Is Dwyane Wade Next After Dallas Mavericks Unveil Statue Of Dirk Nowitzki?

The Dallas Mavericks honor best player in franchise history with statue outside arena

The Dallas Mavericks repaid retired star Dirk Nowitizki for his loyalty by unveiling a statue of him Sunday outside the arena. 

It raised the question of if the Miami Heat will do the same for Dwyane Wade, who, like Nowitzki, is the greatest player in franchise history? The Mavericks presented the statue before their Christmas Day game against the Los Angeles Lakers. 

It was a replica of Nowitzki's trademark move, the fadeaway one-legger that produced so many points during his Hall of Fame career. 

"It had to be a fadeaway one-legger," Lakers forward LeBron James said. "It had to be. No question about it. Dirk is a legend. He's an icon. I think he's the greatest international player ever. I put him right there with Manu [Ginobili]. But what he brought here, what he brought to this city ... that boy was cold, man. Dirk was cold."

The Dirk statue: pic.twitter.com/xp0r3Ys6lq

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 25, 2022

The statue also had the words "Loyalty never fades away." It was tribute to Nowitzki playing all 21 seasons with the Mavericks. 

"I just kind of sat down, like, 'What do people associate you with in Dallas?'" Nowitzki said. "It was these two things. It was the fadeaway and the loyalty. We kind of combined that. It was just a fun fact that it was 21 letters for the 21 years."

The Mavericks have also named one of the streets outside the arena after Nowitzki. A similar movement was started for Wade two years ago about renaming Biscayne Boulevard after him. And surely there will be talks of placing a Wade statue outside the arena, joining him with the likes of Nowitzki, Michael Jordan (Chicago), Dominique Wilkins (Atlanta) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles). 

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