Dwyane Wade Says He's 'Over the Moon' About His Statue: 'We're Not Concerned with No One's Opinion' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Dwyane Wade poses for a photo during his statue unveiling on October 27, 2024 at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.Photo:Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty

Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty

Dwyane Wadeis still in awe that he has his ownstatueoutside the Miami Heat arena.

Wade, 42, exclusively tells PEOPLE that he’s “over the moon” about his likeness being set in stone outside the arena where he played for 13 years. “I can’t believe it. That’s me back there in an artistic form,” says Wade.

“This is an artistic expression of a moment, one of the biggest moments of Miami Heat history, and I’m just in disbelief that I’m the one that’s chosen.”

Wade played for the Heat from 2003-2016 before he moved to the Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers for one season each. He ultimately went back to the Heat for a final season before retiring in 2019. His statue outside the arena depicts his legendary game against the Chicago Bulls in 2009, when he dominantly declared “This is my house,” during the 48 point-performance — which Wade says was the moment that he and the Miami Heat organization agreed was the best choice for his statue.

The honor means everything to Wade, he tells PEOPLE. “I didn’t have anyone that I could look at and say, ‘Man, look at the success that this person in my family has had, and how do I get that?’ And so I’m just thankful for the generations of my family. I’m thankful for the fans and the supporters that I have.”

Dwyane Wade and his family strike the pose depicted in the statue after it was unveiled in front of Kaseya Center on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Miami.D.A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty

D.A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty

The retired Heat star says “social media got ahold of” a video from theOct. 27 unveiling at Kaseya Centerin Miami that showed Wade andhis son Zaire, 22, reacting to the unveiling.

Wade — who sharesZaire and Zaya, 17, with ex-wife Siovaughn Funches, son Xavier, 10, with Aja Metoyer and daughter Kaavia James, 5, with his wifeGabrielle Union— says he and his family are “not concerned with no one’s opinion” of the statue, which some fans criticized after the unveiling. “We all just on the high high and nobody could take us down from our high. We sky high, we over the moon.”

“Everybody else’s opinion of it is their opinions, and everyone has one, and they’re allowed to utilize it, but we’re not concerned with no one’s opinion. We wouldn’t have a statue if we ever, ever was concerned with someone’s opinion.”

Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union in front of his statue outside Kaseya Center.Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty

“I’m personally involved in all the things Dwyane Wade, and so I spent a lot of time on what I wanted this statue to feel like and look like, and the expression I wanted to give off,” says the Heat legend.

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In fact, Wade worked closely with the statue’s sculptors on how it would look. “I went up to Chicago probably four times throughout this process to meet with them…I spent at least three to four hours going over all the details that mattered to me, understanding things,” says Wade, adding that he “learned so much” during the process.

“You pick your pose, you pick the moment, then they take photos of my real body, my real face, like how I look today. And then from there, you see it in a wiring process where the statue is made in wires, and then after that it’s made in clay, and then clay is a process to kind of mold it,” he explains.

Wade says he’s “thankful” that he was able to collaborate on the final statue, which will “stand up there every day and let people come and take pictures with me.”

source: people.com