Worldwide Sports News

Dwyane Wade's statue has a new head, two years after the internet decided the original looked more like Laurence Fishburne.

The Miami Heat unveiled the new face on the bronze statue Friday, Oct. 30, sharing photos on social media. The work was done over the last few days behind a plywood box so nobody outside the Kaseya Center – the Heat's home arena where the statue stands – saw it until it was finished.

Only the head changed

The rest of the 8-foot statue still shows March 9, 2009. That night Wade scored 48 points, hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat the Chicago Bulls 130-127 in double overtime, before jumping onto a courtside table to tell the crowd whose house it was.

The face never matched the moment. Wade agreed, and on Friday he put it in writing in an essay titled "This is My House."

"If people don't feel that connection when they look at the face, why wouldn't we try to make it better?" he wrote.

“It may be my likeness, but it will always be our house.” - @DwyaneWade

A closer look at the enhancements to his statue. pic.twitter.com/VmcBYsEzDK

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) October 30, 2026

Two years ago, he defended it.

The Rotblatt Amrany Studio sculptors said they spent about 800 hours on the original, and Wade was involved the whole way. At the Oct. 27, 2024, unveiling, he called it "one of the best statues that's been created because of that it represents for us and for me." He said it was never meant to be an exact copy of his face. It was "the artistic version of a moment that happened."

The memes kept coming anyway.

"When you know everything that went into creating something, it's easy to defend the work," Wade wrote Friday. "It also belongs to Miami."

He said the Heat "listened and had honest conversations with everyone involved," before they agreed to redo the head. He also made a point of not blaming the artists.

"It's about being willing to listen," he wrote.

(Below, a meme after the original Wade sculpture was unveiled in 2024)

The dwayne wade statue looks like hes riding a invisible motorcycle pic.twitter.com/eNplDdjpCZ

— PFT Commenter (@PFTCommenter) October 27, 2024

Sculptors Omri Amrany and Oscar Leon told The Athletic that seeing the piece at full scale in its permanent spot showed them where the portrait could be stronger. Their studio also made the Michael Jordan statue in Chicago and Kobe Bryant's statue in Los Angles.

Wade was the first Heat player to get one.

He's the franchise's all-time leading scorer and won three championships in Miami. He made 13 All-Star teams. The Heat retired his No. 3 jersey in 2020, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.

The Heat closed their post Friday with Wade's last line. So did he.

"Because it may be my likeness, but it will always be our house."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Heat unveil new face on Dwyane Wade statue after years of jokes. Here's why

Houston Rockets vs. Dallas Mavericks

October 30th, 2026

Location: American Airlines Center — Dallas, Texas

Time: 7:00 PM CST

TV: Space City Home Network

Radio:KBME Sports Talk 790 / KLTN 102.9 (en español)

Probable starting lineups

Rockets: Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., Kevin Durant, Tari Eason

Mavericks: Kyrie Irving, Max Christie, Cooper Flagg, PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford

Can the Rockets stay undefeated? Tune in tonight and come chat with us at TDS on on the SB Nation App!

The Detroit Pistons have run quite a gauntlet to start the season, playing Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Miami Heat, the title-seeking Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, the defending champion New York Knicks, and the frisky Charlotte Hornets. Today, they play one of the only two winless teams in the NBA in the Brooklyn Nets. I’m not saying the Pistons can’t lose — every team in the NBA is capable of beating every other team in the NBA on any given night. But hopefully, tonight is the kind of game where the Pistons find plenty of time for rookie Ebuka Okorie, and it is because there is plenty of garbage time in the fourth quarter, and that garbage time is because the Pistons are way ahead. It’s also technically the start of NBA Cup play, which, I guess, matters to some people for some reason.

Game Vitals

When: 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Watch: TV: TV20 Detroit | Streaming: DAZN-Det
Odds: Pistons -7.5

Projected Lineups

Detroit Pistons (4-1)

Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, John Collins, Jalen Duren

Brooklyn Nets (0-4)

Mikel Brown Jr, Nolan Traore, Michael Porter Jr, Julius Randle, Day’Ron Sharpe

The Dallas Mavericks (3-2) host the Houston Rockets (5-0) in the first game of NBA Cup Group Play on Friday night. The Dallas Mavericks are coming off a dominating win on Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Rockets are undefeated through five games, most recently dismantling the Milwaukee Bucks by over 30 points. This is the first game of Group Play for the NBA Cup. Here is what else you need to know!

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks vs Houston Rockets
• WHAT: NBA Cup Group Play!
• WHERE: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
• WHEN: 7:00 pm CST
• HOW: KFAA and League Pass

As of the 3pm CST injury report, Dallas will be without what’s become the regular group of guys. Santi Aldama and Tarik Biberovic are listed as doubtful, which all but rules them out. It is a positive change from the usual “out”, but they still won’t play. Sergio De Larrea will miss the game with his knee sprain. Naji Marshall is questionable after missing the last two games due to illness.

For the Rockets, Steven Adams and Reed Shepard will miss this game due to injury. Alperen Sengun and Marcus Smart are both listed as questionable for this game.

It’s difficult for me to give an assessment here on what might happen. Houston is the better team, one of the last two undefeated teams in the league, but Dallas has been punchy since losing to the Rockets in game one. Adams being out gives Dallas a better chance, but the Mavericks must play better defense on Kevin Durant. If Durant has an off game and Flagg and Kyrie play well, Dallas has a very good chance. Either way, this team has become must watch TV.

Since you’re here checking out this post, it’s for one of two reasons.

• Injury report news
• Discussion and comment thread

If you’re part of the former, please consider signing up for an account. You get way fewer ads, and you can comment! If you’re part of the latter group: GO GET THE APP. I’m serious. The app has some real-time features specifically for game threads like this one and you can comment and get notified really, really easily. It’s part of what’s keeping this whole series of sites going. So go do it for us and in doing so, you’ll see why the experience is simply better.

Consider joining me on Pod Maverick live after the game on YouTube; I will be going live tonight, and I need y’all to join and participate!

While most expected a new-look Lakers team heading into this season, few expected the team to move on from nearly every free agent on the roster heading into the summer.

Legitimately, Austin Reaves is the only player who elected for free agency that the Lakers re-signed. One of the more surprising players the team let walk away was Rui Hachimura.

While he was a player who had his flaws, he was also someone who wanted to stay with the Lakers and stepped up for the team in the playoffs. Despite that, LA didn’t show much interest in retaining him, effectively viewing Sandro Mamukelashvili as an upgrade at the position.

Rui’s desire to stay in Los Angeles led to him signing with the Clippers. After his early return to Crypto.com Arena this season, Rui reflected on his free agency with Khobi Price of the California Post.

“It was tough,” Hachimura told The Post about his free agency. “That’s my second free agency. Of course I was trying to get the extension from [the Lakers]. It didn’t work out, but it is what it is. We have to move on at some point.”

He later reiterated to Price that the decision was ‘on them’ and that ‘It wasn’t me. It was them.’ It’s very clear, then, that he wanted to stay in the purple and gold and the Lakers did not want to continue that partnership.

As much as he became a fan favorite — and was a favorite teammate of multiple Lakers still on the roster — the job of a front office is to make tough decisions separate from how fans may feel. They need to be objective in their decision-making and not let feelings get in the way.

The team’s desire to go the route of players who can dribble, pass and shoot means Rui didn’t fit their needs as much anymore. Would he have been a nice player to keep around? Certainly. But even through five games, it’s clear he doesn’t fit what the Lakers want to do this season.

Perhaps the only surprise is that the Lakers weren’t interested in working out a sign-and-trade, which Price reported that Rui’s camp pursued. It was also initially reported by Shams Charania of ESPN when the news of Rui signing with the Clippers. The team wasn’t interested in the cap gymnastics, so they let Rui go across the proverbial hall to the Clippers.

It was a tough call by the Lakers and a tough moment for Rui, but one that the team believes will make them better in the long run.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

Nine days ago in Los Angeles, Walker Kessler went 12-for-12 in his debut. The only cleaner perfect night in Lakers history belongs to Wilt Chamberlain, who went 14-for-14 back in March 1969. Tonight the Lakers bring that problem to Chase Center, along with the two guards who keep feeding him, and the Warriors get a second crack at the team that ran them out of the building 127-105 on opening night.

Los Angeles Lakers at Golden State Warriors
When: Friday, October 30, 2026 | 7:00 PM PT
Where: Chase Center, San Francisco
TV: Prime Video
Radio: 95.7 The Game
Stakes: NBA Cup group play opener (West Group C)

Everything starts with Luka, so we’ll start there too. Through four games he’s averaging 36.0 points, 8.3 assists and a league-leading 5.3 made threes a night. He does all of it at the pace of a man strolling through his own living room while five defenders sprint around him. He sat out Wednesday with back tightness on the second night of a back-to-back, and he’s off the injury report tonight. For the Warriors, this is a chance for Yaxel Lendeborg and Co. to get their revenge on the phenom.

Then there’s Austin Reaves, who the Lakers paid $185 million to stick around. He has spent five games proving the check cleared for good reason. He’s putting up 24.4 points and 5.4 assists a night, and he dropped 23 on the Warriors in the opener while everyone was busy watching Luka bicker with a rookie. Together Reaves and Doncic have pushed the Lakers to 123.2 points per game, second in the league, on 39.2% from three.

But let’s get back to the big man Kessler. The Lakers have never been shy about going out and getting the biggest man on the market. They traded for Wilt in 1968 and Kareem in 1975. They handed Shaq a free-agent deal in 1996, pried Pau Gasol out of Memphis in 2008, rolled the dice on Dwight Howard in 2012 and pushed every chip to the middle for Anthony Davis in 2019.

Kessler is the newest name on that wall. Luka reportedly told the front office he wanted an “A-list center,” and the Lakers paid like they believed him. They sent Utah two unprotected first-rounders and two pick swaps, then handed Kessler a four-year, $130 million deal.

What I keep coming back to is the recipe. Wilt had Jerry West, Kareem had Magic, and Shaq and Pau had Kobe. The best versions of the Lakers have almost always come down to an elite guard who knew exactly where to put the ball and a giant who knew what to do with it. Kessler hasn’t earned a seat at that table, but he’s inheriting the assignment and he’s doing it with two of those guards at the same time. He’s averaging 14.8 points on 75% shooting with 8.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks. He’s available tonight despite playing through a splint on his finger.

The Warriors’ best answer so far has been the rookie with the loudest mouth in the building. Yaxel Lendeborg said he “lost all respect” for Luka after the opener, and he had the receipts to talk. He held Doncic to 1-of-6 shooting as the primary defender, and the lone make was a half-court banker at the halftime buzzer.

Since then he’s put up 31 and 12 against Denver and 26 more in Minnesota, where Steph dropped 44 points on a perfect 16-of-16 from the line to give the Warriors two straight wins. Five games into his career, Golden State is asking him to chase the league’s leading scorer on one end and carry the second-biggest scoring load on the roster on the other. Most rookies don’t get handed that kind of double duty until they’ve at least learned where the team bus parks.

The problem is everything around those two. Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody and Kristaps Porzingis are all still out, and Gui Santos is doubtful. That leaves Draymond Green and Al Horford to deal with a 7-foot-2 lob target who hasn’t missed a shot against this team yet.

Luka is going to spend all night looking for Lendeborg out of the corner of his eye. Reaves is going to punish anybody who helps, and Kessler is going to be floating at the rim waiting for the ball to drop out of the sky. The Warriors don’t have the bodies to solve all three, so they have to decide which problem they can live with losing to.

That’s the old argument again. The Lakers have spent generations finding giants for their guards to throw the ball to, and the Warriors have spent the last decade asking their guards to make giants irrelevant. Nine days ago, Kessler made Golden State’s side of that argument look awfully expensive. Tonight the Warriors get another chance to prove they were right.

Observations after Sixers beat Knicks again, move to 5-1 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Six games in, the Sixers have a single loss and two victories over the defending champion Knicks.

They moved to 5-1 on Friday night with a 98-93 win over New York in their NBA Cup opener. The Knicks, who also lost to the Sixers on opening night, fell to 2-4. 

Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers with 27 points on 10-for-19 shooting. LeBron James posted 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

Anfernee Simons poured in 21 points off the bench.

Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson had 24 points and six assists. Karl-Anthony Towns recorded 22 points and 12 boards. 

The Sixers will wrap up their back-to-back Saturday night in Charlotte against the Hornets. Their second NBA Cup game on the calendar is next Friday against the Cavaliers.

Here are observations on the Sixers’ win over the Knicks:

Signs of offensive progress 

The Sixers racked up 39 fourth-quarter points on Wednesday in their comeback victory over the Pacers.

While they didn’t come close to matching that in Friday’s first quarter, the Sixers read the action and reacted in encouraging fashion. The Knicks often denied the Sixers’ first option, but the stars worked together well to unlock the defense. 

Embiid was effective all over the floor in his first stint. He teamed up with James on a sharp two-man game late in the shot clock, leading to a layup for the 22-time All-Star. James nailed a wide-open three-pointer in the first quarter after Embiid freed him up with a strong ball screen. 

Maxey sunk a catch-and-shoot three assisted by James off a designed double drag action. Embiid drove along the baseline and threw a nifty jumping pass to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for a layup. 

Across the board, the Sixers made sensible, intuitive plays in the first quarter. They had eight assists and zero turnovers over the first 12 minutes. 

Wade starts, does his thing defensively 

Dean Wade moved into the starting lineup, replacing Brown.

The Sixers used a nine-man rotation, adding rookie Labaron Philon Jr. to their usual early-season crew of Simons, Caldwell-Pope and Adem Bona. 

The second unit had a nice stretch late in the first quarter. Bona swatted away OG Anunoby’s layup attempt. Simons knocked down a three to put the Sixers up 29-19. 

The Knicks settled for plenty of jumpers in the first half. Still, the Sixers competed hard on defense and on the boards. They held New York to 44 first-half points. VJ Edgecombe was excellent on Brunson.  

Wade was solid against Anunoby and nabbed three steals in the first half. Much of the focus on the Sixers’ defensive potential naturally centers on the stars, but Wade is a key piece who’s got ample experience guarding big names.

Sixers sweat it out

Embiid took an apparent hit to the face from Josh Hart’s arm and subbed out with 1:05 left in the second quarter holding his face. However, he was good to go for the start of the third quarter.

The Sixers extended their lead to 58-44 early in the third, prompting a timeout by Knicks head coach Mike Brown. 

New York found the required response. Regular turnovers began to pop up for the Sixers. Brunson drilled a corner three and drove in for a layup that cut the Knicks’ deficit to five points. 

The Sixers’ bench then stepped up. James threw a beautiful skip pass from the post to assist a Caldwell-Pope three. Simons buried three triples in the third quarter and swished a pure baseline jumper. He’s gotten hot and made a massive impact the last two games.

Bona struggled in the second half, which helped the Knicks keep the game tight. Embiid subbed back in with 8:42 remaining in the fourth quarter after Bona was whistled for his fourth foul on a Jordan Clarkson and-one layup. The Knicks trimmed the Sixers’ lead to 85-82 on a Clarkson put-back lay-in. New York wound up with a 20-7 edge in second-chance points.

Embiid’s re-entry did not create an automatic reversal in momentum. A Brunson jumper pulled the Knicks within two points and the visiting fans were very vocal.

The Sixers played ultra-aggressive defense on Brunson in the closing minutes, sending several full-on blitzes at the reigning NBA Finals MVP. They still couldn’t stop him from making a tightly contested corner three over Edgecombe that gave the Knicks a 90-89 lead.

James replied with a mid-range jumper. Following a stop, the Sixers were truly back in business when Edgecombe drained a top-of-the-key three.

Brunson then split a pair of free throws. Maxey tossed up a heavily guarded shot inside on the ensuing trip and missed it wide left, but James was there to snatch the ball and lay it in.

Not the smoothest finish in the world for the Sixers, but they ultimately notched another high-quality win against a projected Eastern Conference contender and deserve their 5-1 record.

SAN FRANCISCO — It only took a few games for it to be clear what area of weaknesses would likely be present for the Lakers in 2026-27.

Luckily for them, Jarred Vanderbilt can help the team in at least a couple of areas.

The question that remains is how often he’ll be on the court to contribute.

After sitting out the first four regular-season games, Vanderbilt made his season debut in Wednesday’s win over the Clippers and immediately made an impact. 

The veteran forward recorded seven rebounds, two assists and being a plus-22 in individual plus/minus in 21 minutes. 

The work on the boards was an area the Lakers struggled with before Vanderbilt made his debut, ranking last in offensive rebounding percentage, and second-to-last in overall rebounding percentage and defensive rebounding percentage.

“Just the rebounding aspect, the physicality aspect,” Vanderbilt responded of the areas he can help the Lakers after Friday’s shootaround ahead of the Lakers’ road game against the Warriors. “Whether that’s boxing out, securing rebounds, finishing possessions. Obviously on the offensive glass, too. Just putting pressure on the rim and offensive glass, two areas I feel like I could contribute to.”

And Vanderbilt provided that in abundance, especially on the offensive glass.

The Lakers grabbed 37.5% of their offensive rebounding opportunities against the Clippers when Vanderbilt was on the court compared with the 25.4% offensive rebounding rate they have without him playing. 

“When the opportunity comes, it calls, just be an impact guy,” he said.

Vanderbilt’s debut came after not only receiving DNP-CDs (did not play — coach’s decision) in the first four games but also having limited playing time during preseason.

He played a combined 12 minutes in the Lakers’ preseason games against the Kings on Oct. 8 and the Warriors on Oct. 13 before not seeing the court in the preseason finale against the Nuggets on Oct. 16.

“Just preparing myself, doing my part,” Vanderbilt said of how he stayed ready. “Being a professional, going in every day putting in the work. It’s a long season. As you see, not even our team, but across the league, a lot of guys are suffering injuries, getting hurt. That’s the good part about having depth.”

But Vanderbilt was still ready to help on the glass and apply defensive perimeter pressure when he could.

“Even when I get out there, obviously just flying around and causing chaos, crashing the boards and kind of propelled [Quentin Grimes] and Collin [Sexton to] start picking up full court,” Vanderbilt said. “Jake [LaRavia] started crashing. It’s contagious when everybody’s boxing out. You don’t want to be the one guy that’s not boxing out and your man gets the rebound. So it kind of puts that pressure on everybody to just lock in, box out and do all the dirty work that’s required.”

With it appearing that Kevon Looney’s spot in the rotation is diminishing, the 6-foot-8 Vanderbilt could get more playing time as a small-ball center like he did against the Clippers — a role that has advantages and disadvantages.

“Size, I think, that would probably be a disadvantage,” Vanderbilt said. “But also on the other hand,  just me being able to have quicker feet than these guys on both ends. Whether that’s getting in and out of screens, running the floor on offense or being able to switch out on defense. So it has its pros and cons.”