Dwyane Wade became the first Miami Heat player to have 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 memorial.
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 inauguration. ‘I wanted to feel this. Life happens very quickly and it is very rare that we feel things, because we always move on to the next thing. …I wanted to feel this, man. I wanted to see it.’
However, NBA fans claimed there was a problem with the statue: it looked nothing like the icon.
Dwyane Wade became the first Miami Heat player to have a statue outside the team’s arena
The Heat unveiled the statue on Sunday, sparking viral reactions online from NBA fans.
As photos of the statue went viral on social media, fans quickly mocked the unveiling, quickly turning it into new meme fodder.
“Miami Heat did Dwyane Wade dirty,” said one fan on X, formerly known as Twitter, while another agreed, posting, “The Dwayne Wade statue is a DISGUSTING JOB.”
‘Shame on whoever gave the green light to this; He doesn’t even look like Dwyane Wade. Everyone could have done better. “This looks like a statue straight out of Temu,” wrote a third, referencing the Chinese online shopping site.
Another echoed the bewilderment, saying: “Honestly, how did that D Wade statue get cleaned?” “When Dwayne Wade said ‘who is that guy?’, part of him had to be thinking, that’s really the best they could do.”
“The Dwayne Wade statue looks like he’s riding an invisible motorcycle,” one joked, while another joked, “Damn, the Heat did Wade dirty.” I gave him the Cristiano Ronaldo treatment,’ referring to the viral statue of the Portuguese soccer star.
“This statue is so bad it makes me forget what Dwayne Wade really looks like. The more I look, the harder it is to imagine his real face,” one social media user shared.
“Dwayne Wade is trying to figure out who this statue is,” another joked alongside a photo of the former point guard looking at the statue.
Fans on social media were quick to roast the statue of the former NBA point guard.
There will be an in-game celebration Monday when Miami hosts 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 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 professional accomplishments and was placed outside the main doors of the team’s arena. Wade is now part owner of the Utah Jazz in addition to having many other business interests.