paying him US$3.84 million this season -- and less than a year away from entering a new deal that should pay him somewhere in the range of US$63 million over the next four seasons, money is no longer a concern.

So how many elaborate gifts are awaiting Wade on this Christmas, when he'll lead his Miami Heat against fellow superstar guard Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers?

Apparently, none.

"People like us `get' all the time," Siohvaughn Wade says. "Constantly getting, constantly buying stuff, always getting something for free. So for the last three or four years, we haven't done the thing where we set a bunch of presents under a tree. We don't feel like there's a need anymore. Now, to be honest, we just give."

Wade for his Converse shoes and brand of clothing to be distributed on Saturday at his mother's place of worship, the New Mount Nebo Missionary Baptist Church in southwest Chicago, and soon he will be sending another 100 pairs of kids' sneakers to the same church for another giveaway.

He's sent shoes to soldiers in Iraq, and to people struggling after Hurricane Katrina.

He's helped others privately and, truthfully, he'd rather do it all without fanfare.

"It's about giving. That's what Christmas means to me more so than anything," Wade says. "It's not just giving presents, giving certain gifts. It's about giving what you can. For me and my family, it's about giving love, about giving cheers, about giving joy, putting smiles on kids' faces because they're the future. Hopefully, when they get older, they'll pass it on and it'll keep going down the line."

This holiday is a pretty important work day for Wade, too.

His Heat -- still without Shaquille O'Neal, who's recovering from knee surgery -- are floundering, yet are only three-and-a-half games out of first place in the Southeast Division with a 12-14 record.

Defending title has not been easy for Miami, which has not had its projected starting five of Wade, Udonis Haslem, Jason Williams, O'Neal and Antoine Walker together on the floor yet this season.

"I've got to get away from trying to put it all on my shoulders," Wade said.