“When we retired his jersey in February 2020, I said Dwyane was the face of this franchise forever and I meant it.” Pat Riley was over the moon celebrating the honor of Dwyane Wade. And now, he will receive this same honor, although from a different organization. The team where he began his expertise. Recently, the Lakers made the announcement.

“One of the greatest coaches of all time — The Lakers are proud to announce Pat Riley’s legacy will be cemented and his statue will find a home on Star Plaza,” read the tweet from Los Angeles Lakers. During his time with the Purple and Gold, Riley achieved 4 NBA championships, and since 1995, he has been working with the Heat.

But the issues of statues gone wrong are still prevalent in fans’ brains, especially after the Dwyane Wade one. Notably, the sculptors Omri Amrany and Oscar León 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.

Moving on, Pat Riley got to know about the honor from Jeanie Buss over a video call. His time with the Lakers featured many Showtime Era players. And now that the news of his statue is out, Riley will join some of the other Lakers legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal, among others, to have a statue with the franchise. But it seems that this news has given the fans a bit of a worry.

Fans plead to avoid the Dwyane Wade treatment

In a statement, Jeanie Buss detailed the greatness of Pat Riley, saying, “His professionalism, commitment to his craft and game preparation paved the way for the coaching we see across the league today. My dad recognized Pat’s obsession and ability to take talented players and coalesce them into a championship team.” She continued, “The style of basketball Pat and the Lakers created in the 80s is still the blueprint for the organization today: an entertaining and winning team.”

Not to forget, she also called the Miami Heat present the “Lakers Icon.” He has won 6x championships as a Laker, so for the important day, multiple fans raised the same issue. “Just don’t let the guy who did D. Wades do it.” Plus, another netizen had similar requirements. The user wrote, “Just don’t f–k it up like Miami.”

Multiple times, Dwyane Wade and his wife have clarified they have no issue with the statue nor with the sculptors. But that did not stop this one from cautioning the franchise, as they wrote, “hope the Lakers don’t hire the guy who did the Dwyane Wade statue or Pat Riley’s will look like Adrien Brody.” One Phoenix fan made a sarcastic comment against their division rivals, “Hope Pat Riley’s statue is as good as Dwyane Wade’s.”

A large amount of the audience wants the same thing, “It better be better than D Wade’s lmao.” It is so because they feel disrespected seeing one of the greats that the franchise produced have a statue whose facial fails to replicate Dwyane Wade. While the fans did their part by voicing their opinion, what are your thoughts on Pat Riley getting his statue? Let us know in the comments below.