Udonis Haslem may not be as big a name as Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, but the Miami Heat’s big three know how important Haslem is to the team .
In a recent interview with TNT and Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks, Haslem revealed that Wade, James and Bosh all took pay cuts when they signed with the Miami Heat in 2010 just to preserve their salary in order to re-sign him space.
Haslem was particularly impressed that James and Bosh, who were his teammates for the first time, decided to take a bit of a salary hit just to keep him around.
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Haslem said:
“(I learned) how important it is to win a championship. Those guys didn’t know me. Dwayne obviously knew me, but LeBron and Chris didn’t know me. But the fact is, they thought I wanted to help them get there and win a championship. It was so important that they sacrificed millions of dollars to win a championship for a guy they didn’t know and didn’t talk to.”
While Haslem didn’t mention who relayed the story to him, he said James, Wade and Bosh, who became friends quickly after the 2003 draft, agreed with him over dinner.
Haslem continued:
“It’s not like we were sitting out having dinner and going, ‘OK, we’re going to do this.'” LeBron, D-Wade and CB had dinner, but I didn’t attend the dinner. “
He also liked how quickly Miami’s then-newly minted Big Three came to terms with the deal, especially since Haslem was already a free agent and considering signing with another team.
He further said:
“They didn’t have a lot of time to think about it because I was leaving, so for those people to be able to make an instant decision and be able to take a little bread from me, I just wanted to make sure that one I was grateful and two It’s their money’s worth.”
Udonis Haslem’s own sacrifice
Like Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem took a pay cut but still signed with the Miami Heat.
In 2006, Udonis Haslem had already won a championship with Wade. He could have chosen a better place and signed with the Dallas Mavericks or Denver Nuggets, but he signed a five-year extension with the Heat. year, worth US$20 million.
Udonis Haslem seemed to make a mistake when Dallas beat Miami to win the 2011 NBA championship, but the next year, Miami won it all and successfully defended the title the following year.