Three-time NBA champion Udonis Haslem recalled how he faced multiple charges by police in 2010; but admits there is one secret he refuses to reveal as he bans naming the other person involved.
The vice-president of basketball development with the Miami Heat was caught up in a legal storm in 2010 when he was arrested for speeding and possession of marijuana, going on to be charged by law enforcement.
A month later charges were dropped and the pro-turned-executive, who is the Heat’s all-time rebound leader with 5,791, continued with his career before he began to transition to front office management after retiring in 2023.
Yet despite 15 years passing since the incident, the player still refuses to talk about some details of the incident and banned his podcast co-host from naming the other person involved, going as far as to order a retake.
“Well first things first, Dan, we ain’t supposed to say his real name,” Haslem told Dan LeBatard on the OGs Podcast, recalling the event. “We were pulled over.
“Were arrested, and there was it was marijuana in the car, you know what I’m saying? And it was under the passenger seat.
“And I was in the driver seat. At the end of the day, my record got sponged. I got found not guilty, and that’s how it went.”
LeBatard claims a conspiracy is at work
The incident related to the hooper speeding in his 2008 Mercedes car whilst also running a window tint shade that didn’t comply with local laws within Florida, according to EPSN’s contemporary report.
Officers then found 20 grams of drugs in the car, but the Heat star was cleared on the grounds they couldn’t find any of his finger prints on the glass jar and thus couldn’t prove it belonged to him or that he knew it was there.
All the same, LeBatard suggested the other person in the car took the hit on behalf of Haslem because of his reputation and status, a status that has helped him go on to earn a net worth of around $20 million.
“But on the radio,” LeBatard began, prompting Haslem’s censorship response. “Because the only public blemish on your record in 20 years/25 years of master professionalism is something happened with an arrest and a car and marijuana.
“And [bleeped out] took the hit. That stain would not end up on Udonis Haslem. [Bleeped out] is taking the hit on that because he has learned that Udonis Haslem must be protected.”