Dwyane Wade was considered one of the greatest players in the history of the Miami Heat. The shooting guard averaged 22 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists for his career — so, naturally, the Heat decided to honor him with a statue made of his likeness at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Fla., which was unveiled on Sunday, Oct. 27.
Unfortunately for Wade — and his fans — the statue was everything but an honor.
Within minutes of the unveiling, commentary about the statue began circulating far and wide on the notoriously unforgiving Internet.
Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Pierce took to social media to share a screenshot of a conversation between himself and former teammate Tony Allen, in which Pierce took particular exception to the look that the Wade statue had on its face. Pierce even snarked that the Wade statue bore more than a passing resemblance to Allen.
ESPN NFL reporter Jeff Darlington came in for his fair share of commentary, noting that the Heat "should’ve had a contest where they showed this picture to 1,000 fans — and anyone who guesses it’s Dwyane Wade gets to keep the statue."
Chicago Sun-Times reporter Richard Roeper remarked that Wade looked like "Beach Frasier," referring to the character made famous by actor Kelsey Grammer.
Even Dwyane Wade himself appeared to give the game away when he remarked, "Who is that guy?" upon the unveiling of the statue.
While the statue certainly made for some funny, meme-worthy moments on social media, it also took away from the very real and very necessary tribute to Wade.
A statue that bore more resemblance to Wade's distinctive looks would have put the focus on his illustrious NBA career — how his 16 seasons of playing (14 of them with the Heat) resulted in him being one of only two players to be on all three Heat teams that won NBA championships, as well as being the top scorer in Heat history.
A statue that was truly made in his likeness would have had fans discussing how he had one of only six numbers in Heat history to have been retired and how Wade — alongside LeBron James and Chris Bosh — was considered one of the Heat's famed "Big Three" that took the team to four Eastern Conference championships and two NBA championships.
A statue that truly depicted Wade would have focused on the gold medal that he helped take home for the USA basketball team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Instead, the statue turned Wade's illustrious career into a social media punchline, with critics taking various potshots at its appearance rather than focusing on what matters most: why Wade was honored with the statue in the first place.
Wade and the Heat deserve better than this.
