Udonis Haslem takes Miami Heat messaging to broadcast booth
MIAMI – This potentially could be a minefield for Udonis Haslem, in-your-face candor colliding with two decades of insisting what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room.
But when you’ve stepped between Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra courtside or between Pat Riley and Shaquille O’Neal in the practice gym, the transition from two decades of NBA leadership with the Miami Heat to television analyst is not quite as complex as it might seem.
For Haslem, this first year in NBA retirement hasn’t meant completely stepping away from the game. Recently there was a turn as analyst in CBS HQ’s studios in Fort Lauderdale, followed by Friday night’s role in TNT’s Atlanta studio for coverage of the Heat’s nationally televised exhibition against the San Antonio Spurs.
“It’s something I have the personality for, I have the knowledge to do. And it’s something that’s been encouraged by a lot of my peers over the years,” Haslem, 43, said in an interview this week with the Sun Sentinel. “So I figured I would get my feet wet and learn the ropes and get into it.”
Already there has been candor on CBS HQ about Butler, Spoelstra and the Heat’s outlook, as Haslem sat in the studio alongside former NBA coach Avery Johnson.
“It was fun. I was comfortable,” Haslem said. “I was relaxed. It was fun chopping it up with Avery. We got to talk about some old times back in Dallas and the NBA Finals. It was really cool being in that atmosphere and in that setting. It was real relaxed.
“They reached out with an opportunity. So we’ll see if we can make it. We’ve got options out here.”
Then the invitation from TNT, working in Friday night’s studio alongside Isiah Thomas and former Heat guard and teammate Steve Smith.
“I’ve built a relationship with them for a while.” Haslem said of the opportunity with Turner Sports. “I’ve spent some time on set, watched them do baseball, Jimmy Rollins, all those guys on the set, spent some time with Ernie (Johnson).”
While there will be a more buttoned-down approach than when breaking up that courtside skirmish between Butler and Spoelstra in 2022 or the one between Riley and O’Neal in 2007 at practice, Haslem said raw is the only reality he knows.
But he also appreciates that this new venture takes him to a different space than the one he served in as Heat captain.
“I’m not in a locker room, ain’t been in a locker room all year,” he said. “When I do the games, I have no inside knowledge. I haven’t been to one shootaround. I’m going to be up front and honest and tell it like it is.
“The things that go on in the locker room are like personal relationships with our family. I don’t talk about my personal relationships with my family on TV, so why would I talk about personal relationships that go on in the locker room? There’s just a line you don’t cross.”
That doesn’t mean there also isn’t a feeling of Heat captain for life, with his No. 40 to be raised to the rafters as Kaseya Center this season.
“The priority is, obviously, the Miami Heat,” said Haslem, who spent all 20 of his NBA seasons with the Heat. “When it comes down to playoff time and situations like that, I’m going to try to spend as much time around those guys in that locker room as I can. I will be in and out throughout the year. I will maintain that relationship with Spo and the guys in the organization, the locker room.”
Still willing to lead, even if also spending time in a broadcast blazer.
“When I’m in that organization, it’s all about pushing to a championship,” he said. “When it comes to the Miami Heat, it’s not going to be about broadcasting. It’s going to be about getting over that hump, and pushing that needle.”
So, no, likely no time in the team’s Bally Sports Florida television booth with Eric Reid and John Crotty.
“I don’t know if they’re going to be able to afford me,” the franchise’s all-time rebounding leader said with a hearty laugh. “I don’t know if the Heat are going to be able to afford me. We ain’t doing a broadcasting discount. We done did that on the court.”
For 20 years, the muscle memory meant heading back to the court at this time of year. Now there is a basketball compromise, one previously suggested by Heat icon Dwyane Wade.
“Dwyane was one of the first people that told me I would be good on TV,” said Haslem, with Wade having taken his own turn as Turner studio analyst. “For me, I never stopped. So my biological clock kept ticking. So as soon as the season was over, I took about a week and I was right back in the gym working out. I just never stopped. When you stop and try to start back up, it’s the hardest thing. For me, it’s a lifestyle.”
And, yes, the feistiness still comes in Heat colors, already preparing to again soon light up the locker room, including a reminder about pundits questioning the team in the wake of failing to land Damian Lillard on the offseason trade market.
“I got plenty ammunition already,” he said. “I take all that stuff and just upload it into my brain, all the Dame stuff, everything that’s going on, I’ve got plenty ammunition for our guys this year. When I’m in that locker room, it’s about nothing but winning and basketball. Not anything else. TV, TNT, that’s outside.
“I’m still texting those guys. I still call those guys. I’m still connected to these guys. I’m just not, per se, standing over their shoulders every single minute, every single day. But my connection to these guys is as strong, or even stronger. I text these guys all the time. Even the new guys.”
