The Big 3 didn't come together on the Miami Heat without making a few sacrifices. Among the concessions was giving up a decent chunk of change to make room for Udonis Haslem, a player they deemed invaluable in terms of effort and intensity.

The trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh had already all agreed to take $1 million less than the max to make room to sign sharpshooter Mike Miller, something they discussed prior to signing.

Miller was getting offers of $10 million per year from other teams, but took a $5 million deal to join the Heat. Filling in that piece of the puzzle left only peanuts for Haslem.

Haslem had offers from the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks, both for five years and $34 million — rendering the Heat helpless in competition. But Wade wanted his draftmate there for the ride:

“Dwyane and I had a heart-to-heart,” Haslem said, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst. “And said, ‘I love you, and if we're together in the future, we'll win rings together again. But at this point, I've got to go.'”

Haslem was ready to say his goodbyes on his way to AmericanAirlines Arena. Wade called Bosh and James, noting he'd be willing give up another $1 million per year to make room for Haslem on the Heat while asking the same of them. They agreed.

Haslem wanted at least $20 million and the numbers were still short. Wade agreed to give up an additional $500,000 per year, which would give the Heat enough cap room to sign Haslem for five years and $20.3 million. The move had its financial implications and ramifications:

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“We have 10 years of time and space, and I can look back and say, ‘Oh s***. This is really what this was about,'” said Bosh. “You can look back and say the story is about guys trying to find their way or whatever.

“We were just reacting to the stimulus around us. We were where we wanted to be. We were cool. We were innocent a little bit. We were naïve.

“But we learned. Oh, we learned.”

The Heat managed to sign enough players to make a run, but due to Haslem's contract, they could only get players for the veteran's minimum.

While Wade was happy to get his friend along for the ride, the Heat had to largely depend on their top-heavy talent to muster their two championships in that four-year foray.