Dwyane Wade is almost universally viewed as the greatest player in Miami Heat history. While there have been plenty of big names to come through the Heat organization like LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal, Wade’s mix of longevity, excellence, and commitment in Miami are unmatched. And on Sunday afternoon, the franchise decided to honor him with the ultimate sign of respect for a legend by giving him a statue outside of Kaseya Center.
There’s just one problem: The statue doesn’t look all that much like Wade. It looks like they were going for Wade celebrating something one of the many big moments that he was responsible for during his time with the Heat, but instead, it looks like … well, you can get a glimpse right here.
This is Wade's house. pic.twitter.com/gM80oh7iFd
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) October 27, 2024
It’s unclear if Wade liked this, as he flat out said “who is that guy” during his speech after it was unveiled, and it’s unclear if he was expressing humility or legitimately had no clue what was going on. Almost right away, Twitter started to crack jokes about who this actually looked like, with people saying it looked like Kelsey Grammar, Laurence Fishburne, and more.
Obviously, it would be very difficult to retry to make an entire statue — the Lakers ran into a problem with one of Kobe Bryant’s statues, but it involved tweaking some small details and not making his face look different. Having said that, if anyone in Heat history would deserve a second shot at this, it’s Wade.