MIAMI _ Dwyane Wade said it is not about when, but rather it is about knowing when.
It is why, at 37, the Miami Heat icon remains content to allow this to play out as his 16th and final NBA season.
He also appreciates why an NFL player such as Rob Gronkowski, at 29, can acknowledge that his time also has come, with the New England Patriots tight end announcing his retirement.
"You look at the NFL, you look at what Gronk did, it was just a time where (it) felt like nine years in, he wanted to walk away, he's done enough," Wade said in advance of Tuesday night's game against the Orlando Magic at AmericanAirlines Arena. "He's given enough of his body. And he retired.
"Sometimes you come to a decision. And it may be the decision where people are like, 'He should have played until you have nothing left.' "
For Gronkowski it meant walking away after a third Super Bowl championship. For Wade, it is the opportunity to exit after a meaningful playoff race _ and an opportunity to leave closer to the top of his game than he has been in years.
That, Wade said, is better than trying to coax more out of diminishing skills.
"That's tough on you mentally," Wade said of when the body no longer can keep pace. "That's tough on you mentally, more than physically, to be out there trying to play and you're used to playing to a level and you can't even get close to that level any more.
"I don't want to put myself in that situation again. Once I got healthy, I thought I'd walk away at a good time."
Wade acknowledged that his timing has observers questioning why someone playing so well would be stepping aside. He said he finds such conversation heartening.
"Two years back," he said, "I was probably hearing the opposite. People thought I should have walked away from the game because I wasn't myself, didn't look like myself, playing through a lot of injuries."
Heat tri-captain Udonis Haslem said when the timing is right, that is all that matters.
"He's ready to retire. He's ready to do something different. He's ready to move on. I'm happy for him," he said. "There's a difference between retiring because you can't play anymore and just retiring because it's time to move on and do something different because you have different interests.
"In my opinion, he's the happiest he's ever been."
That, he said, puts Wade and Gronkowski in a similar place.
"I mean," Haslem said, "to be able to end your story and write the ending of your story the way you would like it, a lot of guys don't have that choice and that opportunity, and he has that right now."
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