Dwyane Wade was “immortalized” recently as the Miami Heat — the NBA team with which he is most commonly associated — unveiled a statue of the three-time NBA champion outside their home arena, Kaseya Center. However, the statue‘s likeness of Wade has been heavily criticized — and one look at it makes clear the reason why.
But Wade himself is a fan of the statue that commemorates a legendary career in Miami, and his daughter Kaavia has just provided him with another strong motivation to enjoy what the franchise sanctioned for him.
The statue of Wade recalls one of the shooting guard’s more iconic moments: a game-winning shot and celebration during a game against his hometown Chicago Bulls back in 2009. After htting the shot, Wade leapt on to the announcer’s table and shouted that Kaseya Center was “his house” — which he proved during the Heat‘s 2010s renaissance, when he played alongside Chris Bosh and LeBron James.
Kaavia, Wade’s five-year-old daughter with Gabrielle Union, recreated the iconic pose and declaration during Sunday’s unveiling — demonstrating that Wade’s impact is indeed generational.
Wade, a 13-time All-Star and a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee who now has an ownership stake in the WNBA‘s Chicago Sky, was taken aback by the criticism of his statue — a stance further entrenched by his young daughter’s apparent enjoyment of the monument.
“If I wanted it to look like me, I’d just stand outside the arena and y’all can take photos,” Wade said. “It don’t need to look like me. It’s the artistic version of a moment that happened that we’re trying to cement.”
In that sense, mission accomplished down in Miami, where Wade’s statue will stand for a long time yet as a reminder of the guard’s legacy at the Heat’s house.