Answer: Mario Chalmers Mario Chalmers started 64 games for the 2011-12 Miami Heat and 77 games for them the next year, both of which were championship seasons.
Answer: Kevin Johnson Though as a player Kevin Johnson is mostly-associated with Phoenix, Arizona, his actual hometown is Sacramento, California. And he served the latter as its Mayor from 2008 to 2016.
Answer: Latrell Sprewell When Latrell Sprewell was offered a $21-million/3-year contract in 2005 by the Timberwolves, the four-time All-Start somewhat understandably thought he was worth more and turned it down. However, he was not offered another contract by the Wolves nor ever signed a contract with another team afterwards.
Answer: Ray Allen In Spike Lee's 1998 film "He Got Game", sharpshooting guard Ray Allen played the role of the character Jesus Shuttleworth. Allen was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Answer: Kevin Durant Kevin Durant, who played for the Oklahoma City Thunder at the time, starred in "Thunderstruck" alongside Taylor Gray and Jim Belushi.
Answer: Bow Wow In 2017, Bow Wow recounted a tale when, as a child visiting Michael Jordan's home, His Airness discarded a pair of his Allen Iverson Reeboks and took additional offense to Bow Wow wearing shorts from a college (Duke) that rivals the one Jordan went to (North Carolina).
Answer: Sam Bowie At that time, the Portland Trailblazers, who had the second pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, already had a couple of outstanding shooting guards and thus chose center Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan, whom the Chicago Bulls selected with the third pick. Bowie ultimately went on to earn the reputation of being a draft bust.
Answer: Raymond Townsend Basketball is very popular in the Philippines, a country located in Southeast Asia, and the first player from that nation to play in the NBA was Raymond Townsend, who was selected 22nd in the 1978 NBA Draft.
Answer: Education Shaq earned a Ed.D. (doctorate in education) from Florida's Barry University in 2012 and has always possessed a passion for furthering his education, such as earning his bachelor's degree in 2000 despite concurrently being an established sports' superstar.
Answer: Minneapolis Lakers The reason the Harlem Globetrotters are said to have become a comedy act is because they were so dominant in basketball, being on a 102-game winning streak when matching up against the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948, that they eventually started goofing off just for fun. The Globetrotters' two-point victory helped in solidifying the fact that African-Americans, who were not allowed in the NBA at the time, were viable professional basketball athletes.
