MIAMI — He did all right for himself, the “young fat kid from Liberty City.”
That is how Udonis Haslem once described himself growing up in one of the tougher, poorer areas of Miami, one beset with violence and crack and wrong turns inviting you everywhere you looked.
Now, he nears the end of an historic 20-year career with the Miami Heat, and does so without rival or peer as the professional athlete who has meant the most to the soul of the city — born-and-raised and ever-rising. No. 40. U.D.
He leaves with three NBA championship rings as an integral part of each. He leaves in the Heat’s career top 10 in 15 statistical categories including No. 1 in rebounds and second in games and minutes played. If they found a way to quantify integrity and respect earned, he’d lead in that, too.
Sunday will be the last regular-season game he’ll play for Miami, and at some point a 42-year-old man will rise from the bench and enter to an ovation and likely a tear or two.
The long run began in 2003. Teammate Tyler Herro was then a 3-year-old toddler when Haslem signed with Miami, after being undrafted out of the University of Florida, after being cut by the Atlanta Hawks after a failed tryout and playing a season for Elan Chalon in eastern France.
Haslem has been a seldom-used player since 2016 or so, but his stature in a very real way has only grown as he evolved into locker room mentor, talisman and sage. Under his wing, Bam Adebayo took flight. He honed Herro’s defensive skills. Found a way, as he says, “to move the needle in the locker room.”
A couple of years back a small number of fans who didn’t get that wondered on social media why the club continued to “waste” a roster spot on the aging Haslem. With the same fire he showed on the basketball court, he shot back on Instagram.
“You out your [bleeping] mind if you think I can’t still play this game,” he wrote. “I’ll sleepwalk into a double-double cause I’m just built different!! Y’all should know that by now but keep hating. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and if I’m the weak link that’s a hell of a [bleeping] chain!!”
His bodyscape of tattoos includes the state of Florida on his back. Around his neck is a chain with a “40 OG” medallion. He is exceptionally fit.
Everything that became Heat Culture with a capital C, Haslem has embodied, from the “fat kid” whose work ethic lifted him from Liberty City to the man whose heart never left it. From the undrafted rookie who beat the odds to the rebounding force who helped win three titles. All the way to the elder statesman who didn’t need to play to lead.
Coach Erik Spoelstra: “Years out from here, when we’ll say, what’s the Miami Heat Culture, was it hardest-working team, most professional, best-conditioned and so forth — we can just put up a picture of Udonis Haslem.”
Here is how Pat Riley announced in a tweet that Haslem had signed for one last season, the capital letters his: “Udonis Haslem has agreed to come back and play the game he loves so much. U.D. is a legacy player ... ONE PLAYER, ONE CITY, ONE TEAM. Thank you, U.D., for coming back to lead again in your city, your organization and your team.”
Miami has not had any athlete give this long to one franchise. Haslem has been with the Heat longer than the club has played without him: 20 of 35 seasons, or 57%.
Dolphins great Dan Marino was the longevity standard-bearer before, with 17 seasons. Next is 15 each by Dolphins guard Bob Kuechenberg and U.D.’s Heat runningmate Dwyane Wade.
There is no doubt South Florida sports has cheered greater careers. We just mentioned Marino and Wade. Others might have contributed more for longer. Don Shula and Riley come to mind.
But none of those men is what Haslem was: One of us. Born here, playing for the hometown team — the team he’d watch as a kid, and dream. When he could scrounge up the money, he’d watch from “up there in the nosebleeds, when the arena was still downtown.”
His jersey will rise to the rafters retired soon. He’s Hall of Fame-worthy if halls considered more than stats.
Just as U.D. has meant more to the Heat than his numbers ever showed — especially in the past several years on the bench — so has his contribution to the city and region been unsung.
A few years ago, when post-George Floyd protests in Miami simmered and might have boiled, Haslem was in the streets preaching calm. When the Surfside condo collapse killed almost 100 people, U.D. was out front lending sympathy and support.
With no cameras present and nobody knowing, Haslem has visited with Miami mayors and councilmen and volunteered, “What do you need? Where am I needed?”
Also out of the public eye, his 20 years with the Heat have brought an avalanche of pain. He has buried his mother and father, grandparents, childhood friends, his agent and more along the way. Losing his father a couple of years ago hit him hard enough that he sought therapy.
“Thank God I had the resources at age 40 to get that, or it could have been a tough situation,” Haslem said recently on the Pivot podcast. “I tell my all my guys, ‘If you need to talk to somebody, don’t feel ashamed.' ”
The championships and the tears — all in Miami.
On Pivot he was asked why Miami is so important to him. He mentioned going to a club elsewhere once and asking a DJ to play Miami rapper Trick Daddy and being told get-outta-my-face.
“I don’t tolerate disrespect,” he said. “I’ve had the opportunity to play with a lot of great players but they still coming to my city. I’ve been around the world and nobody loves me more than the people of this city. You can’t just play for your shot or your points. Can’t just play for your money. Gotta be something bigger. That was my bigger: My city.”
A smart businessman, he has invested in this city, creating jobs with Subway franchises, in medical marijuana and with two affordable housing initiatives.
His post-retirement plans are right here. He is angling to a small ownership stake in the Heat, in his team.
They’d probably hire him as an assistant coach tomorrow, but he says, “I see leadership at the highest level. I aspire to sit next to the Pat Rileys and the Nick and Micky Arisons.”
Remember that famous, infamous night at the arena in July 2010 when LeBron James came here and the Big 3 era was minted? When fans packed the place to hear LeBron promise all those championships? “Not one, not two, not three...”
Haslem was not there. Wasn’t sure he still belonged. He was a free agent. Thought his time with the Heat had ended.
“They were moving on to the Big 3. I thought, ‘Oh, s---, I’m outta here’,” he said. “I know how the money works. I’m thinking it was time to move on. I was on my way to the arena to look Pat Riley in the eye and say thank you.”
Then his agent called.
Wade had convinced LeBron and Chris Bosh to sacrifice, take less money and make $20 million appear to keep Haslem.
“D.Wade stood up, but ‘Bron and C.B. didn’t know me from a can of paint,” Haslem said.
The word is respect.
It’s what Udonis Haslem, the “young fat kid from Liberty City,” has been working for and richly earning all his life.
“I’m thankful, I’m honored, I’m appreciative. But it’s time to pass it to somebody else to make it better,” he says.
Sports in Miami and South Florida will never see another like him.
