Miami Heat legend Udonis Haslem played his last professional game of basketball in 2023. It wasn’t his best game, but it wasn’t his worst either. At 43, the three-time NBA champion scored 24 points in 25 minutes of playtime during a 123-110 win over the Orlando Magic. Not bad, right? Well, you have to ask his kids.
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Udonis didn’t exactly reveal which one of his three kids was behind this, but from the sound of it, it was a well-planned and executed effort. And what did they do? They believed so confidently that he would only be scoring 3 and a half points in that game, they decided to bet some money on it.
Haslem discussed it on The OGs podcast, where he found himself talking to Markieff Morris about being a veteran at the tail end of their careers. Despite being respected and loved by their teammates, vets often get disrespected by fans simply because they are not stacking the numbers like they used to in their heyday. For Haslem, though, it was worse since his kids were the ones leading the charge!
“You say the outside world thinks you can’t play. My last game … my kids do this, I don’t even do this. Talk about y’all getting into sports betting. All my kids bet on me, my last game. Had me to score three and a half points,” Haslem revealed, reiterating like he still couldn’t believe it himself, “Three and a half? I have just been over here smoking cigarettes for the last four years. Three and a half?”
What’s worse is that they somehow even got paid! “I didn’t even know they did it till afterwards. ‘Dad you got us paid.’ I said, ‘what are you talking about?’ He said, ‘they had you scoring three and a half points tonight.’ I ain’t even worried about the kids gambling because I don’t even condone that s***,” Haslem added, laughing.
However, he was quick to remind that just because vets often rode the bench, doesn’t mean they couldn’t play. They put the exact same amount of effort as the young guns. In fact, they have multiple years of reps over the young stars that the fans fawn about. Fans should also remember that these are elite athletes, and even when they aren’t performing at that level in the NBA, they are still really good at what they do.
