Longtime Miami Heat player Udonis Haslem got into a scuffle that earned him an ejection during his regular-season debut. The veteran’s season debut lasted a mere three minutes.
Haslem suited up for the first time this year on Thursday when the Heat faced the Philadelphia 76ers. The veteran entered the game to the applause of the Heat crowd. Entering his 18th season in the league, he is the oldest active player at 40 years old. Shortly after entering the game, he converted his only two shots and hoisted down a rebound.
After he converted a bucket, in just his third minute of the game, Haslem got into an altercation with Sixers big man Dwight Howard. The altercation stemmed from a previous possession where Howard dropped Haslem. Haslem then got into words with Howard before being ejected.
For Haslem, it could have been the final play of his career, but he is proud of it. “It’s a great memory. And, if this is the last one, I finished it the only way Udonis Haslem could: with an ejection,” Haslem said.
“It was obviously very physical. Dwight plays the way Dwight plays, and it was just a conversation between me and him that I just wanted to make it clear that the throwing down and the swinging of the elbows and things like that, I just felt like we should kind of leave that out of the game for tonight. I think he kind of disagreed, so when he disagreed, I disagreed, and there was a whole bunch of disagreeing,” the veteran said.
Last season, Haslem signed a one-year deal to remain in Miami for $2.6 million. The veteran has not played up until Thursday. The Miami legend has been more of a mentor to the locker room and younger players. Haslem is Miami’s all-time rebounding leader and won three championships with the Heat.
