Excited Fan Let Down By Fake Wade Autograph

Excited Fan Let Down By Fake Wade Autograph, Karim Khatib thought he’d won a pair of signed Dwyane Wade sneakers at a Jordan camp. Fan psyched to win signed Dwyane Wade shoes at Michael Jordan’s camp learns they’re fake from Dwyane Wade himself, Poor Karim Khatib. The young ballplayer and attendee of the Michael Jordan Flight School skill development camp in Goleto, Calif., thought he’d just snared a phenomenal piece of swag when he won a pair of kicks bearing the John Hancock of a certain Jordan Brand star who just earned his second NBA championship ring with the Miami Heat:

You can understand why Khatib was so thrilled; a pair of shoes autographed by Dwyane Wade seems like a pretty rad piece of memorabilia. Unfortunately, the thrill was short-lived – just 20 minutes later, the eight-time All-Star and 2006 NBA Finals MVP offered Khatib a bit of bad news:

Welp.

As Josh Dhani notes at FootBasket, an image search for Wade’s autograph shows a very different signature than what appears on the shoes won by Khatib. It appears that Flight School has some explaining to do in the Totally Authentic Fly Wade 2s That Were Definitely Autographed By Dwyane Wade, No Question About It department. If I were Khatib, I’d definitely give M.J.’s camp a zero-star review on eBay, Yelp and Amazon Marketplace. Really drive home the message, you know?

Also, Steve DelVecchio of Larry Brown Sports makes a good point – even if Flight School doesn’t own up to it or right the wrong, it’d be a good look for Wade to ship the kid a fresh pair. Might be nice to see at least one rehabilitating Florida athlete make a positive P.R. move this week.