Former Miami Heat guard Mario Chalmers recently told a story of when he lost $45,000 to his teammate, current Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, who proceeded to use that money to buy himself a truck.
“So listen, aye here go the story killer,” Chalmers said. “Everybody know, but we was playing guts, three-card poker right. So it was a ghost, I had a pair of nines going around — no I had a pair of eights — going around. … I’m the first one, I’m in. Everybody get out — everybody get out. I got a pair of nines. I’m guaranteed to win, pair of eights I mean, I’m guaranteed to win.
“Bron flip over the first card, it’s a nine. Okay, I’m like, ‘Alright, cool.’ Second card, a jack, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah this ain’t nothing.’ Another card, a nine. A pair of nines beat a pair of eights for $45,000. But I paid him — I paid him two days later. He bought the truck — he bought the f——- truck.
“No listen, I wanted to kill shawty. I wanted to blow that f——- truck up. He bought the truck, pulled up to practice — ’cause you know I used to live across the street, so sometimes I’d just walk to practice or I’d run or do some goofy s— — this n—- pulled up and was like, ‘Yo, you want a ride?’ I’m like, ‘Shawty, if you don’t get the f— away from me, I’ll blow you and this truck up right now,’ like I was so f—— pissed.”
Chalmers spent the majority of his NBA career playing for the Heat franchise. He spent the first eight seasons of his career with Miami before spending time playing for the Memphis Grizzlies.
The guard averaged 8.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 36.0 percent from behind the 3-point arc across 525 total regular-season games played with the Heat.
Chalmers won two championships with the Heat in 2012 and 2013, when he was playing alongside three of the best players in the NBA at the time in James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. He served as a dependable starting point guard for the Heat during both of their championship runs.
Arguably Chalmers’ defining skill was his ability to shoot the ball from 3-point range. During both the 2011-12 and 2012-13 regular seasons, he shot better than 38 percent from deep.
James is far removed from his days playing with Chalmers and the Heat. He is in his sixth season with the storied Lakers franchise and averaging 24.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game on 52.0 percent shooting from the floor and 39.7 percent from 3-point range this season.
The Lakers are fresh off one of their more embarrassing defeats of the 2023-24 regular season to this point. Los Angeles lost to the Atlanta Hawks on the road by 16 points on Tuesday, and James finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, one steal and one block in the losing effort.
James and the Lakers have now lost two games in a row and five of their last 10. Los Angeles will try to stem the tide and get back in the win column when they take on the Boston Celtics on the road on Thursday. The Celtics are four-and-a-half games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks for the top record in the Eastern Conference at this juncture and are winners of their last two games.
