Dwyane Wade Is Wondering the Same Thing We Are About His Miami Heat Statue: ‘Who Is That Guy?’

The trap of social expectations has captured its latest victim in Dwyane Wade. This weekend, the three-time NBA champion attended an unveiling ceremony for an eight-foot statue of himself gifted through the Miami Heat. His response to the figure can be likened only to receiving a hideous sweater, or one of those art kits with markers that never works, from your grandparents and having to play it off like it’s the best gift you’ve ever received. “That’s crazy, I can’t believe that,” Wade said, glancing back at the statue. “Who is that guy?”

Wade might have had to hold back his true reaction at the event, but the internet has no loyalties to the Heat. “It’s an amazing moment but why they put Laurence Fishburne in a Wade jersey?” one user commented on Instagram beneath ESPN’s post about the unveiling. Another added: “Ion think he was joking when he was asking who’s that guy!”

Over on X (formerly Twitter), even more jokes rolled in. One user posted: “Michelangelo would’ve had a heart attack laughing at this shit.” Comparisons across both sides ranged from Samuel L. Jackson to Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, Nipsey Russell playing the Tin Man in The Wiz, and the Marvel supervillain Thanos.

Regardless, Wade appeared to be genuinely appreciative of the gesture from his team. “I wanted to feel this. Life goes by so fast and it’s very rare that we get to feel things because we’re always off to the next thing,” he continued in his speech. “So I didn’t prepare much because I wanted to feel this, man. I wanted to look at it.”