Dwyane Wade's Heat statue gets new, enhanced head after criticism

Dwyane Wade's statue outside of the Kaseya Center in Miami looks a little bit different now two years after it was officially unveiled.

The former Miami Heat star was honored with the 8-foot bronze statue which immortalized the moment on March 9, 2009, when Wade hit a game-winning shot in a double-overtime matchup with the Chicago Bulls , after which he stood on the scorer's table and declared: " This is my house! "

But the statue depicting the basketball Hall of Famer didn't appear to resemble that of Wade , who played 15 years with the franchise.

Wade brushed off the jokes and memes at the time, but the noise was loud enough that the team decided to make an adjustment and have a new head created.

On Substack , Wade wrote, "If people don't feel that connection when they look at the face, why wouldn't we try to make it better?" After discussions with the team, all parties agreed to the change.

It gave us a chance to make sure the face better connects with the person and the emotion the statue is meant to represent. This isn't about erasing the work that was already done or disrespecting the artists who put their time and talent into creating it. It's about being willing to listen. It's about recognizing when something carries meaning for more people than just yourself and being open enough to revisit it. This is the first statue ever to stand in front of that arena. That means something to me, but it also means something to the city. Miami deserves to feel proud of it. The 305 deserves to look at that statue and feel the same energy it felt that night. And the fans deserve to see themselves in that moment because their noise, their belief and their love were part of what made it possible. So we listened.

It gave us a chance to make sure the face better connects with the person and the emotion the statue is meant to represent.

This isn't about erasing the work that was already done or disrespecting the artists who put their time and talent into creating it.

It's about being willing to listen. It's about recognizing when something carries meaning for more people than just yourself and being open enough to revisit it.

This is the first statue ever to stand in front of that arena.

That means something to me, but it also means something to the city. Miami deserves to feel proud of it.

The 305 deserves to look at that statue and feel the same energy it felt that night.

And the fans deserve to see themselves in that moment because their noise, their belief and their love were part of what made it possible.

According to the Miami Herald's Anthony Chiang , the new head was installed on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

Omri Amrany and Oscar León, the original sculptors, told Chiang: "We decided that the importance of Dwyane warranted making those refinements rather than accepting something we believed could be improved."

Fans will get to see the new-look statue for the first time when the team returns home Friday night to face the Indiana Pacers.