Over the last several years, big man Udonis Haslem has barely gotten any playing time for the Miami Heat, but he has still been a valuable member of the team.
After 19 seasons in the NBA, his leadership and voice on the bench and in the locker room, not to mention his eons of experience, have carried plenty of weight for the team.
It’s no wonder why the Heat want him to return for next season, and they have reportedly sent the cavalry to him in order to convince him to do so.
To show his continued importance and value to the franchise, the Miami Heat sent a delegation of employees to make a free agency pitch to Udonis Haslem promptly at 6pm tonight with hopes of luring him back for Year 20.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 30, 2022
Haslem went undrafted in 2002 and joined the Heat a year later, the same year that Dwyane Wade was a rookie.
The 6-foot-8 big man has spent his entire career with Miami, and in doing so, he has been there and done that.
He experienced the team making an unexpected playoff run in 2004, winning its first NBA championship in 2006 and going through a painful rebuilding process afterward.
When LeBron James and Chris Bosh made the Heat a championship-caliber team again in the 2010-11 campaign, Haslem was still a valuable piece of the team, even though he wasn’t starting anymore.
In recent years, he has transitioned to more of an unofficial assistant coaching role, as he has played in very few games in spot duty.
One of the things that has made Miami a contender and given it a strong winning culture over the last three years has been the leadership of veterans such as Haslem, and it would greatly help if he were to remain with the team for one more year.
