Dating back to before the all-star break, the Heat have lost five of their last six games. They needed Jimmy Butler’s heroics on Monday night to narrowly escape Philly with a win. Miami are still in playoff contention at the moment, but would be in the play-in tournament if the playoffs started today. The teams recent struggles has one Miami player losing sleep at night. Forty-two year old Udonis Haslem did not see his final season playing out this way.
Long-time NBA veteran Udonis Haslem is in his 20th season as a pro and has spent all of them with the Miami Heat. He’s a three-time NBA champion who seen a very limited role in the last three-to-four seasons. However, Haslem is still a big morale guy on the team and is more of a vocal leader.
The Heat are hoping to get back to the Conference Finals this season, but will have a tough Eastern Conference gauntlet to get through. At the moment, Florida Sports Betting sites have the Heat at (+6600) to win the Finals this season.
Udonis Haslem on the Heat’s struggles this season:
“Nobody likes to lose. I’m losing sleep at night, you know what I mean. This is not the way I wanted my last year to go.”
(via @MiamiHerald, https://t.co/xWGsP8AsfX) pic.twitter.com/FBKJKvE9ES
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) March 2, 2023
How will Udonis Haslem’s final season with the Miami Heat play out?
The long-time NBA veteran is hoping to end his season on a special note, but the Heat need to worry about making the playoffs. That is not something that Haslem has had a huge effect on the last few seasons. Since the 2019-20 season he’s played in 24 regular season games.
He’s almost like a coach/player for the Heat this season as he mentors a lot of the younger players in the organization. Nobody on the team knows more about Heat culture than Haslem does as he’s spent the past 20 years embracing every part of that.
With that comes the struggles and that is something that is making him “lose sleep at night”. All he wants to do is see the heat be successful in his last season and had this to say to reporters.
“I’m losing sleep at night, you know what I mean. This is not the way I wanted my last year to go.” – Udonis Haslem
The 42 year old has played in six games this season and has made one start, averaging (7.7) minutes played in those contests. Miami’s offensive output has been a problem this season as they rank dead last in the league with (107.8) points per game this season. They are also averaging (100.0) points per game in their last three played.
