Dwyane Wade to receive statue outside Heat arena, which Pat Riley says will be ‘eight feet tall’

It was only a matter of time before Miami Heat legend and recent Hall of Fame inductee Dwyane Wade received a statue outside the organization’s South Beach arena, and it became official on Sunday. During halftime of the Heat’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, which they dubbed “Dwyane Wade Hall of Fame Night,” team president Pat Riley announced that Wade will soon have the first statue in franchise history outside of Kaseya Center.

“I’m not really the person who gets lost for words. I’ve got too many words actually. I didn’t dream of this, though,” Wade said after the halftime announcement. “I’m just so grateful. I’m very grateful. … I can’t wait for families to be able to experience what that’s gonna be like from all around the world, to come and have a moment of the culture that will be out front. I can’t wait until that day, man, so I’m excited.”

Catch Wade’s full halftime interview featuring the special announcement from Pat 👀 pic.twitter.com/KxO4lHXNkH

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 15, 2024
The unveiling ceremony for the statue will take place in fall of 2024, according to the Heat, with further details being released at a later date. Riley said that the statue will be “eight feet tall,” but no size parameters were provided in Miami’s press release. They did say that sculptors Omri Amrany and Oscar Leon of Fine Art Studio Rotblatt Amrany have been commissioned to create the statue. Amrany has worked on statues of NBA stars before, including those of Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Dirk Nowitzki and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Wade played 15 of his 16 NBA seasons with the Heat, leading them to three championships while earning Finals MVP honors in 2006. He is one of three players in NBA history to accumulate at least 20,000 points, 5,000 assists, 4,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals, 800 blocks and 500 3-pointers in his career — the other two are LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Wade was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this past August, and will always have a home in “Wade County” as the poster child for Heat Culture.

“When we retired his jersey in February 2020, I said Dwyane was the face of this franchise forever and I meant it,” Riley said. “Dwyane’s legacy is a towering one not only for the Miami Heat but for Miami-Wade County. I can’t think of a better way to honor him than by memorializing that legacy.”