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Following online jokes and comparisons to actor Laurence Fishburne when it debuted two years after its presentation, the bronze likeness of Dwyane Wade outside the Kaseya Center has a new face. The Miami Heat unveiled the updated sculpture on Friday, featuring a newly replaced head designed to better capture the player’s actual features.
The Overhaul Outside Kaseya Center
The original bronze monument debuted on October 27, 2024. Wade himself selected the iconic pose, recreating the exact moment he stood on a courtside table and roared “This is my house!” to a capacity crowd following a game-winning shot against the Chicago Bulls in 2009. While the franchise’s all-time leading scorer initially defended the artistic interpretation—famously remarking that the statue did not need to be a mirror image for people to remember the historic moment—the public ridicule persisted.
“It may be my likeness, but it will always be our house.” – @DwyaneWade A closer look at the enhancements to his statue. pic.twitter.com/VmcBYsEzDK
The updated version leaves behind the bizarre proportions that spawned viral jokes across social media. Sculptors Omri Amrany and Oscar León, who spent roughly 800 hours on the initial 2024 creation, returned to refine the artwork. Juan Carlos Carrillo, a sculptor who analyzed the initial controversy, had previously pointed out that the rigid, direct-facing composition lacked movement and that a simple surface polish would not suffice, necessitating structural alterations instead.
Listening to Fans While Preserving the Art
Wade addressed the revision in a published essay on Substack, acknowledging that he heard the widespread jokes and saw the memes before deciding to work with the franchise on adjustments. “So we listened. We went back to work. And we made the adjustments,” Wade wrote. He emphasized that the update aimed to honor the supporters without erasing the immense effort the artists poured into the initial project.
The updated bronze structure retains the dramatic 2009 celebration stance while smoothing out the facial discrepancies that drew global scrutiny. “I hope when people see it now, they see a better likeness of me,” Wade wrote. “But more than that, I hope they see themselves. Because it may be my likeness, but it will always be our house.” The franchise highlighted the adjustments on social media, sharing a closer look at the enhancements to his statue via the official Miami Heat X account.
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