Miami Heat veteran Dwyane Wade says that basketball used to be a "thinking man's game", but the NBA has since evolved into a league in which an individual could get by on just one special talent, Plus get a max deal for it.

Wade, now into his 16th and final NBA season, sat down for an expansive chat with NBA.com's Sekou Smith and touched on several areas, including the changes to the rules that have made it easier for players to succeed.

Many former players will agree that the league has gone soft. But while Wade seemed critical of the NBA's new direction, he insisted that it has made playing the game more fun for younger guys and he's hoping his son could enjoy some of that if he makes it to the NBA in the future.

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“We’re at a place right now in the league where if you have talent, you can succeed," the Heat star explained. "And I’m not knocking it. It’s just what it is.

"When I came in it was different. It was more of a thinking man’s game. It was different rules to the game, you know, with hand-checking and everything. It was more of a man’s league, per say. But now, if you have talent in this league, you’ve got one-on-one abilities, you can succeed.

"If you’ve got one talent, just one thing you do special, you can be great. If that talent is just setting the pick and roll and then jumping as high as I can for a lob, you can do it and you can make $200 million doing it.

"It’s just a different day. And there’s nothing wrong with it. The game changes for every generation. So I hope my son can get a little of this NBA action, because I think it’s going to be a really fun era to play in and be a part of.

“Sooner or later something will click, some team, some coach or some transcendent player will come along and they’re going to change the game. So you really just never know where the game is going next. But rest assured wherever it goes, it’s going to a fun ride for everybody.”

Wade is averaging a respectable 14.3 points per game this season for the Heat, playing 25.7 minutes a night. He missed their big win over the San Antonio Spurs this week to be with his wife Gabrielle Union, who gave birth to their first daughter after years of fertility struggles.

The couple took to Instagram on Thursday to announce the arrival of their newborn but haven't revealed a name just yet.

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