Dwyane Wade: Udonis Haslem Has Had 'Greatest Career in Miami Heat History'

While most outside observers would say Dwyane Wade had the best career of any player in the history of the Miami Heat, he would bestow that honor on one of his former teammates.

In a special article for SI.com (h/t Rohan Nadkarni), Wade wrote that he believes Udonis Haslem "has had the greatest career in Miami Heat history."

"No one thought that would be the case when he first walked into that building," Wade added. "The franchise has had Shaq, Tim Hardaway, Alonzo [Mourning], LeBron, Chris Bosh—a line of Hall of Famers. But there's one that stands above us all. That's Udonis Haslem. How damn cool is it that kids growing up will want to have a career like his?"

Haslem has certainly had one of the most fascinating careers of any contemporary NBA player. He went undrafted in 2002, played a season overseas in France and signed with the Heat prior to the 2003-04 season.

The 2003-04 season was also Wade's rookie campaign. They spent the next 13 years playing with each other, but the 2015-16 campaign marked a turning point. Haslem started to play sparingly, averaging just seven minutes per game in 37 appearances.

Wade left the Heat to sign with the Chicago Bulls as a free agent in the summer of 2016. He bounced around between the Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers before going back to the Heat in a midseason trade in February 2018.

After re-signing with the Heat on a one-year deal, Wade finished his career in Miami during the 2018-19 season. Haslem also seemed to indicate he was going to retire at the end of the season, but he continued to sign one-year deals to extend his career.

Haslem announced prior to the start of the 2022-23 season he was going to retire after finishing his 20th season with the Heat. He became the oldest player to appear in an NBA Finals game when head coach Erik Spoelstra used him in Game 3 against the Denver Nuggets.

Over the past eight seasons, Haslem only appeared in a total of 102 games. It speaks to how well regarded he is within the organization and locker room the Heat continued to bring him back year after year despite being a minimal in-game contributor for nearly a decade.

Haslem finished his career with 879 games played, second-most in Heat history behind Wade (948). He's the franchise's all-time leader with 5,791 rebounds and won three NBA titles.