Few players in NBA history have a greater impact on one franchise than Dwyane Wade with the Miami Heat. The 2023 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee remains the face of Heat hoops five years after playing his last NBA game.
This weekend, Miami further embraced Wade’s basketball legacy and impact across South Florida.
On Sunday, as part of a two-day celebration to honor Wade, 2,000 fans gathered in front of the team’s home arena as the Heat unveiled a bronze statue on the front steps leading into the building. The statue pose is of Wade’s “This is my house” celebration after he made a 2009 buzzer beater against the Chicago Bulls.
His house pic.twitter.com/AtkClKDXhq
— HEAT on FanDuel Sports Network (@FanDuelSN_Heat) October 27, 2024
“I wanted to feel this. Life goes by so fast,” Wade said. “It’s very rare that we get to feel things, because we’re always off to the next thing. So I didn’t prepare much because I just wanted to feel this. I wanted to look at it. Like, ‘That’s crazy, who is that guy?’”
Wade joins the likes of Kobe Bryant (Lakers, Los Angeles), Michael Jordan (Bulls, Chicago), Wilt Chamberlain (76ers, Philadelphia) and Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks, Dallas) among the only players in league history honored with a statue at an NBA arena. In 2020, Miami raised Wade’s No. 3 jersey to its rafters, which made him the fifth player in franchise history to have their number retired.
Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Bosh and Tim Hardaway are the others.
Our franchise’s greatest legacy, forever cemented pic.twitter.com/0wBDQ3Cz2C
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) October 27, 2024
“Dwyane Wade was, has shown tremendous character that has been emanating from me day in and day out, night in and night out, come rain, come shine, come anything,” Heat president Pat Riley said Sunday. “Dwyane Wade’s — and I won’t name it — will keep alive forever, for always the character emanating like an open arms feeling when people stand before it.
“That’s all I ever knew about Dwyane. Always elevating himself to another level, his family, his friends, the people he knew who cared about him.”
There was Wade fan trivia and a Rick Ross concert prior to the ceremony. Wade’s former teammates Udonis Haslem, Mourning, Bam Adebayo and Ray Allen were in attendance. Riley, Haslem and Zaire Wade spoke before the statue was unveiled.
Since Miami drafted Wade fifth overall in 2003, he engraved his name into Miami on a routine basis. In Heat history, no one has accounted for more games (948), minutes (32,912), points (21,556), assists (5,310), made field goals (8,385), steals (1,492) and 40-point games. His 812 blocks trail only Mourning (1,625) for the most in team history than the 2006 NBA Finals MVP.
Off the court, Wade remains readily involved in the Miami-Dade community. He’s dedicated basketball courts to younger generations, assisted in providing for the needy, helped feed the homeless, coordinated food and wine festivals for locals, supported LGBTQ+ initiatives and much more.
In 2021, the Miami-Dade County Commission voted unanimously to designate a portion of Northeast 7th Street on Biscayne Boulevard to Northeast 2nd Avenue in the three-time NBA champion’s name. His roadway is located near the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami.
“Thank you all for following,” Wade said to close his speech. “I believe I gave you something set in stone to hold onto. This is my house.”
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(Top photo: Kyle Terada / Imagn)
