Dwyane Wade is the greatest player in Miami Heat history, but you certainly wouldn’t know it based on the statue the team unveiled of him this weekend.
The Heat officially honored Wade on Sunday with the unveiling of his own statue outside of Kaseya Center, their home arena. It was an extremely well-deserved honor for the player who helped lead the team to all three of their championships in franchise history and was a 13-time All-Star and eight-time All-NBA selection while in a Miami uniform.
But what was most definitely not deserved was the hideous way that the statue ended up looking. What the Heat unveiled on Sunday can only be described (at best) as a poor caricature of the biggest legend in team history.
Take a look below.
DWYANE WADE STATUE
Miami Heat unveil D-Wade's statue outside Kaseya Center pic.twitter.com/5u5RD0vctA
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 27, 2024
Even Wade himself seemed to acknowledge the fact that the statue was a bit off, saying during his speech, “Who is that guy?”
"Who is that guy?"pic.twitter.com/6mKoq9mECj
— FanDuel TV (@FanDuelTV) October 27, 2024
The unflattering piece of bronze predictably inspired a tidal wave of memes on social media. Here were some of the funniest ones.
Yikes. pic.twitter.com/FWorFwVk8X
— Brent Henderson 🇺🇸 (@bighurtrocks) October 27, 2024
This counts as Dwyane Wade not getting his statue. https://t.co/9qGQOrjmaE
— Jon “Stugotz” Weiner (@stugotz790) October 27, 2024
They really gave D Wade the Thanos jaw man what is that pic.twitter.com/KDGsOYdu7d
— HEAT NATION (@Zachppp) October 27, 2024
When your barber is out of town and you go with sports clips
— Chris Reilly (@C_Reilly5) October 27, 2024
— AG (@AG_NBA_X) October 27, 2024
Other users drew comparisons to the notorious statue of soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo from back in 2017.
Damn, the Heat did Wade dirty. Gave him the Cristiano Ronaldo treatment. pic.twitter.com/G6b3VzgFUg
— WG (@NvictusManeo) October 27, 2024
Same energy pic.twitter.com/zvchztxxaZ
— Snapback Bets (@snapbackbets) October 27, 2024
Wade’s statue might only be accurate if you aged him by about 30 years and christened him with the name “Dwyane Weight” instead. That is just brutal.
There is no word on if Wade, who retired in 2019 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023, can petition the Heat for a do-over there. If there is any saving grace whatsoever, at least Wade’s statue was not riddled with spelling errors like the Los Angeles Lakers’ statue of Kobe Bryant was.
