A statue honoring Dwyane Wade has been unveiled — and it has a special connection to his late friend Kobe Bryant.
On Sunday, Oct. 27, the Miami Heat legend, 42, was honored with a statue of himself at the Kaseya Center in Miami. The 8-foot bronze effigy pays tribute to Wade doing the “this is my house” pose in March 2009 after winning a double overtime game against the Chicago Bulls, according to the Miami Herald.
In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Fox Sports reporter Rachel Nichols, Wade can be seen admiring the statue after it was unveiled. “This is out of body, y’all,” he said as the statue came into view.
“Like, that’s crazy,” he added during his speech after the unveiling, wowed by the sculpture immortalizing him. “I can’t believe that. Who is that guy?”
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The statue was made by Rotblatt Amrany Studio sculptors Omri Amrany and Oscar León, according to the Miami Herald. Among their works is the Kobe Bryant “Black Mamba” statue, along with the “Kobe and Gianna Bryant Memorial Statue.”
“Wade was very involved with what the statue would look like and visited the sculptor several times,” Nichols said of the design process on X. “The Kobe statue was also being made at the same place, so Dwyane said it really hit him as he looked at both, that it was more than metal in front of him, it was immortality.”
“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 confirmed about the sculpture, per 7 News Miami.
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Wade concluded his unveiling speech with a clever line cementing his legacy. “I believe I gave you guys something set in stone to hold onto,” he said, per the Miami Herald. “This is my house. I’m out.”
Wade spoke to PEOPLE in February 2020 about the legacy that Bryant, who died in January 2020, was building after his basketball career. “The legacy he was building outside of there was being there for the players, being a voice for the next generation,” he said at the time.
“Working them out, being on the court with them, being there in his kids’ lives, being a real all-star, superstar parent. Being an amazing husband,” he added.
Following Bryant’s death, Wade released a video of himself crying, saying it was “one of the saddest days in my lifetime.”
Wade played for the Heat from 2003-2016 before transferring 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.
He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023 and is considered one of the best shooting guards in NBA history.
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