Miami Heat Sends Udonis Haslem ‘Rocking’ Home as He Ends 20-Year Career with Huge Game

With the NBA season coming to an end, so has the (regular season) career of Miami Heat big man Udonis Haslem.

According to the Associated Press, Haslem placed the exclamation point to his 20-year run with the Heat. The team won its regular season finale against the Orlando Magic, 123-110, yesterday in Miami as Haslem put in 24 points, the most since he scored 28 in November 2009.

Haslem was given an appropriate send-off gift from his teammates before the game—a rocking chair, which was brought out by the team’s mascot in front of an appreciative crowd.

“There you go man, take your seat,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said as Haslem tried it out.

When the reserve forward was taken out of the game with 58.9 seconds left, he received a well-deserved standing ovation from the Miami crowd. He finished the game shooting 9-for-17 from the floor and 3-for-7 from 3-point range.

Here’s a fun stat: With that scoring outburst, Haslem scored more points in one game than Ben Simmons has in his entire Brooklyn Nets career.

With his playing days now over, Haslem is the all-time leading rebounder for the Heat and a member of three championship teams. He also becomes the third basketball player to play his whole career of at least 20 years, with one team. The other two are Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks) and Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers).

When he checked into his last game, at 42 years and 304 days old, Haslem became the fifth-oldest player to appear in an NBA game. He surpassed Dikembe Mutombo, who was 42 years, and 300 days old when he last appeared in an NBA game.

The team is planning to retire his No. 40 jersey sometime next season. Next up, the Heat has the playoffs to worry about.