Dwyane Wade's statue unveiling shows how much worse the art form has become

NBA legend Dwyane Wade had his statue unveiled in South Beach. Following all his contributions for the Miami Heat, the franchise gave the Jazz's minority owner his due. It was a beautiful ceremony—there was just one problem.

Just take a look at that statue.

Does that look like Dwyane Wade? Like, at all? They got the jersey and shorts right, for sure, but all jokes aside, there's a reason there have been plenty of zingers at the statue's expense since it was unveiled.

Were the people in charge of the original design of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog also calling the shots for Wade's statue? On a more serious note, was he never consulted on this or at least shown his face as an example?

This all points to the decline of the art of making statues of notable figures. Wade isn't the only one who now has a rather odd likeness as a statue. Cristiano Ronaldo has one, and, well, it looks really peculiar knowing who it's supposed to be modeled after to the point where one would wonder if the sculptor made a statue of someone else.

Instances like these make the craftsmanship that went into the statues made of Jazz legends Karl Malone and John Stockton all the easier to appreciate.

Karl Malone's and John Stockton's statues were done right

First, the people who made those statues got their likeness right. Their statues look like the players they are modeled after, and that's the biggest goal for the sculptor to accomplish. No one will mistake who they're looking at when they see the Jazz legends in front of the Delta Center.

What also makes the statues all the more memorable is that not only do they have poses of what those two do, but putting them next to each other shows that they shared their success in the NBA, with neither one necessarily being better than the other.

Controversies have followed the two of them since their playing days ended, but they are still Jazz legends who brought the franchise to heights that it hasn't seen since, and, to be honest, it hasn't come close to. That's why those two deserved the tributes the Jazz gave them after their playing days were over.

Wade deserved that same tribute in Miami, which they gave him without question, but it is a shame there wasn't a better effort to get his face right. How is it that nearly two decades after Malone and Stockton got the statues in their honor that they rightfully deserved, Wade got the same thing, only with seemingly not nearly the same effort?

All else that needs to be said is that if Wade got retired by the Jazz, they would have made the effort to make sure his statue wasn't subject to the same mockery that it was today.