The bronze statue of Dwyane Wade outside Kaseya Center has a new head, installed this week after more than a year of behind-the-scenes work to fix a likeness that fans mocked from the moment it debuted. Wade himself signed off on the change, saying the adjustment came after honest conversations with everyone involved.
The 8-foot statue, nicknamed “This Is My House,” was unveiled during a ceremony outside the arena in October 2024, according to the Miami Herald. It captures Wade’s celebration after his game-winning three-pointer against the Chicago Bulls on March 9, 2009, the shot after which he famously pointed at the floor and shouted, “This is my house.” Almost immediately, social media erupted with complaints that the face bore little resemblance to the Heat legend, with the Herald reporting that “the criticism on social media began immediately, with many saying the statue doesn’t look like Wade.”
Wade initially shrugged off the backlash, framing the piece as symbolic rather than photographic. “It don’t need to look like me. It’s an artistic version of a moment,” he said at the time, per the Herald’s reporting. But the Heat organization quietly reached out to the original sculptors, Omri Amrany and Oscar León, more than a year before this week’s reveal to begin reworking the head.
Sculptors Say Full-Scale View Changed Their Minds
Amrany and León told the Herald that studying the statue at full scale in its permanent outdoor setting, rather than in a studio, is what convinced them changes were warranted. “We identified opportunities to strengthen the portrait,” the sculptors said, adding that the setting showed them a chance to better capture Wade’s likeness and presence. They said they believed making the investment to redo the work was simply the right thing to do rather than leaving a piece they felt could be improved.
The new head was fabricated in Chicago, Wade’s hometown, and installed over a two-day span this week, Tuesday and Wednesday, the Herald reported. As reported by Yahoo Sports, the work was completed in the days before the Heat shared photos of the finished statue on Friday, and Wade revealed that day that he had consented to having a new head made for the piece.
A Career Worth Getting Right
Wade retired as the Heat’s all-time leader in points, games played, minutes played, assists and steals, a résumé that made the original statue’s reception sting all the more for fans who felt the honor deserved a more faithful tribute. He remains a Hall of Famer and the most decorated player in franchise history, a status the Herald’s reporting underscores in explaining why the likeness mattered so much to supporters.
Miami’s stumble is far from the first time a sports or celebrity statue has needed a redo after public ridicule. NPR noted that a bronze bust of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017 “bewildered fans for failing to capture his chiseled features,” and that a Lucille Ball statue nicknamed “Scary Lucy” was scrapped for a new version in 2016 following a viral campaign, according to NPR. Even Amrany’s own earlier work wasn’t immune: he recalled that the celebrated Michael Jordan statue in Chicago faced its own wave of early complaints about how it portrayed Jordan’s face, as detailed by Sportico.
