Speaking of the NBA's "one person, one city", I believe that many fans will first think of nowitzki, Lillard and other stars who have been playing for a team. But most of the Heat fans will first think of Haslem, who has been playing for the Heat for 19 seasons now. Haslem is now 41 years old, but he is still wearing a Heat jersey, and many fans even call him the "Soul of the Heat". However, Haslem's recent remarks have aroused heated discussion among fans.
Recently, Haslem said in an interview: "Throughout my career, I gave up $70 million to stay with the Heat. I want to win here, retire here, and all I do is hope to be part of this team in the rankings. Haslem said he gave up $70 million in annual salary to stay with the Heat, and the vast majority of fans said he was exaggerating.
In fact, from Haslem's experience, what he said was indeed exaggerated. Haslem lost the draft, and in 2003 the Heat gave him a two-year rookie contract and began to enter the NBA. In addition to the two years of rookie contracts that cannot be chosen, and the pension contracts given by the Heat in the last three seasons, the remaining 14 seasons will earn $70 million less, and an average of $5 million less per season. In his entire NBA career, Haslem's highest annual salary season was the 09-10 season, when his annual salary was $7.1 million. The $7.1 million annual salary is low in the NBA league today, but it wasn't too low at the time, perfectly in line with haslem's level at the time. So unless Haslem earned more than half his salary at his peak, he wouldn't have made $70 million less in his entire career to stay with the Heat. After all, haslem's early NBA salary cap was far less than it is today. You know, Yao Ming, who entered the NBA a year earlier than him, has a career maximum annual salary of $17.69 million, and haslem's level is still very obvious from the big Yao of that year.
Of course, I believe Haslem gave up a lot of his salary to stay with the Heat. He did take a pay cut to help the team during the Big Three. His feelings for the Heat believe that the Heat fans are in the eyes. But to say that I gave up my 70 million salary is more like accidentally blowing a bull in an interview.