Dwyane Wade is thankful for the comments Boosie Badazz and others have made about his transgender daughter, Zaya Wade. Nearly a year after the rapper shared his opinion about his child, the NBA star addressed him for the first time while discussing his unconditional support of Zaya’s decision.

“At the end of the day, what I’m dealing with people, I’m dealing with life and death. It’s people in the transgender community that are getting killed. It’s kids that are murdering theirselves, that are hanging themselves, they’re killing themselves because something as simple as acceptance,” Wade explained during his appearance on the “I Am Athlete” podcast.

“Something as simple as unconditional love is not being given to these kids, and I’ll be Goddamned if my child gon’ be that person because of something as simple as me supporting who you are.”

The former Miami Heat star then expressed his gratitude for Boosie and the role he played in starting necessary conversations about the transgender community.

“So, Boosie, all the people who got something to say, J-Boogie (J-Boog of 2000s R&B group B2K) who just came out recently … All the people who got something to say about my kids, I thank you because you’re allowing the conversation to keep going forward because you what? You might not have the answer today, I don’t have all the answers, but we’re growing from all these conversations,” Wade said. “So I thank everybody for even hating and starting these conversations because those conversations are starting other conversations that we need to have. And that’s happening out there.”

Last year, Boosie made headlines after he criticized Wade and his family for supporting Zaya and her request to be referred to using she/her pronouns. At the time, he argued that Wade’s child was too young to make such a decision. “At 12, they don’t even know what they next meal is gonna be. They don’t have shit figured out yet…,” he said. “He hasn’t made his final decisions yet.”

His transphobic rant drew a reaction from Mike Tyson, who confronted him about his take. As Wade previously refrained from saying anything to Boosie, he expressed his appreciation to the boxer for standing up for his family.

“He’s one of those people … he’s so smart, he’s so educated and knowledgeable about life,” Wade previously said of Tyson. “For him to drop that nugget on the world … to me, it was great to hear him say that.”