At the beginning of a new NBA season, Udonis Haslem has entered territory that only a few legendary players can claim to have chartered. As he begins Year 19 of his career with the Miami Heat, Haslem has become only the third player in NBA history to spend at least 19 seasons with a single franchise, joining Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki and the late Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant.
Having been with the Heat since being picked up as an undrafted free agent in 2002, the 41-year old Haslem has a great wealth of stories to tell from his career: Which include certain incidents where tensions ran high between him and a teammate, and where disputes were settled in odd fashion.
In an interview with Tyler R. Tynes of GQ, Haslem shared that one of the worst fights of his career came between him and teammate Gary Payton, when an argument between the two turned bizarrely violent.
“We started arguing and Gary went and got a broomstick! [Head coach Pat Riley] kicked us outta practice. We had a game that night and me and Gary didn’t speak the whole game. He was finna hit me wit’ a broomstick!”
Payton only overlapped with Haslem for a brief time, as the Seattle SuperSonics great spent three seasons with the Heat at the end of his career in the mid 2000s, winning a title with Miami in in 2006. Haslem also played with the one and only Shaquille O’Neal, who Haslem also ended up getting a piece of when interceding in a dispute between O’Neal and Riley.
“The fight was me trying to hold Shaq back and he threw me like a sack of potato chips,” Haslem said. “I’m trying to save Pat’s old ass and Shaq grabbed me and swung me. He threw me down like that and I was just trying to stop him. Imagine if he really wanted a piece of me? I would’ve had to tase him!”
Haslem was a member of the Heat’s 2006, 2012, and 2013 NBA Championship-winning teams, and he is the franchise’s all-time leader in both offensive and defensive rebounds.
