About-face as Heat unveil new, improved Dwyane Wade statue

Seven years after he last played in an NBA game, Dwyane Wade has that old look back again.

The Miami Heat revealed enhancements to its Wade statue outside of its home arena that had been widely ridiculed since it was unveiled in October 2024 for looking nothing like the 13-time All-Star.

The square face and large jaw on the original bronze "likeness" only resembled Wade in that the depiction was wearing a No. 3 Miami Heat jersey. The updated statue, which the Heat said had "enhancements," now bears a striking resemblance to the franchise's record holder in games played with 948 and points with 21,556.

"I had to ask myself a pretty simple question: 'If people don't feel that connection when they look at the face, why wouldn't we try to make it better?'" Wade, 44, wrote on the Substack platform. "So, we listened and had honest conversations with everyone involved, and we all agreed to make adjustments to the head."

The Wade statue, located near the main entrance of Kaseya Center, had been hidden beneath a plywood box in recent days.

The statue depicts the end of a 2009 game against the Chicago Bulls when Wade made the game-winning shot in double overtime and jumped on top of a table near courtside while yelling, "This is my house."

Named to the NBA's 75th anniversary team in 2021, Wade was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.

Wade played all but 106 regular-season games of his career in a Heat uniform (2003-16, 2018-19), with averages of 22.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists over 16 seasons including with Chicago (2016-17) and Cleveland (2017-18). The fifth-overall draft pick in 2003 by the Heat, Wade was a three-time NBA champion and 2006 NBA Finals MVP. He was NBA scoring champion in 2008-09 when he averaged 30.2 points.

--Field Level Media