Miami Heat stalwart, three-time NBA champion Udonis Haslem announces retirement at age 42

Longtime forward and team captain of the Miami Heat Udonis Haslem has revealed that he plans to retire at the end of the season.

Haslem, 42, has spent his entire NBA career with the Miami Heat after first joining the team in 2003, and has won three championships – in 2006, 2012 and 2013.

“I’m done,” Haslem told the Miami Herald. “I’m done with it no matter what. I have made my contribution. I think there needs to be another voice for these guys at this stage. It’s time someone stood up and was the voice.”

Haslem has a career average of 7.5 points and 6.6 rebounds. In the highest scoring season of his career, he averaged 12 points per game going along with nine rebounds during the 2007–08 season.

Haslem is currently the oldest player in the NBA, appearing in only six games this season.

Haslem is currently the oldest player in the NBA, appearing in only six games this year

The Miami organization has planned a spectacular farewell for the Miami native ahead of his last home game of the regular season.

The Heat announced a party to be known as ‘4 Days of 40’ on Sunday – on 305 Day at 3:05 pm – which will celebrate Haslam’s career.

“It is clear that there is enormous love and respect for Udonis in this organization. The marketing department, we absolutely love Udonis. He’s been great to us in his 20 years here,” said Heat executive vice president and chief marketing officer Michael McCullough.

“We’ve tried to do our very best to think about how to properly say thank you and recognize what he has meant to this organization.”

The ‘4 Days of 40’ begins on March 23 and is a digital content series dedicated to Haslam.

It continues on the 24th when Court Culture releases ‘The UD Collection’. This includes four brand new Haslem shirts, which will be available for purchase at all Miami Heat Store locations and on MiamiHeatStore.com.

The Heat will then host “UD Night” during their game against the Brooklyn Nets on March 25, when a new special “Section 305” will be unveiled in Haslem’s honor at the Miami-Dade Arena.

Finally, on March 23, the Miami Heat Family Festival will feature Haslem-themed activations and experiences.

He has won three NBA Finals in his career, although he lost the 2020 Finals to former teammate LeBron James and the Los Angles Lakers in the NBA bubble

“These four days are more like, if this was a backyard barbecue or a house party and you’re sitting around and swapping Udonis stories, that’s the tone of these four days,” McCullough said.

Haslem himself said he is “grateful and grateful” after calling the four-day celebration a “great gesture,” but also stated that his main focus is on getting the team to the playoffs.

“I’m just trying to make the playoffs,” Haslem told the Miami Herald. “It’s one thing at a time, man. I can only concentrate on one thing at a time. So the focus is now trying to get into the play-offs.’

The Heat is currently 34-31 and is ranked seventh in the NBA Eastern Conference. Right now, they are two games behind the Brooklyn Nets for the final guaranteed playoff spot in the conference to avoid the play-in tournament.