The Miami Heat unveiled their new statue of Dwyane Wade outside of the Kaseya Center. In what was an emotional ceremony, the Heat immortalized the best player in their franchise’s history. Wade becomes one of the few players in the history of the NBA to earn a statue.
Dwyane Wade’s statue.
#3 forever immortalized in Miami. pic.twitter.com/aioXErJezy
— 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙏 𝙉𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 (@HeatvsHaters) October 27, 2024
However, some fans thought this statue was not very good, and mercilessly roasted the look of it. Much like the bust of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo years ago, fans pointed out that the statue did not look very much like Dwyane Wade on X, and made some really funny jokes about it.
“That’s NOT D-Wade!”
“WHO IS THAT?”
“Bro when did Lawrence Fishburne play for the Heat? Lol.”
“Is that Uncle Drew!?”
“We will not be gaslighted into believing this is Dwyane.”
“BRO THAT AIN’T DWADE.”
“Shoutout Christopher Judge!”
“Why did they make him look like he is 100 years old?”
“When your barber is out of town and you go with sports clips.”
“That’s Lamar Odom.”
“That’s not D-Wade that’s Mike Tyson.”
While the jokes may seem harsh, most of them point out that the statue doesn’t look much like Dwyane Wade. For a statue that is meant to memorialize the greatest player in the history of the franchise, and the man who brought the Miami Heat to the Promised Land on multiple occasions, fans expected way more from the statue.
Perhaps the person whose opinion counts the most is Dwyane Wade, and he seems to really like it. He spoke after the ceremony and claimed that he felt it was one of the best statues in the history of the NBA. Although he did also jokingly ask who the statue was of, so maybe he was just trying to be nice.
“Who is that guy?”
— Dwyane Wade reacts to his statue 😅
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 27, 2024
Regardless of how it looks, there is no denying what a big moment this was for Dwyane Wade. To be immortalized in the form of a statue is given to the greatest players in NBA history. And Wade has now joined an elite list of players to have a statue of them built by their franchise.
Dwyane Wade Speaks On Heat Culture
Dwyane Wade spoke after the unveiling of the statue about his role in the Miami Heat and what the organization means to the NBA. He noted that the Heat don’t have the history that the Celtics and Lakers do, but they are an important team in basketball, and he is proud of the role he played in building that history and the culture of the Heat.
“It takes time to build things like the Celtics and the Lakers have. It takes winning. You don’t get none of it without winning. We haven’t won at the levels that they have won at but definitely, we’ve won. It says a lot about us. As I said 21 years ago, we weren’t considered winners.”
“And now you can’t talk about basketball without talking about the Miami Heat, in whatever capacity. It all comes down to what was instilled in us. Walking in these doors, as I expressed out there, the first person I see is the guy who instilled everything into us – Pat Riley. He came here and created a culture, changed it.”
“As I told him, you don’t always love your leader when you’re going through it. But when you’re done with it and you come out on the other side, you love him. He was hard on you when he needed to be, and he hugged you when he needed to.”
“I’m just appreciative to be part of an organization I have history (with) and understand that it takes so long to create it. I didn’t come into history. I’m a part of the history. And I’m a part of building that history. This is just the beginning This organization will be here way longer than me but my name will be associated with it forever. And I’m appreciative of that.”
Wade is no doubt the most important player in the history of the franchise. It was his arrival that allowed Pat Riley and the rest of the organization to build around him, as they brought in players like Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Ray Allen to help win championships.
Wade is an all-time great in the NBA and the greatest Heat player of all time. He helped the team win three NBA championships while being a perennial All-Star and winning Finals MVP in the 2006 NBA Finals. Wade will forever be known as the first big Heat superstar.
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