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Every statue of an athlete is a contradiction. You can capture a player\u2019s likeness and you can do justice to what they\u2019ve achieved, but it\u2019s impossible to fully render a career spent in motion with a sculpture. The challenge of immortalizing sporting legends is to try anyway\u2014to give a still figure of a runner or pitcher or point guard so many of the markers of movement that it might trick the brain into thinking it\u2019s seeing what it knows to be impossible. To suggest, for example, that the enormous statue of Dirk Nowitzki that now stands outside the American Airlines Center in Dallas could really be leaning back into a jumper, fading away so convincingly that you might even anticipate it landing in a soft backpedal.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike it\u2019s a giant feather in the middle of the air, and not 1,500 pounds of bronze,\u201d Omri Amrany, the sculptor behind the statue\u2014and a great many in the NBA world\u2014said by phone recently. <\/p>\n
When Amrany\u2014with his wife, Julie Rotblatt Amrany\u2014designed the now-legendary statue of Michael Jordan that soars through the lobby of the United Center, he accentuated the perfect balance of the triangle that was always there in Jordan\u2019s \u201cJumpman\u201d pose. When he created a monument of Shaquille O\u2019Neal that now dunks on a rim outside Crypto.com Arena, he wanted fans to be drawn in to look up at the statue from underneath it, and yet intimidated by the physical presence of Shaq, weighing a literal ton, hanging over their heads. In capturing Dirk, Amrany pushed the angle of Nowitzki\u2019s signature fadeaway to a point that almost felt impossible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s up there in the air, it takes away from the brain the feeling that this is a human being,\u201d Amrany said. \u201cIt becomes like a flying object.\u201d<\/p>\n
Depending on your angle, you can now see Nowitzki shoot over the top of high-rise apartment buildings, luxury hotels, and the most towering fixtures of the Dallas skyline. These sorts of monuments are a rare gesture\u2014there are only about 16 true, full-body statues of NBA stars in the cities where they played\u2014but Nowitzki had an exceptional career worthy of exceptional recognition. Beyond the revolutionary shooting, the open-and-shut Hall of Fame case, and the title Dirk brought to the city in 2011, he also holds a record that may never be broken: an entire, 21-season career spent with a single NBA team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d Nowitzki said after the unveiling ceremony, \u201cwe hope Luka can break it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of the current Mavericks were in attendance when Dirk\u2019s statue was unveiled on Christmas morning, among them 23-year-old megastar Luka Doncic\u2014an all-too-worthy heir of the franchise player mantle. Doncic could be the best basketball player in the world someday, if he isn\u2019t already. Like Dirk, he could be an MVP and a champion, and go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game. And yet the idea of Luka having his own statue at the end of his career seems to run contrary to the working reality of the league he plays in. Many of the NBA\u2019s most decorated active players are already suiting up for their third or fourth teams. Today\u2019s up-and-coming stars are as mobile and as untethered to any one franchise as any generation of players in league history. It\u2019s only going to get more and more difficult to imagine an NBA player becoming a literal, physical part of a city\u2019s architecture\u2014to the point that we could be watching the last wave of statue subjects as we speak.<\/p>\n
Every existing NBA monument was built on its own terms, but if we look at the players who have been honored thus far, we can see the criteria behind their selection begin to form:<\/p>\n
1. Did the player achieve above and beyond Hall of Fame standards?<\/strong> <\/em>Think of it this way: The overwhelming majority of the players on the NBA\u2019s 75th Anniversary list\u2014nominally the 75 (err, 76<\/em>) greatest players in the history of the league\u2014don\u2019t have statues. It\u2019s not enough to be great. The threshold for stonework and metallurgy is so much higher.<\/p>\n 2. Is this one of the most significant players in the franchise\u2019s history?<\/strong> Plenty of athletes have statues in their hometown or at their alma mater, but getting a monument outside an NBA arena requires outsized influence on a particular franchise. You simply cannot tell the story of the Mavericks without Dirk, or the Jazz without Karl Malone.<\/p>\n 3. Does the player have a lasting and unique connection with the city itself?<\/strong> In almost every case, the NBA players who have had statues built in their honor played at least 12 seasons in the city where the statue was built. The notable exceptions are O\u2019Neal (who played only eight seasons with the Lakers, but won three championships as the most dominant player on one of the best teams ever assembled) and George Mikan (who played only seven seasons in Minneapolis as a Laker and, despite over 30 years of Timberwolves basketball, hasn\u2019t had much competition).<\/p>\n With that general framework, there are a few legends who are all but certain to get statues of their own. Tim Duncan would be a lock if he\u2019s even interested in that sort of recognition\u2014though he could also be honored alongside Gregg Popovich, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili at some later date, following Pop\u2019s eventual retirement as head coach of the Spurs. Stephen Curry\u2014one of the few players who could challenge Dirk\u2019s record run with a single team\u2014will be cast in bronze someday. The late Kobe Bryant already has two numbers retired by the Lakers and will inevitably get his own statue in Los Angeles, too. It\u2019s more a matter of when than if for Bryant, and\u2014given the dense mythology around him and the sheer number of iconic moments he was involved in\u2014how exactly his statue might be posed.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the jersey in the mouth\u2014just the grit, the determination to win,\u201d said Hall of Famer Jason Kidd, who played against Bryant in the 2002 NBA Finals and alongside him in the 2008 Olympics. \u201cWhen you look at the Black Mamba, [it\u2019s] just his ability to help his team or push his team to victory. I always thought the coolest thing is when he puts his jersey in his mouth and he was taking on the world.\u201d<\/p>\n (When asked if he\u2019s had any conversations with the Lakers about a statue for Bryant, Amrany\u2014who was commissioned for the statues of O\u2019Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and longtime broadcaster Chick Hearn\u2014declined to comment.)<\/p>\n Bryant, Curry, and Duncan are all tidy cases, where statue-making is concerned\u2014all-time greats who won titles and awards while spending their entire careers with a single team. Then the conversation breaks open, as it so often does, when we consider the legacy of LeBron James. When it was suggested to LeBron in a press conference last month that he would have his own statue someday, he projected humility. \u201cI hope,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cI hope. I hope<\/em>.\u201d He will. It would defy every precedent, expectation, and tenet of human logic for there not to be a sculpted tribute to LeBron installed somewhere in greater Cleveland. But it might not stop there; James could be the first player in league history to be honored with a statue from multiple NBA teams, in part due to the undeniable weight of his sprawling career. LeBron already has more All-NBA selections than anyone else. He\u2019s won titles with three different franchises and MVPs with two. In a matter of weeks, he could edge out Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the league.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll always say Michael Jordan is the GOAT,\u201d Nowitzki said. \u201cBut if [LeBron] really surpasses Kareem in the scoring record, I\u2019m sort of running out of arguments for Michael.\u201d<\/p>\n Would the Heat, a franchise that retired Jordan\u2019s jersey despite him never even playing for the team, really choose not to physically commemorate the best player who actually did? Or would the Lakers, who have built statues for every superstar to lead the franchise to a championship thus far, really pass up the opportunity to recognize James in the same way? These sorts of questions are reckoning as much with LeBron\u2019s accomplishments as they are the state of the NBA. James spent just four seasons with the Heat, and is currently playing his fifth with the Lakers. History says that\u2019s not enough. But for a player who has already changed the league and the sport in so many ways, maybe that precedent is simply the next thing to go.<\/p>\n After all, a more extreme case may already be under consideration. In 2021, Warriors governor Joe Lacob told NBC Sports Bay Area that there was a running list of recent players whom the franchise would honor in some permanent way: Curry, of course; Draymond Green (whom Lacob all but promised a statue after his contract extension in 2019); Splash Brother Klay Thompson; Andre Iguodala, who would be a one-of-a-kind statue candidate in his own right; and mercenary superstar Kevin Durant, who spent just three seasons with the franchise but co-anchored what might be the greatest team the NBA has ever seen.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d say those five guys certainly deserve some sort of ultimate, long-term recognition,\u201d Lacob said two years ago. \u201cAnd once they retire, I\u2019m sure they will be appropriately honored.\u201d<\/p>\n Durant has openly discussed the possibility of someday having his own statue outside the Chase Center, though he didn\u2019t stay with the franchise long enough to suit up in that arena as a Warrior. The very idea of a Durant statue in San Francisco feels a bit strange\u2014as a choice to honor something so fleeting with something so permanent. And that\u2019s exactly what makes it the perfect test case for statue building in the modern era. Every monument is a reflection of its time. It didn\u2019t really matter that Shaq\u2019s tenure in Los Angeles was the shortest of any NBA legend to get the statue treatment. The 2001 Lakers were one of the best teams of all time because of him<\/em>. You could say the same of Durant and the 2017 Warriors, and that fact alone creates an avenue for exceptions to be made.<\/p>\n After all, isn\u2019t that what statues are for? Exceptional<\/em> cases? Even if the standards for what merits a statue shift to reflect the realities of modern player movement, they\u2019ll still be reserved for the kinds of athletes we\u2019ve never seen before. It\u2019s not enough\u2014nor has it ever been\u2014for a player to simply dominate. To be cast in bronze or cut from marble, they have to be part of something genuinely groundbreaking.<\/p>\n As odd as it would be for a statue of Durant to stand for decades where he played for only a few years, it might seem more<\/em> odd for lesser players to get their own monuments while KD goes without. These sorts of statues always exist in conversation with one another; when a statue of Larry Bird was commissioned for the campus of Indiana State University, the artist specifically designed it to be taller than any statue of Magic Johnson. It takes more than greatness alone to deserve a statue, but how would it sit in the historical context of the game if, say, Kyle Lowry or Damian Lillard were immortalized in physical form, but Durant wasn\u2019t?<\/p>\n Those outcomes are possible, if exceptional in their own way. Players are rarely honored with a statue if they\u2019ve never won an MVP. Even fewer get one without ever winning a championship. The only statued players to never win either<\/em> are John Stockton and Dominique Wilkins\u2014who overcame that deficit through long, successful tenures with the Jazz and Hawks, respectively. Lillard could end up with a similar body of work, though the fact that he\u2019s effectively had to go out of his way\u2014amid trade rumors and flirtations with superteams\u2014to remain a Blazer for a decade only illustrates how unusual that model has become. <\/p>\n Russell Westbrook could conceivably wind up with a statue in Oklahoma City, in no small part because he stayed when Durant didn\u2019t. Maybe that\u2019s the way it\u2019s supposed to be. Modern superstars can hand-pick their city and their teammates, and become an organizational philosophy unto themselves. They can have everything they\u2019ve ever wanted, but maybe they pay for it in bronze.<\/p>\n There is an inscription at the base of Nowitzki\u2019s statue that reads: \u201cLOYALTY NEVER FADES AWAY.\u201d It\u2019s a tribute to a star who stuck around\u201421 letters for Nowitzki\u2019s 21 years as a Maverick, in what even the architects behind the statue admit is more of a happy accident than real intention. Mythology tends to work that way. Some of those 21 years were hard on Nowitzki, as he grappled with doubt in his early career, then with persistent frustration, and eventually with his own inevitable decline. Yet as a figure now frozen into the design of downtown Dallas, he represents something else\u2014something that every statue of every NBA great represents in its own way.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all boils down to this part of humanity: to get up and keep going,\u201d Amrany said. To endure.<\/p>\n Statues can\u2019t help but smooth over the rougher edges of their subjects, reducing something as fickle as a person to an idea. It\u2019s a timeless sort of myth-making that doesn\u2019t really happen all that much in professional sports anymore. Today\u2019s NBA players are hyper-visible, subject to constant judgment and referendum, and accessible to the point that they\u2019ve been largely demystified. The league is as talented as it\u2019s ever been, and yet it\u2019s harder than ever to frame a contemporary star as a legend<\/em>. As an icon<\/em>. At this point, the idea of building something truly lasting in the NBA feels almost impossible.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what makes a statue like that so special: that generations after us will see this after we\u2019re long, long gone,\u201d Nowitzki said. \u201cPeople are gonna see the statue and Google\u2014or maybe Google is already out by that point. But look it up. Who is this guy? What did this guy do? I think that\u2019s what\u2019s so cool about a statue and sculpture like this. It lives for eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n Duncan, Kobe, and LeBron will live forever in the same way\u2014as will Steph and the Warriors, and maybe Durant, too. If things continue apace, Giannis Antetokounmpo (who in 10 seasons with the Bucks has already won just about everything there is to win) could join them. The next wave of monument candidates beyond them will be different, because the league itself already is. We are living in a revolutionary era of NBA history that has redefined the culture of the sport, from what is expected of an all-time player to the nature of how a fan or a city connects to that player in the first place. If NBA teams are still building statues 20 years from now, those monuments will say something new.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always something else\u2014something better coming down the line,\u201d Nowitzki said. \u201cSo we\u2019ve gotta appreciate that. The game never stops. It keeps evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n