LeBron James’ Arrival Triggered ‘Blasphemous’ Temptation for Heat Legend: “Took Some of My Money Motherf***ker”
On one side, LeBron James joining the Miami Heat in 2010 made them one of the most powerful teams in NBA history. But at the same time, a few were unhappy about his arrival and sadly, it was his teammates.
One of them was the Heat legend Udonis Haslem, who spoke about in a recent interview. In fact, the 43-year-old revealed it was tempting for him to call it quits on the championship team. Why so?
When it is a team full of superstars, salary is always a problem. From 2010 to 2014, the Heat added a lot of talented veterans, which eventually pushed the already existing players to take a pay cut. Udonis Haslem and Dwyane Wade were among them.
Haslem shared in his interview, “When the big three came, you know, you took some of my money, motherf*****. You took some of my money. They have no money for me, so they paid your ass…I was about to get the f*** up out of here.“
The Big 3 mentioned above are Chris Bosh, Wade, and LeBron James. Bosh and James joined the Heat at the same time. The Heat agreed to pay Haslem a total of $35 million. But when the above two superstars joined, they decided to cut Haslem’s salary to $20 million. This was tempting enough for the 3-time champion to make a move.
How did the Miami Heat manage to hold on to Udonis Haslem?
To be precise, it was not the Heat who convinced Haslem to stay, but the Big 3. At a point in time, it was hard for the organization to even finalize the $20 million. Wade was the moderator, who convinced James and Bosh to take a cut. The Big 3 together sacrificed a total of $15 million in 2010, as they valued Haslem.
Haslem shared in another interview, “I know what those guys’ values was, I know they worth at the time. And I’m thinking, ‘Okay, it’s time to move on…But the fact that Bron, CB, and D-Wade all collabed to take less money to make that 20 available for me, it said enough, because they didn’t have to do that,”
