“There will always be a side that’s unsatisfied, and people who complain and try to tarnish the name,” says Israeli sculptor Omri Amrany, who is at the center of the biggest controversy in the first week of the NBA season—and it’s not even about basketball. On Sunday, Amrany’s statue of former basketball star Dwyane Wade was unveiled outside the Miami Heat’s arena. Wade, inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame last year, spent nearly his entire career in Miami, where he’s revered as a club icon—more than legends like LeBron James or Shaquille O’Neal, who also played for the team—and led the Heat to three championships.
Wade is also the first player to be honored with a statue outside Miami’s Kaseya Center. 8 View gallery The controversial statue outside Miami Heat’s Kaseya Center ( Photo: Studio Rotblatt Amrany ) However, the unveiling was quickly followed by an online uproar. Fans claimed the statue bore little resemblance to Wade, mocking its likeness.
Some online users commented that the statue looked more like actor Laurence Fishburne, while others compared it to the infamous bust of soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo in Madeira. One user even wrote, “Here’s a statue of how you’d look if you were a 75-year-old Chinese man.” The sculptor behind the 7-foot-tall bronze statue, not including its pedestal, is Israeli artist Omri Amrany.
Alongside his wife Julie, he runs the Studio Rotblatt Amrany in Chicago, where he has crafted over 300 sculptures, inc.