Udonis Haslem announced his retirement after 20 seasons with the Miami Heat, capping off a remarkable career.
Haslem hailed his “real OGs, the teammates who allowed me to be their OG and to my family for staying ten toes down through it all” in a statement on Instagram. The speaker concluded by stating, “See you in the rafters soon.”
Since Haslem indicated in August of last year that he would re-sign with the Heat for one more season, the announcement is not entirely unexpected.
Before the regular season ended, the Heat shared a video with various former teammates wishing Haslem luck in his retirement:
Haslem was a four-year starter at the University of Florida who was consistently selected for the All-SEC squad.
Haslem played for Chalon-sur-Saône in France for the 2002 season after going undrafted in the 2002 draft despite his achievements in college. He joined the Heat in August 2003 and played in 75 games as a rookie before signing his first NBA contract.
For both sides, this ended up being the beginning of a lengthy and successful marriage. In his second season, Haslem entered the starting lineup and remained there for five years until transitioning to a crucial bench player for head coach Erik Spoelstra.
Haslem placed in the top three in terms of rebound average in each of the first three seasons of the big-three era, which went from 2010–11 through 2013–14 and featured LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. In 2011–12 and 2012–13, he also helped the team win back-to-back championships.
In actuality, Haslem began acting as a player-coach during the 2015–16 season. In his final eight years, he played in just 102 regular-season games, but on June 7, when he came on as a substitute in Miami’s Game 3 loss to the Denver Nuggets, 109-94, he became the oldest player to play in an NBA Finals.
Haslem is the only player in NBA history to have played for more seasons with a single team than Dirk Nowitzki, who played 21 seasons with the Dallas Mavericks.
Haslem is Wade’s closest competitor in terms of games played (879), minutes played (21,719), and total rebounds (5,791) for the Heat.