Dwyane Wade became the first Miami Heat player with a statue outside the team’s arena over the weekend.
The Heat unveiled the statue Sunday, about eight months after team president Pat Riley announced plans for the tribute.
Wade is Miami’s all-time leading scorer, and he and Udonis Haslem are the only players to have been on all three Heat teams that won NBA championships.
‘This is crazy,’ Wade said moments after the unveiling. ‘I wanted to feel this. Life goes by so fast and it’s very rare that we get to feel things, because we’re always off to the next thing. … I wanted to feel this, man. I wanted to look at it.’
However, NBA fans claimed there was one problem with the statue: It looked nothing like the icon.
Dwyane Wade became the first Miami Heat player with a statue outside the team’s arena
The Heat unveiled the statue Sunday, sparking viral reactions from NBA fans online
As photos of the statue went viral on social media, fans were quick to mock the unveiling, swiftly turning it into new meme fodder.
‘Miami Heat did Dwyane Wade dirty,’ one fan claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, while another agreed, posting: ‘Dwayne Wade’s statue is some NASTY WORK.’
‘Shame on whoever greenlit this—it doesn’t even look like Dwyane Wade. Y’all could’ve done better. This looks like a statue straight off Temu,’ a third wrote, referencing the Chinese online shopping site.
Another echoed the bewilderment, saying: ‘Honestly though, how’d that D Wade statue get cleared? When Dwayne Wade said “who is that guy” part of him had to be thinking, that’s really the best y’all could do.’
‘The dwayne wade statue looks like hes riding a invisible motorcycle,’ one joked, while another quipped, ‘Damn, the Heat did Wade dirty. Gave him the Cristiano Ronaldo treatment,’ referencing the viral statue of the Portuguese soccer star.
‘This statue is so bad it’s making me forget what Dwayne Wade actually looks like. The longer I look, the harder it is for me to picture his real face,’ one social media user shared.
‘Dwayne Wade trying to figure out who this statue is,’ another joked alongside a photo of the former point guard looking up at the statue.
Fans on social media were quick to roast the statue of the former NBA point guard
An in-game celebration will follow Monday when Miami plays host to Detroit on the 21st anniversary of Wade’s debut game with the franchise.
Wade, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, is one of six former Heat players to have their number retired by the team – along with Haslem, Chris Bosh, Tim Hardaway, Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning.
‘As the greatest player ever in Miami Heat history, yes, it’s his day, it’s his family’s day,’ Riley said.
The statue is accompanied by a wall listing Wade’s career accomplishments and has been placed outside the front doors of the team’s arena. Wade is now a part-owner of the Utah Jazz in addition to having many other business interests.
