Dwyane Wade has shared his thoughts on the ‘opinions’ circulating on social media about his statue outside the Kaseya Center.
On October 27, a statue commemorating the NBA Miami Heat icon was revealed at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Though the unveiling was a significant moment for the 42-year-old sports star, it didn’t prevent some social media users from mocking the statue, claiming it was ‘completely unrecognizable’.
The 8-foot bronze sculpture was presented amidst smoke and flames, accompanied by a live broadcast on several channels, with an eager audience awaiting the reveal behind two walls.
When the smoke dissipated, it revealed a figure in a basketball vest with the number three, arms raised, fingers pointing down, with a mouth open in a shout—an homage to a notable shot Wade made on March 9, 2009, during his sixth NBA season. It wasn’t long before people took to Twitter, many echoing similar sentiments.
One commenter questioned: “Why are statues so hard!? We’ve only been doing it since the beginning of EVERYTHING!”
Another asked: “Who approved this?????”
Wade has since responded to the feedback regarding the statue.
Wade was reportedly ‘heavily involved’ in the statue’s creation, providing sculptors Omri Amrany and Oscar León with advice on desired adjustments.
León remarked that they made ‘all the adjustments he wanted’ and that Wade ‘walked away very happy’ with the finished piece.
León added that the statue ‘is what it is’ and believes ‘anybody else can do better than that’.
In a conversation with The Associated Press, Wade explained that if he wanted the statue to be an exact likeness, he’d ‘just stand outside the arena’ for people to photograph.
“It don’t need to look like me. It’s the artistic version of a moment that happened that we’re trying to cement,” he stated. “[…] I don’t know a lot of people with a statue. Do you? Anybody here, y’all know anything about the process of a statue? No one out there do neither. And so, it’s an unbelievable process to be a part of. And it’s a complicated process.”
Regarding the criticism, Wade acknowledges he ‘cares’, but also doesn’t let it affect him.
“The social media world is about opinions. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone, use y’all opinions,” he reflected, concluding: “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.”
*Mic drop*