Udonis Haslem still getting hooked up with contracts from the Heat nine years later

Eyebrows were raised when Haslem took considerably less than his market value to re-sign with the Heat in 2010. Nine years later he's still getting contracts from Riley and Miami.



Way back in the summer of 2010, in order for the Miami Heat to have enough cap space to re-sign their star Dwyane Wade and to also sign stars LeBron James and Chris Bosh, they had to gut their roster. All three superstars took less than max contracts to fit in the salary cap. Then to fill out their roster the Heat had to sign a bunch of low salaried players.

One guy who signed for a considerable below market deal was Udonis Haslem. While it's one thing for super stars to take a little less than the max, it's another for role players to pass on would could be their last big pay day. Haslem agreed to a 5 year/$20 million deal with the Heat, despite the fact he had offers from Dallas and Denver for more than $10 million more.

Some people wondered if Pat Riley had an illegal wink wink deal with Haslem where he'd take less at that time and get rewarded down the line. The Heat would lose to Dallas their first Big 3 season, but then would win the championship the next season following a grueling seven game Eastern Conference Finals vs the Celtics. Haslem would be a key contributor for the Heat in that playoffs. Do the Heat beat Boston without Haslem? Well remember Bosh was banged up, so the Heat were already thin with bigs.

Well it's been nine years since that discounted deal and Haslem might outlast everyone who was around in 2010. The Heat just re-signed him again:



This will mark Haslem's 17th season with Miami.

Via Basketball Reference

As you can see from his stats, he stopped being a serviceable player about six years ago and for the last four he barely ever plays. Haslem just keeps getting paid year after year to do nothing. Not saying this isn't shady as fuck, but not saying it isn't either. Looking forward to a couple years from now when he's 40 years old and plays 4 games during the season and averages 2 mpg, all the while while pocketing a few million.
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