“You want a ride?” - When LeBron beat Mario Chalmers in Guts for $45,000 and gloated about it in the funniest way possible
Blessed with otherworldly basketball talent, LeBron James seems to have also been endowed with luck in gambling games. He once won $45,000 from Mario Chalmers in Guts, a high-stakes card game that the Miami Heat players apparently used to connect with one another when traveling.
During one deal, Chalmers thought he had everyone beat with his pair of eights. With him and James remaining during the showdown, the four-time MVP slowly flipped his cards to reveal a pair of nines. Winning big, LeBron went up and down the plane's aisle to gloat and shout what he would do once he got the money.
"He fu*king bought the truck," Chalmers said on "The OGs" podcast. "I wanted to blow that fu*king truck up. He bought the truck and pulled up to practice, 'coz you know I used to live across the street. So sometimes, I just walk to practice, or I run or do some goofy s**t."
"This n**** pulled up and was like, 'Yo, you want a ride?' I'm like, 'Shut up. If you don't get the fu*k away from me, I'll blow you and this truck up right now.' I was so fu*king pissed."
Not in it for the money
Chalmer's story got Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller laughing so hard, as it probably brought back some of the good memories they shared during the Heatles era in Miami. The OGs also reminded him they kept pestering him back then to avoid gambling, although according to the former second-round pick, he won $55,000 once.
But Rio said he wasn't in it for the possibility of getting richer by tens of thousands. Instead, he found it as a way to connect with the other members of the squad, particularly the stars. It's worth noting that Chalmers was one of the little brothers among the Heat pack back then, and he was a point guard. So, it was only prudent for him to take the opportunity to build camaraderie with the rest of the team.
Still, for Haslem and Miller, it was an "expensive way" to connect with the other players.
Fortunately, it may have paid off for Chalmers because he was entrusted with the starting point guard spot during Miami's championship-winning campaigns.
Got LeBron going
Another possible takeaway from the 37-year-old's story is that it seems he and James got along well off the court. When people think about Bron and Rio together, they probably imagine their altercation on the bench in 2013 when the Heat faced the Indiana Pacers.
Chalmers has cleared the air on that heated exchange, explaining that he didn't call James the B-word, now widely known as the 20-time All-Star's trigger word. Instead, he used that term to light a fire under LeBron and get the superstar going. It proved to be effective because Miami ended up winning the contest. As Rio put it, he did his job.
