“My favorite person who broke down my game… Carmelo Anthony”—you’d expect your friend to have your back like Dwyane Wade. But then, the former Miami Heat star cannot be mad at Melo for being honest with his opinion. Yes, like majority opinion, the former New York Knicks star did not find the D-Wade statue to be the way he was expecting it to be.

Appearing on the Jimmy Fallon show, Melo revealed he went to the actual ceremony. But he didn’t get to see the statue at the time because of his sitting position. And also because by the time he could get to the statue, there were just too many people. But what he saw later was something he could not believe.

“I got back to the hotel and somebody sent me the screenshot of it, and I was like, oh, no, this is the. We had the wrong thing. This is not. This is not [Dwyane Wade]…” Jimmy Fallon, however, highlighted that Wade handled all the criticism very well. And he cannot be more right. Even though The Flash defended his statue, he never lost his cool on any of the criticisms.

“I get that people have their opinions,” D-Wade said during a press conference. He further emphasized that as long as the statue gets people talking, taking photos, and sharing it around, he’s all for it. But if you have been on the critical side of the statue, you might wonder what caused the statue to look the way it does. Well, Melo has an answer for you, which might have been the case. “I think he was caught up in the process… He loved the process of it and just forgot the outcome,” Melo said on The Tonight Show.

At least the part that Wade himself was involved during the making of his statue is completely true, as confirmed by Wade and the sculptors. According to them, the entire process took 800 hours and Wade was directly involved throughout the process. Arenas, however, on his podcast had in interesting theory. “He (Wade) probably said in the beginning of it when he had the jersey. Ain’t no damn way he seen the face part.” However, it’s not as if The Flash had no support for his statue.

NBA community extends the support for good things happening to Dwyane Wade

Recently, Wade shared a proud moment with fans on Instagram—photos in front “Dwyane Wade Blvd” and the recently unveiled statue. And, of course, Wade’s fellow players from the league didn’t hold back in the comments!

Former Indiana Pacers star Lance Stephenson called Wade him GOAT, posting, “🐐 Congratulations 🔥” in the comments. Then there was Isaiah Thomas, who, without many words, had a similar praise for The Flash with a series of goat emojis. These two played together only briefly on the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the mutual respect runs deep.

In fact, when Thomas had hip surgery a few years back, Wade was one of the first to cheer him on. “I. Can’t. Wait. @isaiahthomasgo do what you’ve done your whole life and make everyone swallow their words. They can’t measure your heart cuz,” he wrote on X.

And Thomas responded back with support. Something Dwyane Wade might have expected from Carmelo Anthony as well. Now, it’s to be seen if Wade responds back to Melo with a friendly jab.