The Wades were in the house. Placed at Miami’s Kaseya Center, a bronze statue honoring the Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade was unveiled on October 27. It was an emotional moment for the Wade family as the 3 X NBA champ expressed his gratitude for all the love he has received in the Magic City. “This is my house. I’m out,” Wade declared during his speech at the unveiling ceremony in reference to the moment the statue has now immortalized. And, in true Miami style, Wade left the ceremony as only he could.

Hand in hand with his wife, Gabrielle Union, the basketball icon walked out of the Heat Arena to celebrate the moment with his family. When a reporter asked if this was just the start of his celebration, he had a heartwarming response.

“I have no words, really. I don’t know. It’s going to take a while to process this, but I just feel happy. I feel thankful. I feel grateful. I feel blessed. And I’m so appreciative. It ain’t just getting started, but it ain’t over. We’re somewhere in the middle part of the day. So we’re going to continue. We’re going to take this boat. We’re going to celebrate on that. Then we’re going to go to a restaurant. We’re going to celebrate, too. So a whole weekend.” Wade expressed his feelings with a satisfactory smile on his face.

Wade spent 13 seasons with the Heat, delivering countless iconic moments. One of those is captured in the new 8-foot statue features Wade’s iconic ‘This is my house’ celebration after winning a game against the Chicago Bulls in March 2009. 

As per the Miami Herald, Wade also shared wise words for the younger generation during his speech. “I believe I gave you guys something set in stone to hold onto,” Wade said. The IG post sharing the clip was captioned, “The day is over for Wade but the night is young. Riding off Miami style!”

Though he was born and raised in Chicago, Miami held a special place in Wade’s heart. Udonis Haslem, Pat Riley, and his son, Zaire, who brought the icon to tears with his speech, all made the day a little more special for the 3x champion. But the celebrations don’t end here. 

Apart from Wade’s plans for the evening, the tribute will continue to the 28th during a game against the Detroit Pistons. It will be a Wade-themed game night with tribute videos for the 42-year-old, activations, and then an address during the halftime by the man himself. And Wade couldn’t have asked for a moment better. “I could not have written this script any better,” he declared, having 13 years of his career with the franchise summed up in the structure.

Dwyane Wade walked away happy with the statue

This was Dwyane Wade’s statue unveiling. However, netizens argued otherwise, with many taking to social media to claim the statue didn’t resemble Wade at all. While some agreed the body and pose were accurate, they felt the face looked nothing like Wade’s. Let’s not forget, this statue was crafted by the renowned Amrany Studio sculptors, who also sculpted the famous Michael Jordan’s ‘The Spirit,’ Kobe Bryant’s ‘Black Mamba’ statue and the ‘Kobe and Gianna Bryant Memorial.’

While the champ appeared satisfied, Fox Sports reporter Rachel Nichols confirmed the Miami Heat legend’s opinion. In a previous interview, Wade himself confirmed that he was involved in the process, had visited the statue multiple times, and even made changes. “He walked away very happy. By that last visit, he had basically seen everything he wanted to see. We made all the adjustments he wanted,” León confirmed.

Taking to X, Nichols wrote, “Wade was very involved with what the statue would look like and visited the sculptor several times. The Kobe statue was also being made at the same place, so Dwyane said it really hit him as he looked at both, that it was more than metal in front of him, it was immortality.” Maybe that is all that matters.