Udonis Haslem had announced earlier this year that the 2022-23 season will indeed be his last in the NBA. Game 5 of the NBA Finals might well be the last time he suits up for the Miami Heat and if it is, then it has been an incredible 20-year run for a man who went undrafted back in 2002.
Haslem hasn’t been on the court an awful lot over the last few years, though, and, in fact, has only managed to play 477 minutes in the regular season since 2016.
2016-17 NBA Season – 130 Minutes
2017-18 NBA Season – 72 Minutes
2018-19 NBA Season – 74 Minutes
2019-20 NBA Season – 44 Minutes
2020-21 NBA Season – 3 Minutes
2021-22 NBA Season – 83 Minutes
2022-23 NBA Season – 71 Minutes
He has been handsomely rewarded, when you consider how much he has played, by the Heat in salaries in that time, having earned $19.1 million, as per Spotrac.
2016-17 NBA Season – $4.0 million
2017-18 NBA Season – $2.3 million
2018-19 NBA Season – $2.4 million
2019-20 NBA Season – $2.4 million
2020-21 NBA Season – $2.5 million
2021-22 NBA Season – $2.6 million
2022-23 NBA Season – $2.9 million
Haslem’s value goes well beyond what he offers on the court, though and the Heat certainly wouldn’t feel like he didn’t deserve the money they gave him. If he wanted to come back for another season, they’d have welcomed him with open arms, but Haslem decided it was time for him to walk away.
Udonis Haslem’s Heat Career
After playing for a year in France following the 2002 NBA Draft, Haslem was signed by the Heat in 2003. Almost no one would have imagined at the time that he’d still be with the team 20 years later and it is a truly remarkable story. While Haslem has barely come off the bench in recent seasons, that certainly wasn’t the case when he started off.
His first 12 seasons with the Heat saw Haslem start 498 games and he played significant minutes in all three of their title runs in 2006, 2012, and 2013. He is now ending his career with solid averages of 7.5 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.5 SPG, and 0.3 BPG.
While it is doubtful we’ll see much of Haslem in Game 5, he did have quite the finish to the regular season, scoring 24 points against the Orlando Magic in an unforgettable display for anyone associated with the Heat.
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