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These days, a majority of the NBA stars feature for multiple teams throughout the course of their careers. Even the supposed GOAT of Miami Dwyane Wade played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls towards the end of his time in the league. But there are some who have managed to stay loyal to the team that drafted them. One of them featured for the Miami Heat for two decades and Wade even claimed that he was the greatest Heat of all time. The 43-year-old retired after Miami lost to the Denver Nuggets in the Finals recently. However, he announced that he was coming out of retirement for a day for a rather special occasion.

A lot has been said about Dwyane Wade’s involvement in Miami’s three-championship run. But not a lot of people know about the contributions of a rather special figure in Miami’s dressing room who was a part of the team since the beginning of the century.

The King comes out of retirement, instigating reactions from Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade

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Udonis Haslem’s name is synonymous with the Miami Heat. He was a loyal servant of the team for 20 years. Haslem hung up his boots after Miami bowed out of the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets. Turns out that Haslem is having a difficult time embracing father time as he announced his return to a rather different ball pitch.

USA Today via Reuters

The 43-year-old announced that he’ll be featuring for the Miami Marlins on September 7th. Miami Marlins is the premier baseball team of South Beach. A lot has been said about Haslem’s ball skills, but it’ll be interesting to see how well Udonis swings the bat when a ball is thrown towards him at over 100 miles an hour. Haslem’s colleagues and the basketball world had a lot to say about his announcement.

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The post had the caption, “This message has been officially approved by Miami king himself, @ud40. See you all on September 7th at 6:40 PM.” His former teammate and 4x NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal reposted the post on his social media handle. On the other hand, Dwyane Wade commented, “Mister Miami”.

 

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A post shared by Miami Marlins (@marlins)

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There were certain Marlins fans who thought Haslem might actually do some good for the team and one also labelled his transaction as the best one the franchise has made all year. It’ll be interesting to see if Haslem would be willing to pick up the baseball bat after spending decades throwing a ball into the hoop.

“Yeah put him at the closer position I bet he can do a better job than Robertson or Puk,” “Best transaction we?ve made all year,” and “@marlins Y’all gonna have that jersey available for purchase? I need one ASAP!!”?were some common reactions to the news.

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Another fan wrote, “I better see him in full uniform in the dugout.” The Marlins fanbase would certainly be looking forward to such a major basketball personality donning their jersey. Haslem might actually end up driving jersey sales for the team. Do not forget to catch Udonis in action on the seventh of September.

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