March 9, 2009: The Miami Heat were up against the Chicago Bulls in a clash that would go on to cement Dwyane Wade’s legacy. Navigating through his sixth NBA season, the then 27-year-old Heat player’s final shot—stealing the ball from Bulls guard John Salmons—featured a one-legged game-winning three-pointer, pushing Miami to a 130-127 double overtime victory. D-Wade was ecstatic. He ran to the courtside, climbed on one of the chairs and repeatedly yelled, “This is my house!” birthing an iconic phrase.

Cut to 15 years later, and now that moment has found a forever home—the Kaseya Center in Miami. On October 26, an 8-foot bronze statue of the celebratory gesture was unveiled, eight months after team president Pat Riley announced plans to solidify Wade’s legacy with the Heat. “When we retired his jersey in February 2020, I said Dwyane was the face of this franchise forever, and I meant it,” he had said. To remind you, Dwyane Wade was drafted by Miami as a fifth-overall pick in 2003, and is Heat’s all-time leader in categories like points, games played, minutes played, assists and steals and is considered one of the top shooting guards in NBA history. He also picked up three championships with the team (2006, 2012, 2013), a Finals MVP award in 2006 and an NBA scoring title in the 2008-09 season.

So it’s only fitting that he’s become the first-ever Heat player to get a statue. However, as grand as the move sounds, the ceremony was marred by what social media deemed as “disrespect”. As images surfaced online, countless complaints cropped up about the underwhelming nature of the statue. But before we get to that…

If you ask the star himself, he has absolutely no complaints. During the ceremony on Sunday, the 42-year-old stated, “I was just like, ‘That’s beautiful. Personally, I’m biased, I think it’s one of the best statues that’s been created because of what it represents for us and for me.”

“It was a beautiful process to be a part of. I think I visited Chicago about four times. I think I stayed in probably about four hours. Each time, it was just a great collaborative process with the Miami Heat, with Fine Art Studio and also myself and my family. So it was cool,” he further said, talking about the sculptors, Omri Amrany and Oscar León, who are already quite infamous for their slip-ups. For the unversed: The duo is also behind the “Michael Jordan Spirit” in Chicago, the Kobe Bryant “Black Mamba” statue, and the recently unveiled “Kobe and Gianna Bryant Memorial Statue” in Los Angeles.

​Notably, outside the Kaseya Center, Miami County, a street has also been renamed to honor the Heat’s greatest player. Miami City Mayor Francis Suarez previously announced it in February 2020. Now, ‘Dwyane Wade Boulevard,’ includes 7th Street from Biscayne Blvd. to NE 2nd Avenue.

Well, this is definitely a special moment. But…

Fans not happy about the tribute from the Miami Heat

One of the fans wrote, “​​They got my goat looking 50 😭“, while another quipped, “Bro they Lowkey finessed his face.” Understanding the situation, another social media user lashed out at the franchise for disrespecting the 3x NBA Champion. “​sell the team bruh​.”

Being a kid from Chicago, Dwyane Wade saw the Michael Jordan statue, “So to be able to be at this point in my life where I know that the same feeling I had when Jordan had his statue is the same feeling that young kids will have coming, getting an opportunity to visit mine, families will have, being able to create memories and moments.” But it seems his statue will be difficult to recognize, as a fan wrote, “​​The face 🤣🤣.”

For all his contributions, and earning the respect from his peers, it was his former teammate Shaquille O’Neal who coined a moniker. Due to his speed and reaction on both sides of the court, Shaq dubbed Dwyane Wade as ‘Flash.’ And with the same speed, one fan voiced their opinion loud and clear “The evil flash lmaoo.”

On the other hand, one Instagram user took a dig at the sculptors and how they’ve failed to make an impact as of late. “The makers behind the statue have a legendary résumé, but starting with the Kobe statue, they’ve been on a nasty run with the faces of the statues 😭,” the comment read. Case in point: In March this year, the Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a Kobe Bryant statue, that had some nasty proofreading errors. The marble base beneath the sculpture misspelled former NBA players Jose Calderon and Von Wafer. Apart from that, the word ‘Decision’ was also spelled as ‘Decicion’. This prompted the Lakers to release a statement, stating, “We have been aware of this for a few weeks and are already working to get it corrected soon.”

Having said that, another user gave a hilarious shout-out to an Olympic goof-up, and wrote, “Did the Australian breakdancer make this?”

But, Wade’s wife, Gabrielle Union, was nothing but appreciative as she commented, “🔥🔥🔥”.

As for the basketball player, he also revealed why he chose that exact moment for the bronze creation. “The ‘This is my house’ moment is the biggest moment of my individual career. This was an individual moment for me to pick that. So I wanted to pick it because, obviously, we played the Chicago Bulls that time and it was my hometown team. I hit the game-winner versus them. I felt good about it, so just wanted to do that and pick that because I want to make sure that every fan when they see it, they remember my career. I think that sums up my career, that sums up this building.

“I was like, people are going to be driving and they’re going to look up and I’m going to be like: ‘This is my house.’ I was like, ‘That’s going to be pretty cool from the street.”

On the day when everything seemed perfect, from speeches to heartwarming gestures, the statue did fail to impress. What’s your opinion on it? Let us know in the comments below!