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Dwyane Wade has seen the jokes and the criticism. He just doesn’t care.
The former Miami Heat star spoke out on Monday about the new statue depicting him outside of the team’s arena in South Florida, which drew plenty of condemnation and jokes after many thought it didn’t look like him at all once it was unveiled on Sunday.
“I care, but I don’t,” Wade said, via The Associated Press. “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.”
Wade spent nearly all of his Hall of Fame career with the Heat, who he helped lead to three NBA titles. He’s still the team’s all-time leading scorer, and he’s the first player in franchise history to actually get a statue.
While it doesn’t really look like him, especially in the face, Wade loves it.
Why can’t we get statues of people…that look like the people they’re supposed to represent. Nobody sees Dwyane Wade here. pic.twitter.com/AMc36O7hVU
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) October 27, 2024
“If I wanted it to look like me, I’d just stand outside the arena and y’all can take photos,” he said. “It don’t need to look like me. It’s the artistic version of a moment that happened that we’re trying to cement.”
Wade was directly involved in the statue’s creation, which took about 800 hours to complete. The moment was taken from a game against the Chicago Bulls in 2009 after Wade hit a buzzer-beater to lift the Heat to the win in double overtime.
Though he was quick to defend the artists that made the statue of him, he knows they just have to laugh, brush off the criticism and move on.
“I don’t know a lot of people with a statue. Do you?” he said. “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.”