Dwyane Wade taking high road on ridicule of his statue: ‘It doesn’t need to look like me’

Dwyane Wade is saying all the right things about the statue that was unveiled in his likeness outside of the Miami Heat’s Kaseya Center on Monday, and that’s cool of him. It was his day, his family’s day, and he is a classy guy through and through. Always has been. 

But let’s call a spade a spade: The face on this statue is a Cristiano Ronaldo-level botch job. To say it does not look anything like Wade would be an understatement. Honestly, take a look at this thing. 

Predictably, jokes about the appearance of the statue have been all over social media. Wade is taking it all in stride.

“I have an iPhone,” Wade said when he was asked he’s seen all the mocking comments about the face on his statue. “The social media world is about opinions. Everyone has an opinion. Use y’all opinions. Please, talk more about us. Talk more about the statue. Come out and see it. Take some photos. Send some memes. We don’t care.

“It was a special moment yesterday, for my family and I” Wade continued, alluding to the unveiling of his statue. “I don’t know a lot of people with a statue, do you? Anybody here, y’all know anything about the process of creating a statue? No one out there do, neither. It’s an unbelievable process to be a part of. And it’s a complicated process. Sitting down with the Miami Heat, and myself, we wanted to capture a moment that represented the organization, and represented myself, and represented this city. We felt like we captured that moment in artistic form. 

“If I wanted it to look like me,” Wade concluded, “I would just stand outside the arena and y’all could take photos. It don’t need to look like me. It’s an artistic version of a moment that happened, that we’re trying to cement.”

Again, Wade is saying the right things. And he’s right that the statue represents something deeper than just a replica of his face. He wanted to capture a specific moment — when he jumped on the scorer’s table after he hit the game-winning 3-pointer in a double-overtime victory over Chicago in 2009 and declared, “This is my house!” 

The statue got all of that right. The table. The computer monitor at Wade’s feet. One foot off the ground and the two fingers down emphatic gesture. The uniform. The body. It’s all great. 

Except the face. And let’s be honest, that’s the first thing people are going to look at. Unfortunately, it’s also going to be the lasting impression that a lot of those people walk away with. 

Wade is also correct, one would assume, in pointing out how difficult and involved the process is to carve a statue out of bronze. Nobody said it was easy. If it was, then anyone could do it. But the best were hired to do this — Timeless Creations’ Omri Amrany and Oscar León. 

It was Amrany and his wife who erected the Michael Jordan statue outside Chicago’s United Center, which launched a 30-year business in Studio Rotblatt Amrany. They did the Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal statues outside Crypto.com Arena. They also did the statue of the late Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi. This is pretty serious stuff. It’s not really enough to get most of a statue like this right, especially when the part you got hilariously wrong is the face. 

Morpehus from The Matrix is played by, of course, legendary actor Laurence Fishburne. Wade sees the similarities, too.

“I appreciate all the comments because I’m in on the joke, guys,” Wade said. “I laugh all the time. I’m cool. I saw some memes today, [I was] like it kind of got a little Laurence Fishburne [with] the jaw line.”

Don’t be surprised if this thing is eventually redone. Wade is saying the right things now, but this is going to be standing forever. When the aforementioned Cristiano Ronaldo statue came out looking like a botched plastic surgery job, it was indeed redone. 

Here was the first version:

Here’s the one that resides in the Santiago Bernabeu museum today:

The botched face notwithstanding, this is, as Wade so humbly noted, an incredible honor that very few people in the world will ever receive. And if he doesn’t care, I suppose nobody else should, either. 

Still, saying that a statue that has literally been erected to capture the image of a legend doesn’t need to actually look like that legend is ludicrous. And it can be done. Go look at some of the Hall of Fame busts. Check out Ed Reed. 

Or Brett Favre. 

Or Marvin Harrison.

Or Tony Gwynn. 

There are hundreds of examples like this. Most of the time, they get this at least close to right. Truth be told, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find a face as inaccurately crafted as Wade’s is on this statue. For Wade to say he’s “in on the joke” is actually kind of sad, even if he’s being super cool about it. He shouldn’t have to be up at that podium using the work joke in any capacity as it pertains to something this meaningful and lasting.