Former Heat star, Mike Miller dubbed his co-host Udonis Haslem as the “Real Mayor of Miami.” UD not only stayed with the franchise for his entire 20-year career but was also born and bred in that city. So he took it upon himself to protect his teammates, and one of them was 2003 draftee Dwyane Wade. The former Heat captain narrated the story about helping D-Wade, which Kevin Garnett absolutely rocked with.

On his Instagram story, KG added, “Real shhh 🫡💯.” The salute from the Celtics was because Haslem helped The Flash out even before the police could get involved. “D-Wade ain’t no sucker at all man…We continued to build that Brotherhood man. And I always wanted to look out for my brother, man. When somebody stole his truck, they took his chain.” Both joined the Miami franchise in 2003; Dwyane Wade was the overall 5th pick in the draft meanwhile Udonis Haslem joined as a free agent.

Despite being a rookie, the current VP of basketball operations took it upon himself to help his teammate. Since he was from the area, he pretty much knew the lay of the land.”Boy, you took what from who? Got that sh– right back. ‘Get my dawg sh– back. I don’t care who got it. I want that. Yeah, I want that’. I got the truck, I got the chain, got all that, man. We on that.”

That’s why Kevin Garnett had to salute the efforts of UD. It was a blue escalade that Dwyane Wade owned, which was missing along with his jewelry. As soon as he knew it was stolen; he dialed a call to his teammate and not to the authorities.

Why Udonis Haslem became D-Wade’s first choice

As stated earlier, both were rookies when they joined the organization. The Flash was fresh from his exploits with Marquette and was ready to establish himself in Miami. But had to face the off-court adversity early in his career. In that situation, Dwyane Wade remembered only one person, Udonis Haslem.

Wade described him as the “easiest guy to believe in.” That’s why the 3x NBA champion called UD first. “First person I called, before I called the police, anybody, I called UD. ‘Hey man, they got me.’ I got my jewelry in there and everything…Man, UD got that sh– back for me.” Despite not knowing each other personally, Udonis Haslem strived to help out his teammate.

Over the years, we have heard similar stories about Haslem helping the other players, too. Not just with off-court but with on-the-court issues as well. That’s why he is very well respected as one of the leaders of the franchise during his 20-year career.