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The Miami Heat honored one of the best players in franchise history on Sunday, unveiling a statue outside Kaseya Center of Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade.
The ceremony was a star-studded event that saw the likes of Udonis Haslem, Pat Riley, Bam Adebayo, A’ja Wilson and Wade’s wife Gabrielle Union-Wade among those in attendance.
The statue is a nod to Wade’s famous “This is my house” moment after he hit a game-winning shot for the Heat.
Oscar León and Omri Amrany are the artists behind the statue, with their studio having already created the Michael Jordan statue in Chicago 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 told Alex Miranda and Kevin Boulandier of WSVN 7 in Miami.
Wade 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 played for the Heat from 2003 to 2016 and again in his final NBA season in 2018-19. He helped lead the team to three NBA championships in 2006, 2012 and 2013. The 13-time All-Star is widely regarded as one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history, and his No. 3 is retired by Miami. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2023.
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