Wade Tops Jersey Sales

MIAMI, April 17 – Miami HEAT guard Dwyane Wade has the top selling NBA player jersey based on the sales at the NBA Store in New York City and NBAStore.com since the start of the 2005-06 preseason and ending Saturday, April 8. Wade moved up eight spots from last season to the top spot, replacing teammate Shaquille O’Neal, who ranks sixth on the list. Wade has remained steady as the top selling jersey since his breakthrough performance during the 2005 NBA Playoffs. Combined with the strong sales of Shaquille O’Neal’s No. 32 jersey, the HEAT is the only NBA team to have two player jerseys among the Top 10 in sales. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, Philadelphia 76ers’ Allen Iverson, New York Knicks’ Stephon Marbury and Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant round out the top five on the NBA’s list of most popular player jerseys.

The Miami HEAT also ranks third on the league’s list of most popular team merchandise, trailing just the Los Angeles Lakers, who led the league in team sales the three previous years, and the New York Knicks. Sales of HEAT merchandise is also strong locally, fueled by the new Miami Floridians merchandise and the new full-size Miami Hoops Gear store located at Dolphin Mall in Miami and a new merchandise kiosk at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, joining the kiosk at Dadeland Mall in Miami, the re-designed www.miamihoopsgear.com online store and the flagship store location at the AmericanAirlines Arena. With these locations, HEAT fans in South Florida and around the world can get their HEAT gear anyplace, anytime.

The best-selling player jerseys and top selling teams are listed below:

TOP 25 PLAYERS
1. Dwyane Wade – Miami HEAT	14. Steve Nash – Phoenix Suns
2. LeBron James – Cleveland Cavaliers	15. Amaré Stoudemire – Phoenix Suns
3. Allen Iverson – Philadelphia 76ers	16. Kevin Garnett – Minnesota Timberwolves
4. Kobe Bryant – Los Angeles Lakers	17. Jermaine O’Neal – Jermaine O’Neal
5. Stephon Marbury – New York Knicks	18. Ray Allen – Seattle SuperSonics
6. Shaquille O’Neal – Miami HEAT	19. Jason Kidd – New Jersey Nets
7. Tracy McGrady – Houston Rockets	20. Gilbert Arenas – Washington Knicks
8. Carmelo Anthony – Denver Nuggets	21. Steve Francis – New York Knicks
9. Vince Carter – New Jersey Nets	22. Chris Paul – New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets
10. Ben Wallace – Detroit Pistons	23. Pau Gasol – Memphis Grizzlies
11. Tim Duncan – San Antonio Spurs	24. Yao Ming – Houston Rockets
12. Dirk Nowitzki – Dallas Mavericks	25. Mike Bibby – Sacramento Kings
13. Paul Pierce – Boston Celtics

TOP 10 TEAMS

1. Los Angeles Lakers

2. New York Knicks

3. Miami HEAT

4. Philadelphia 76ers

5. Chicago Bulls

6. Boston Celtics

7. Detroit Pistons

8. Cleveland Cavaliers

9. San Antonio Spurs

10. New Jersey Nets