After more than two decades, Udonis Haslem is calling it a career. The Miami Heat legend announced his plans to retire early this year. Haslem has long been seen as an icon of the team, the epitome of “Heat culture”. It only makes sense, then, for the team to immortalize him in their own arena. The team announced their plans to honor Haslem in the Miami-Dade Arena, per Bleacher Report.
The Miami Heat are dedicating an entire section in their arena to Udonis Haslem
Section 305—named after Miami's area code—will honor Haslem, who spent his entire career in his hometown and plans to retire after the season
(via @Anthony_Chiang, @MiamiHerald) pic.twitter.com/9c5kGgGGbL
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 25, 2023
I'm not going to like, these look incredible. The Heat clearly went out of their way to honor a player that has done countless of things for them. This is an incredible gesture by the team to honor a locker room legend in Haslem.
Sports fans nowadays meme on Udonis Haslem, for many reasons. Despite barely playing over the last few years, the Heat have continually signed him to a new contract. The running joke is that he gets paid to just sit on the bench. However, the Heat view Haslem as a mentor, someone who can teach new players about the team culture. He's been with the team since 2002, and helped them win three titles. To them, that's worth a roster spot.
Besides, it's not like Haslem is collecting paychecks without a care in the world. He's still clearly invested in seeing the Heat succeed. Watching his reaction to Miami's frustrating loss against the Nets says it all.
The Heat are still in position to secure a Play-In tournament, at the very least. However, if they can't arrest this sudden slump they're in, they might give Haslem a terrible send-off season.
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