MIAMI — By Thursday, Dwyane Wade may not be employed as a basketball player anymore.

That is the reality, like it or not. After 16 seasons as an NBA player, after three championships, an almost-annual spot in the All-Star Game, a scoring title, three franchises, four children, an Olympic gold medal and 161 teammates, the end may have arrived.

On Tuesday, Wade was playing his final home regular-season game when the Miami Heat hosted the Philadelphia 76ers — with Wade in the starting lineup for the first time all season. On Wednesday, it’ll be a game at Brooklyn to end this season. Unless the Heat win both and get a lot of help in the final two days of the season, the career of Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. will be finished.

“I gave this game everything I had,” Wade said. “And I have appreciated every bit of it.”

The Heat still have a faint pulse in the playoff race. Of the 64 possible remaining scenarios involving Brooklyn, Orlando, Detroit, Charlotte and Miami — the five teams still vying for various spots on the bracket, with the Nets and Magic being assured of making the playoffs — only three will send Wade into the postseason.