After watching his longtime teammate Dwyane Wade enjoy a farewell tour in his final NBA season, Udonis Haslem remains undecided on retirement, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.
If Haslem decides to play next year, it will be his 17th NBA season — all with the Heat. The 38-year-old has settled into a mentor role over the last three seasons, appearing in just 40 games in that stretch. Despite his limited minutes, head coach Erik Spoelstra said he would “love to have” Haslem back.
For Haslem, the decision will be up to his family, who he said want to see him receive a similar farewell to Wade.
“Me and my wife have talked about, me and my family have talked about it,” Haslem said. “Although nothing on the scale of what Dwyane has done for his ‘One Last Dance,’ a lot of people feel like I should take the time to be celebrated at some point. Even though personally as the person I am, I’m kind of like whatever.
“But I feel like the Haslem family as a whole deserves the opportunity to celebrate when my career does come to an end. So that has some effect on the decision that we make, and my wife is adamant about me letting people celebrate me at some point.”
Haslem turns 39 years old in June and would presumably return on a veteran’s minimum salary if he re-signs with Miami. The offseason has not even officially started, so the Miami native does not need to make a decision anytime. But his leadership in recent years would make for a valuable addition, according to Spoelstra.
“His leadership is something that everybody and every franchise in the league is looking to add to their team,” he said. “We have it in-house, built-in.”
One more year!
Even though his stats probably don’t warrant it, I hope Miami retires his number. Similar to what OKC did with Nick Collison. Jersey retirements shouldn’t be for just HOFers, that’s what the Hall of Fame is for. This guy spent 17, maybe 18, years of his life entertaining the fans of Miami. He deserves an honor like that.
“ Deserves”. Wow the millions and millions he has earned to be average at best. Cracks me up when homers say deserve to rich athletes. Has the guy ever paid for a meal, rode a bus, carried his own bags? Doubt it but hey because he has a God Given talent he “ Deserves” a jersey retirement. He “entertained “ fans? Did he do it for free? No he was paid a ton of money to be average.
Man envy & jealousy are very ugly traits, I mean do you really care the money that other people make or have, I don’t care at all… as the song goes… Don’t worry be happy, everything will be alright!!!
You sound salty about not being athletically gifted such as guys like Haslem. Dude was a starting caliber forward for three championship teams. The grit n grind guy for those teams. Not everyone on championship teams are superstart… and might I mention, the guy was way overweight right before the NBA and had to work his a** off to make it as a pro… These guys have to work hard to do what they do year in and year out. Please… Take your haterade somewhere else and don’t forget to get a life.
Lots of workers are average at their jobs, but they still get the gold watch when it’s time to hang ’em up after 20-25 years. They were paid every hour they worked, but they still get the honor.
If it makes you this angry to discuss pro athletes, maybe being an NBA fan is not really for you. There are thousands of other hobbies that would be perfect for a bitter person such as yourself. Maybe you should look into building model airplanes or collecting stamps.
Talk about something you know, in the future
So give him his gold watch. But retiring a number means future players cannot use it. Not fair to them. It’s more of a permanent restriction for others than one person’s honor. But it’s a local thing & ‘they’ can if they want to, even for a limited talent.
Haslem retires, Haslem does not retire, so what. It’s basically a lockerroom issue at this point, and Miami’s lockerroom is not an asset at present.
the dozens of heat fans will cry in the streets when UD retires. if u wanna be a coach bro, be a coach. you’re costing another player a shot, 40 damn games in 3 years. get a life.
I need at least another year from UD. And I’d like to see Spo let him play, as I’ve said these last couple of years. If he plays, they probably dont lose some of the games they lost…and then his jersey should be retired without having to wait, in ny opinion. Udonis Haslem IS HEAT culture
Too biased of a heat fan here but that’s okay lol