Inside the Westin Hotel just off Broadway, in a ballroom overflowing with media representatives who came to rave about someone else, sat Dwyane Wade, the perfect amalgam of class, professionalism - and obscurity. People looked right past him. Despite his 210-pound presence, others looked right around him. Being a first-team all-American, leading Marquette to the Final Four while recording only the third triple-double in NCAA tournament history, evidently wasn't noteworthy.

Wade, after all, was not LeBron James.

Wade had no diamond-encrusted necklace. No $90 million contract with Nike. No surefire projection as the No. 1 overall pick in tonight's NBA draft at The Theater in Madison Square Garden.

Just everything else.

The son of Dwyane Sr. and Jolinda Wade. A husband to his childhood sweetheart, Siohvaugn. A father to their son, Zaire. And an NBA prospect at the tender age of 21.

Take one peek inside David Stern's office on any given afternoon and it's easy to assume that Wade - and anyone like him - would be atop the commissioner's wish list. The NBA may have moved ahead of major-league baseball into second place in popularity, but Stern isn't stupid.