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Mario Chalmers Reveals Truth Behind Giving Up His No. 6 Jersey For LeBron James

When the Miami Heat drafted Mario Chalmers in the 2008 NBA draft, Chalmers had just won the NCAA Championship. Not only did Chalmers win the title, but he also hit the finals-winning three-point shot with 2.1 seconds left in the final game.

Winning in general is something Chalmers got used to pretty quickly, especially after LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined the team in 2010. Until James’ departure in 2014, the Heat went to the NBA Finals for four straight years, while winning two titles.

Bur before LeBron James had his infamous Decision, Chalmers called the Heat’s No. 6 jersey his own. The point guard now spoke about the jersey number change in a recent appearance on James Posey’s ‘Posecast’ podcast, and revealed that a nice little duffle bag with some pocket change was involved.

“When I first got to Miami, Mark Blount was wearing number 15. So, Mark Blount’s last year was my second year. 2009-10 was his last year with the Heat. Bron was coming 2010-2011.

Mark said he was not coming back, like Mark was going through some things, he wasn’t there, so I had told, I want 15 next year. So I was already going to number 15 before there was even any talk of Bron coming to Miami. But Bron gave me something for the number…. A nice little duffle bag, little pocket change, nice little friend, so he took care of me. It wasn’t like he took the number, I was taking number 15. But it’s Pat Riley, Bron was getting 6 if he wanted six.”