NBA Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade posted a social media video recognizing former Heat teammate Mario Chalmers after the former Kansas Jayhawks standout drained a game-winning 3-pointer to propel Miami 305 to a 52-48 victory over the Chicago Triplets in the BIG3 finals on Sunday in Orlando.
“Mario (bleeping) Chalmers … that’s what he do,” exclaimed Wade, who along with Chalmers won NBA titles with the Miami Heat in 2012 and ’13.
Chalmers, the man who hit a 3 with 2.1 seconds left to force overtime in KU’s NCAA title victory over Memphis in 2008, on Sunday accepted a pass from another former Heat teammate — and former K-State Wildcat — Michael Beasley with four seconds left on the shot clock.
Chalmers swished the wide-open corner 3, giving Miami the target score of 50 and causing a wild celebration in which his teammates mobbed him on the court.
Wade deemed the moment worthy of a video on social media.
“Going all the way back, when people ask me about Mario, I try to tell them when I first met this young man,” Wade said. “I met Mario in Alaska. When I was at Marquette we went to the Great Alaska Shootout. That was one of the big tournaments when I first got to college (2001-02 season).
“It was my third game. We ended up winning the Great Alaska Shootout. (I) ended up getting the MVP at the Great Alaska shootout, a big deal. Marquette ended up being ranked after that for the first time since probably 1977. We were ranked in the Top 25. It was a big deal for me in my life.
“But in the midst of that, in my life-changing tournament,” Wade said, “I met this kid. I met this high school basketball player who was the best basketball player in Alaska. His name was Mario Chalmers.
“He came up to me. He got a chance to meet me and he was like, ‘Yo … I’m going to be playing with you one day,’ because he felt I was going to be in the league, I guess. I didn’t know it, (but) he was like, ‘I’m going to be playing with you,’ talking very cocky, a very confident young man.
“I’m like, ‘Cool young fella.’ Long story short, it was Mario Chalmers. We ended up playing together. We ended up winning two championships together.
“Along the way I followed his journey. I followed his career. He won state championships in high school (two at Bartlett High in Anchorage). He won a national championship in college (with KU in 2008). I followed his career.”
In addition, the now 39-year-old point guard Chalmers won an FIBA Champions League crown with Virtus Bologna of Italy in 2019 and the Greek Cup with AEK Athens in 2020 ... and now the BIG3 crown in 2025.
“When we played with each other (with Heat), I always knew Mario was a big shot maker, a big shot taker to the point you had to tell Mario get his butt out of the way,” Wade said, laughing. “He’d be trying to get the ball. You’d be like ‘man, get (away from ball).’’’
Wade said Chalmers was an important factor in Miami winning back-to-back titles.
“First of all we are not winning the way we won without a Mario Chalmers,” Wade said Sunday. “We talk about (LeBron James) of course. We talk about Mike Miller, Shane Battier, Ray Allen. We talk about those big-name players but we don’t talk about Mario Chalmers a lot.”
Chalmers, Beasley and other members of the Miami team (Lance Stephenson, Sean Williams and Reggie Evans) each earned a $1 million bonus in addition to their regular salaries for winning the 3-on-3 league title. Beasley earned league MVP honors for a second straight year.
“I actually told Mario to move. I wanted the shot (to hit target score),” Beasley, who had 25 points in the title game to Chalmers’ five points, told media after Sunday’s game. “But no, he’s been doing it his whole life, been doing it his whole career. Just trust. It ain’t even really trust, it’s just knowing what’s going on. That’s Mario Chalmers,” Beasley added.
Chalmers, who played nine seasons in the NBA, was the 22nd overall pick in the 2019 BIG3 draft. In his rookie season with the 3 Headed Monsters, he tied for second in most 4-pointers made and was among four players in the league to make more than one 4-point shot. Chalmers previously spent the last three seasons as captain of 3’s Company. And he was the captain of the Miami team this year.
This was his sixth season in the league, and he was a BIG3 all star in 2022. As for Chalmers and Beasley, they were teammates for a third straight season. “It’s just fun,” Chalmers told the Miami Herald of participating in the BIG3. “Fun to get around the guys, play basketball, stay in some type of shape and being in a locker room again.”
He told BIG3.com earlier in the season: “Hopefully, my legacy is a winner. Someone who came out and laid it on the line all the time. Someone who helped win championships. Didn’t back down from anyone. I lived up to the challenge.”