Miami Heat elder statesman Udonis Haslem has defied retirement for many seasons now, and he may just be doing it one more time.
Speaking recently with the Miami Herald, the 39-year-old Haslem was asked if he was certain that the 2019-20 campaign would be his final one.
“I can’t say,” replied Haslem. “The guys want me around. Bam [Adebayo] tells me every day, ‘I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do when you retire.’ Jimmy [Butler] always has me around. We’ll see. My kids are getting older. We’ll see.”
Haslem, who is the Heat’s all-time leading rebounder and has spent his entire NBA career with them since signing on as an undrafted free agent way back in 2003, has played in all of three games this season for a total of 21 minutes. But he has been a mainstay at the end of Miami’s bench for many years now as a veteran guru and de facto assistant.
Though he will turn 40 this summer, Haslem has some good reasons for why he continues to play, so one more season sounds like a very real possibility.
