MIAMI — Former Miami Heat guard Mario Chalmers recently was interviewed on the “In Shambles” podcast via Playmaker HQ.
And in the age old debate over who is better between his former teammate LeBron James or Michael Jordan, Chalmers was asked to weigh in on the greatest of all time topic.
“Nobody fears ‘Bron,” Chalmers said. “Nobody’s like, ‘Damn, I gotta go play against ‘Bron tonight.’ Nobody said that. I don’t know why. Because I seen people be scared when they actually lined up to him, but they’re not scared thinking about that matchup, right? You hear anybody from that era talk about going against Jordan, there’s a fear. So when you have people that fear a player, then that’s telling you something different already. Like, Jordan is just that guy.”
Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, who won four NBA rings including one with the Heat and also played with James, said on TNT LeBron is respected, “but they don’t fear him,” after the Lakers were eliminated from playoff contention last season.
Conversely, Kendrick Perkins spoke on JJ Redick’s “Old Man and the Three” podcast in 2022 about how he was afraid going into Game 7 of a 2008 playoff series against LeBron.
And Redick also spoke in favor of the fear factor involving LeBron in a November 2021 airing of his podcast.
“If you get into a playoff series with LeBron, if you’re prepping to play LeBron, you’re certainly fearful of who he is as a player,” Redick said. “Physically, I took a charge on LeBron my fifth year in Orlando. I caught his spin move perfectly. I ended up with 11 stitches under my eye.”
