MIAMI — Udonis Haslem is officially back with the Miami Heat.
Haslem signed another contract – the tenth of his career – with the Heat on Sunday, guaranteeing that he will return for a nineteenth season with Miami. It is a one-year bargain worth about $2.8 million.
The 41-year-old would turn out to be just the fifth player to entire career spanning no less than 19 years with one establishment. Dirk Nowitzki burned through every one of the 21 of his NBA seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, Kobe Bryant went through 20 with the Los Angeles Lakers, Tim Duncan went through 19 with the San Antonio Spurs and John Stockton went through 19 with the Utah Jazz.
Haslem plays a unique part for the Heat. He barely plays, with only five appearances in the previous two seasons – and only one final season. However, Heat mentor Erik Spoelstra thinks of him as fundamental for a few reasons, including the example he sets practically speaking for different players and how much the Miami local qualities the job of being the chief of his old neighborhood group.
“Udonis Haslem has agreed to come back and play the game he loves so much,” Heat president Pat Riley said in a release announcing the signing. “What he loves more than that is to be on the court teaching and competing against the world’s best. UD is a legacy player … ONE PLAYER, ONE CITY, ONE TEAM. Thank you, UD, for coming back to lead again in your city, your organization and your team.”
Haslem was, by a far margin, the most oldest player to get into a game last season, almost 2½ years more established than Anderson Varejao. He is the eleventh most established player to show up in a game in NBA history and would move to seventh – passing Charles Jones, Stockton, Herb Williams and Bob Cousy – on the off chance that he gets into a game whenever after Nov. 8.
That would leave just Nat Hickey, Kevin Willis, Robert Parish, Vince Carter, Dikembe Mutombo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in front of Haslem on the NBA’s most established player list.
Haslem’s solitary appearance last season was important. He scored four focuses, got a bounce back, drew a charge, was whistled for two specialized fouls and got catapulted against the Philadelphia 76ers on May 13 – all in a range of 2 minutes, 40 seconds.
“If this is the last one, I finished it the only way Udonis Haslem could — with an ejection,” Haslem said that night.
Haslem is one of just two players – Dwyane Wade being the other – to show up on each of the three of Miami’s NBA title groups. Haslem is the solitary player to be with the Heat for each of the six of their Eastern Conference title runs. He leads the franchise’s all-time list in rebounds, is second in games and minutes played and is seventh in scoring.
