Heat veteran forward Udonis Haslem, who re-signed with Miami for a 17th season just yesterday, will not commit to this being his final season, tweets Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel.
Winderman adds in a separate tweet that Haslem will not treat the 2019/20 season as a farewell tour, but given Haslem’s primary status as a reserve for the Heat, it’s probably too presumptive to conclude from that alone that this won’t be his last season.
Finally, Winderman opines that unless someone like former Heat player Yante Maten ends up flourishing for another team in the near future, the signing of Haslem as a veteran locker room presence is well worth using up the last roster spot.
There’s more news out of the Southeast Division tonight:
- Hornets draft-and-stash prospect Arnoldas Kulboka, a 21-year-old Lithuanian swingman who was drafted No. 55 overall in the 2018 NBA Draft, has officially signed his contract with RETAbet Bilbao Basket of Liga ACB, reports Donatas Urbonas (Twitter link).
- Per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, Wizards point guard John Wall believes that teammate Bradley Beal will sign the three-year, $112MM contract extension being offered by Washington despite the financial reasons for not doing so, as we’ve detailed.
- The Wizards have officially announced the hiring of Mark Simpson as the team’s new vice president of player performance. Simpson has spent the last three seasons as director of performance for the Clippers, where he oversaw the team’s player load management strategies.
- Undrafted St. John’s rookie guard Justin Simon recently underwent a workout with the Heat, but left without a contract, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
I mean who would care about a farewell tour for Haslem? Dude you gotta be a star for that like D-Wade, Kobe, Jabbar…
Nowadays people celebrates mediocrity a la OKC, retiring Collison’s number SMH
What blackmail does haslem have on Riley? They will get Jack from haslem, could have signed real depth for vet min.
How was it a foregone conclusion the heat wanted him as a player. They were hinting they’d rather have him as an assistant…. Now they gotta waste a spot…next year? 40 games in 3 years.
Farewell tour????? Wtf is he talking about???
Meanwhile g league ROY signs in China. I’m sure the heat couldn’t use young potential….geez.
F all the haters. Glad to have UD back, as stated numerous times, and he can stay as long as he wants
“Haslem will not treat [this] season as a farewell tour”
As if… the 15th roster spot was so crucial for development, there’s no 2way spots or G-League, young players wouldn’t rush in at the snap of Riley’s fingers… How about the Heat at least get off to a good start first and break in the new guys properly.
Some teams leave the 15th spot open.
Talk about spots: ^for the Kjb OP
It’s the sense of entitlement that Haslem brings that makes him so valuable…
This free agency was full of talent at bargain basement prices… unfortunately miami had to wait on “the decision 2” by Udonis Haslem, one of the 5,000 greatest plyers of all time.
lol
Soccer joke from 1998: That’s English Steve Sampson, not former USMNT coach Mark Stephen Sampson, phew. The latter would have had the Wiz in a 1-centerforward, 4-guard setup! HA HA ha nฯ ¬¬ . . .