MIAMI — Dwyane Wade’s new statue celebrates a game-winning moment with his offense. Feedback on the statue made him play defense.

Wade explained the appearance of the statue and the process of its creation on Monday, one day after the Heat unveiled the tribute. The statue – with a face that, to put it mildly, is not a perfect representation of Wade – was an immediate topic of discussion, trending globally on social media and even being mentioned in the national news.

“If I wanted it to look like me, I’d stand outside the arena and you can take pictures,” Wade said Monday. “It doesn’t have to look like me. It’s the artistic version of a moment that happened that we’re trying to cement.”

That moment was the end of a game against the Chicago Bulls in March 2009, when he made a game-winning shot at the double-overtime buzzer, jumped on a courtside table and yelled, “This is my house.”

The position of his hands in the statue recalls that moment. But it’s the face that has generated almost all the feedback.

“I care, but I don’t,” Wade said. “The world of social media is about opinions. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone, use all your opinions. Please tell us more about us. Talk more about a statue, come down to see it, take some photos, send some memes. We don’t care.”

Months later, in a halftime ceremony during the Miami-Detroit game — played on the 21st anniversary of Wade’s debut with the Heat — Wade told the crowd the statue was for them, too. He also continued to defend the work, saying the statue did not depict a human body and calling it “art at its best”.

“There are only a few organizations that have a statue outside. There aren’t even 15 players who played this game of basketball that have a statue outside. We — we — have a statue outside,” Wade told the crowd. “So for me to be the vessel used, to be chosen, I’m proud of that. I’m proud because I worked very, very, very hard to create an image that will last for a very long time, that expresses what the Miami Heat, my family and our fan base are all about.

“So don’t let anyone talk about our house. Because this is our home. I’m on the outside. Leave them there.”

The sculptors said it took about 800 hours of work to create the statue, and Wade was directly involved in the process. Most people saw the statue for the first time on Sunday; Wade had seen parts of her—including her face—along the way.

He praised the work the sculptors had done.

“I don’t know many people with a statue. You? Anyone here know anything about the statue process? Nobody out there does either,” Wade said. “And so, it’s an incredible process to be a part of. And it’s a complicated process.”

Wade – Miami’s all-time leading scorer – is the first player in Heat history to receive a statue. The team has not definitively said whether it will add more in the coming years. Wade’s statue unveiling was attended by many members of his family and many members of the Heat organization, among others.

“It was a big celebration for all of us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We love to celebrate greatness. We love celebrating all these iconic players, iconic moments.”

Wade said some of the memes he laughed at were ones that suggested he looked more like actor Laurence Fishburne than the three-time NBA champion and Basketball Hall of Famer. He also said that it is unfortunate that artists have heard negative feedback. Studio Rotblatt Amrany, a Chicago-area company, was contracted to create the Wade statue.

“Every time they create something, someone has to come out and say something about their creation. They can’t do what they do,” Wade said. “I know how that feels because I’m an athlete, a former athlete. People talked a lot about me, but they couldn’t do what I do. And so, you learn to laugh, look at it, learn from it, move on, whatever. So we’re good. We’re fine.”