NBA
Dwayne Wade sculpture outside Heat arena hailed as ‘worst sports statue ever’
Joe Lyons is a sports writer and has also been published by Nottingham Forest FC, working with the academy and senior teams to produce content on matchdays. He formerly covered the Premier League and EFL as an on-site reporter during the 2020/21 season for Prost International. He is an expert in a range of sports including soccer, basketball, darts and American football. Joe specialises in long form SEO content alongside news, tips and betting. His sports betting work can be found on SportsLens and The Sports Daily. Joe has a keen eye for the sports betting industry in the USA which covers the NBA and NFL, tracking and analysing the market as it changes throughout the season.
All posts by Joe LyonsUpdated29 Oct 2024
Dwayne Wade became the first Miami Heat player with a statue outside the Kaseya Center – and its unveiling caused quite the stir.
Last weekend, eight months after Heat president Pat Riley announced the plans, the statue – which looks nothing like Dwayne Wade – was uncovered to the delight of social media.
Wade, who spent 14 years of his 16-year career in the league with Miami, won three NBA championships with the team alongside a Finals MVP award in 2006.
Fans quickly made humorous comparisons with the infamous bronze bust of Cristiano Ronaldo which was unveiled in 2017.
The Miami Heat really gave Dwayne Wade the old Cristiano statue to “honor” him😭 pic.twitter.com/fbJgy6dan3
— Chandler🤙🏼 (@ChannyMill) October 28, 2024
Is Dwayne Wade’s statue the worst sports statue in history?
The Ringer CEO Bill Simmons believes so, who said this on his podcast:
“The biggest loser of the day was Dwyane Wade who had the worst statue of all time. It looked like somebody who had emerged from a fire and lived. It was like Jim Carrey’s [Fire Marshal Bill] sketch. Can you imagine having a statue look that bad of yourself being unveiled?
“What would you even say? ‘Uh, thanks?’ There’s never been a worse sports statue ever. I mean it got rightfully killed today.”
Wade himself defended the statue’s design, telling fans:
“If I wanted it to look like me, I’d just stand outside the arena and y’all can take photos. It don’t need to look like me. It’s the artistic version of a moment that happened that we’re trying to cement.”
The statue is supposed to represent Wade’s celebration at the end of a game against the Chicago Bulls in March 2009, where he hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer of double overtime.
“I care, but I don’t,” Wade said. “The social media world is about opinions. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone, use y’all opinions. Please talk more about us. Talk more about a statue, come on down to see it, take some photos, send some memes. We don’t care.”
