Posted by Alumni from The Atlantic
October 30, 2024
Sunday was supposed to be one of the greatest days of Dwyane Wade's life. Back in January, Pat Riley, the longtime president of the Miami Heat, announced the team's plans to honor Wade with a statue, and now it was finally to be unveiled. This would not be like the comically small statue of Philadelphia 76ers legend Allen Iverson that had been erected outside that team's training complex in April. This would be a monument befitting the greatest player ever to wear a Heat uniform, according to Riley. It would dominate the entrance of the Kaseya Center, where the Heat play home games. Wade recognized the significance. A couple hundred players have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he told the Today show before the event. But in the NBA, statues of this kind are reserved for all-time greats, guys even casual fans know by their first names: Kobe, Magic, Michael. At the ceremony, Wade sat in the front row with his family, smiling warmly as Udonis Haslem, his teammate of 15... learn more