The Miami Heat have done Dwyane Wade dirty.
The franchise legend was in Miami on Sunday for the official unveiling of his statue outside Kaseya Center — the home of the NBA‘s Heat.
Wade is one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA historyGetty
The statue is a nod to Wade’s famous, ‘This is my house’ celebration after he hit a game-winning shot for the Heat, but fans, and Wade, were completely taken aback by the statue’s likeness.
“Who is that guy?” a stunned Wade asked as he took to the podium and addressed fans in attendance outside the arena.
“That’s crazy, I can’t believe it.”
The comically bad statue was unrecognizable from the real life Hall of Famer.
Fans took to social media to ask whether Wade had been pranked given how terrible it looked.
Some called it the worst statue ever, comparing it to soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo‘s infamously bad bronze bust that has been the subject of much ridicule over the years.
“Worst statue ever”, wrote one fan.
“Miami Heat did Dwyane Wade so dirty, ” added another.
“That’s Laurence Fishburne’s face,” joked another.
“He’s telling them to take it down after the ceremony,” a third said.
“This is really bad,” a fourth wrote.
Fans said the statue looks nothing like him
Even Wade joked, “Who is that guy?”
Oscar León and Omri Amrany are the artists behind the statue. They previously created the Michael Jordan statue outside the Bulls’ United Center as well as Kobe Bryant‘s in Los Angeles.
“We are trying to one-up what we’ve done in the past in terms of design, execution, composition,” León said.
Wade also said he was involved in the process of creating his statue, and the two sculptors said he was pleased with the final result.
“He walked away very happy. By that last visit, he had basically seen everything he wanted to see. We made all the adjustments he wanted,” León said.
Wade is a former Finals MVP and three-time NBA champion with the Heat.
The thirteen-time NBA All-Star played for the franchise from 2003 to 2016 and again in 2018-19. He formed a ‘Big Three’ with LeBron James and Chris Bosh, who won two NBA titles together in 2012 and 2013.
Wade’s No. 3 jersey is retired by the organization and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last year.