Heat to eventually retire Haslem’s number. And Durant pursuit ends for Heat, rest of NBA
On the day that the Heat’s slim chances of landing Kevin Durant officially ended, the team indicated that Udonis Haslem - the longest-tenured player in franchise history - will have his jersey retired by the team at some point.
“From the first day that I saw him compete, to the last day when we retire his jersey at our FTX home, UD will go down in our team’s history as one of the best to ever play for the Miami Heat,” team president Pat Riley said in a statement announcing Haslem re-signing with the team.
Haslem, who wears No. 40, announced Sunday that the 2022-23 season will be his 20th and final one.
Six Heat jersey numbers have been retired: No. 3 (Dwyane Wade), No. 33 (Alonzo Mourning), No. 10 (Tim Hardaway), No. 1 (Chris Bosh), No. 23 (Michael Jordan, who never played for the Heat) and No. 32 (Shaquille O’Neal).
Haslem agreed to a one-year deal at the $2.8 million veteran’s minimum.
Meanwhile, any chance of the Heat acquiring Durant ended when the Brooklyn Nets announced Tuesday that the 12-time All Star - who requested a trade in late June - will remain with the Nets.
Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman met with Nets owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, general manager Sean Marks, and head coach Steve Nash on Monday in Los Angeles, and Marks - in a tweet by the Nets - said “we have agreed to move forward with our partnership.”
Though the Heat had strong interest in acquiring Durant, Miami never offered Bam Adebayo.
And for the Nets to take Adebayo, they would have needed to trade Ben Simmons to Miami or elsewhere because of an NBA rule preventing a team from trading for two players under rookie max extensions and having them on their roster at the same time.
The Heat conveyed weeks ago that it wasn’t holding up any offseason business waiting for a Nets decision on Durant. The organization knew, in recent weeks, that a trade for Durant was unlikely because Miami was unwilling or unable to meet the Nets’ high demands.
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 4:40 PM.
