MIAMI – Dwyane Wade is now the first Miami Heat player to have a statue outside the team’s arena.

The Heat unveiled the statue on Sunday, about eight months after team president Pat Riley announced plans for the tribute. Wade is Miami’s all-time leading scorer, and he and Udonis Haslem are the only players to have been on all three Heat teams that won NBA championships.

“This is crazy,” Wade said shortly after the reveal. “I wanted to feel this. Life goes by so fast and it’s very rare that we feel things because we’re always on to the next thing. … I wanted to feel this, man. I wanted to watch It.”

An in-game celebration will follow Monday when Miami hosts Detroit on the 21st anniversary of Wade’s debut game with the franchise.

A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Wade is one of six former Heat players to have his number retired by the team, along with Haslem, Chris Bosh, Tim Hardaway, Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning.

“As the greatest player ever in Miami Heat history, yeah, it’s his day, it’s his family’s day,” Riley said.

The statue is accompanied by a wall depicting Wade’s career achievements and is placed outside the front doors of the team’s arena. Wade is now part owner of the Utah Jazz, among many other business interests.