We all knew it was coming, and yet, it hit hard. The guys from Inside the NBA had fun with Dwyane Wade’s Miami Heat statue. When it was first unveiled, fans were quick to poke fun at the bronze statue of the legendary Miami Heat player.
The statue, standing at an impressive eight feet tall outside the Kaseya Center is a legacy moment for Wade. But the looks of it are not that impressive, according to most people.
Shaq Jokes About Dwyane Wade’s Miami Statue
Shaquille O’Neal is responsible for one of the funniest segments in the NBA, Shaqtin’ a Fool. The segment shows hilarious NBA bloopers. Shaqtin’ has had different versions over the years, and now, fans get to choose between the four best moments. Dwyane Wade’s Miami statute won first place. And Shaq had his fun, saying,
“The scariest thing this Halloween is the statue. How’s that statue look, Chuck?”
Charles Barkley was not kind as well, saying,
“I tell you what, if you put that in front of your house, there ain’t no kids coming. You don’t want kids in your house. That’s the way it went. That’s the way it went with the animated face man.”
Chuck Thinks the Statue Is an Honor
Earlier in the show, during another segment, Charles talked about how huge of an honor it is to have a statue. He said it was a great honor for Wade, but they have to take it down. Kenny Smith protested, and Chuck had some words, saying,
“It is a great honor but they have to take that thing down. He made an ugly statute that’s what it would look like. That thing is awful.”
He then finished by saying that would be the face Wade made after he saw the statue. Sculptors took about 800 hours of work to finish off the statue and Wade was directly involved with the process. Most people saw the statue for the first time on Sunday, while Wade had seen parts of it, including the face, during the process.
What Did Dwyane Wade Think of His Statue?
On Monday, Wade conducted a couple of interviews about the statue. And he said the following,
“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 moment that the statue tries to capture is the end of a game against the Chicago Bulls in March of 2009. After making a shot to win the game at the buzzer of double overtime, Wade hopped up onto a courtside table, yelling, “This is my house!” It was a historic moment for sure, and the position of the hands in the statue are reminiscent of the moment.
The face, on the other hand, is a different story. Wade continued,
“I care, but I don’t. 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.”
At the end of the day, there are only a few organizations in the NBA that have a statue outside, including the Los Angeles Lakers. There are also only a dozen of players that have a statue outside of an arena. That statue is a great moment for the Wade family and the Heat organization. And it is not the first, nor will it be the last to look different than the player.
