Derrick Rose had his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls on Saturday, but he does not want them to erect a statue of him outside the United Center. Rose recently sat down for an interview with Forbes’ Jabari Young, where the topic came up, and he hilariously pointed to the statue Dwyane Wade got from the Miami Heat as a reason why he doesn’t want one.
“No knock D-Wade, I saw that statue, I’m good,” Rose said. “… I don’t need no statue.”
The Heat unveiled Wade’s statue outside the Kaseya Center on Oct. 27, 2024, and NBA fans roasted it for not looking anything like him. NBA analyst Bill Simmons even went as far as to call it the worst statue of all time. Most would much rather not have a statue than have one that doesn’t really look like you. As for Rose, he has another reason for not wanting one.
“You could do the statue of a family crest, but I don’t want no statue on myself,” Rose stated. “I feel like that’s idolizing in a way, and I don’t want nobody to idolize.”
That’s respectable. That said, it’s unlikely the Bulls were going to go down that route.
As of now, Michael Jordan is the only Bulls player to have a statue outside the United Center, and it should probably stay that way. Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has spoken about how Rose is bigger than Jordan in the city of Chicago, and while that may be true in a way, he didn’t do enough with the Bulls to have a statue.
Rose won an MVP and made three All-Star teams during his time with the Bulls. Were it not for injuries, he would have achieved a lot more, but still not close to what Jordan did. The Hall of Famer won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles during his time with the franchise. That is the kind of resume that merits a statue.
One might say that Scottie Pippen, Jordan’s former co-star, should have a statue too, and he actually has one inside the United Center. Perhaps something similar could be done for Rose as well, but he clearly isn’t too keen.
Dwyane Wade Has No Issues With His Statue
While Wade’s statue has become the butt of jokes, the man himself has no problem with it. He once explained what he and the Heat were looking to capture.
“What we wanted to do was capture a moment that represented the organization, represented myself, and represented the city,” Wade said. “We felt like we captured that moment in artistic form, in an artistic way. If I wanted it to look like me, I would just stand outside the arena, you’all would take photos. It don’t need to look like me. It’s an artistic version of a moment that happened.”
“I care, but I don’t,” Wade continued. “The social media world is about opinions. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone, use y’all opinions. Please talk more about us. Talk more about a statue, come on down to see it, take some photos, and send some memes. We don’t care.”’
At the end of the day, all that really matters is what Wade thinks of the statue. If he likes it, then all is well.
