Beasley, Chalmers back in Miami as Big3 teammates: ‘We’ve been through everything together’

Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers haven’t played in an NBA game in years, and it’s possible they won’t play in the NBA again. Beasley last logged minutes in an NBA game on Feb. 5, 2019, and Chalmers last played in an NBA game on April 11, 2018.

But the pair of former Miami Heat players will be at the Heat’s home arena this weekend to play basketball as part of the halfcourt three-on-three Big3 league, which makes its stop in Miami on Sunday at Kaseya Center. The Big3 event will include 12 different teams and six games, with the action beginning at 3 p.m.

“I’m just tired of waiting on the NBA,” Beasley, 34, said to the Miami Herald when asked why he plays in the Big3 league. “I want to play basketball.”

“It’s just fun,” Chalmers, 37, said to the Miami Herald of taking part in the Big3 league. “Fun to get around the guys, play basketball, stay in some type of shape and being in a locker room again. Once you’re done playing basketball, that camaraderie, you kind of miss that. We get a little bit of that feeling back and it’s a bunch of great guys in there, and everybody gets along.”

This marks Beasley’s second year and Chalmers’ fourth year in the Big3 league. Just like with the Heat after they were both drafted in 2008, they are teammates in the Big3 as members of 3’s Company.

“It’s cool. It makes things easier,” Beasley said of playing with Chalmers again. “But I’m just happy to be playing.”

For Chalmers, playing with Beasley is just a continuation of the work they have put in together as close friends even after their time as Heat teammates came to an end.

“It really hasn’t been no different because, truth be told, me and Mike have been working out together for years,” Chalmers said. “It’s kind of like the same thing. We’re not playing 5-on-5, full court. So that’s probably the biggest difference. But me and Mike have been working out every summer together for the last, almost, 10 years.”

Beasley looks back at his time with the Heat differently than Chalmers does, though.

After the Heat took Beasley with the No. 2 overall pick in 2008, he never lived up to the high expectations that come with being a top-five draft selection. He averaged 14.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point range in his first two NBA seasons with the Heat before he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the summer of 2010 to help make room for the formation of Miami’s Big 3.

Beasley eventually returned when the Heat signed him for the 2013-14 season to play alongside LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and the Heat later brought him back for a third time after he returned from China late in the 2014-15 season. He averaged 8.2 points per game in 79 regular-season games (three starts) for Miami during those two seasons.

“I got mixed feelings,” Beasley said when asked how he views his Heat tenure 15 years after being drafted by Miami. “I love the Heat organization, I love a lot of people in the organization. But I had to grow into those feelings. When I was a player, I didn’t like them at all. I didn’t like what was going on, I didn’t like that I didn’t get an opportunity. I didn’t like the narrative behind me not getting an opportunity was my defense. I don’t like the fact that I never played more than 20 minutes, which means I always watched more than half the game [from the bench].

“But now, I’m older and I’m past a lot of those feelings. I had to grow into these feelings, but I love what they got going on right now. I wish they could have won one this past year. But yeah, I’m a Heat fan.”

While Beasley never won an NBA championship, Chalmers’ time with the Heat produced two titles as the team’s starting point guard in 2012 and 2013 during the Big 3 era. Chalmers is among the Heat’s all-time leaders in steals (second), games played (fourth), assists (fourth), three-pointers made (fifth) and minutes played (sixth).

“I still talk to Spo [coach Erik Spoelstra], I still talk to Pat Riley, I still talk to Alonzo [Mourning],” said Chalmers, who signed a 10-day contract with the Heat in the middle of the 2021-22 season but never appeared in a game during that short stretch. “The organization, I’m still very cool with. I love the organization. They gave me my first chance in the league, so it’s always the utmost respect for them and I’m always rooting for them. Hopefully I’m trying to get on the coaching staff here in the next couple of years. So we’ll see how that works out.”

The list of former Heat players expected to play in Sunday’s Big3 games also includes Rashard Lewis, Gerald Green and Joe Johnson. In addition, Gary Payton is a coach of one of the teams participating.

Beasley doesn’t need to travel far to compete, as he still lives in Miami. He considers South Florida home.

“Honestly, South Florida means the total opposite to what I feel from the organization,” Beasley said. “I just feel at home here. When I walk around, people love to see me, people love to take pictures and people love to just love that I’m here. I don’t really get that feeling nowhere else in the world.”

That love could be there for Beasley inside Kaseya Center on Sunday, too. But he’s not entering the weekend with the intention of rekindling Heat memories.

“I’m just showing up to play basketball,” Beasley said of returning to the Heat’s home arena this weekend. “I’m not really into mixing my future with my past. So all the memories are going to stay where the memories are. I’m just happy to be playing, happy that the Big3 gave me an opportunity to play basketball.”

Beasley wants to play in the NBA again, but doesn’t know if he’ll get another opportunity after not appearing in an NBA game in four years.

Chalmers would not pass up an opportunity to return to the NBA, but knows it’s not likely as a 37-year-old guard who hasn’t played in an NBA game in five years. He’s already talking about the possibility of a coaching career.

Whatever happens, Beasley and Chalmers are going through this journey together like they have since they joined the Heat as rookies in 2008.

“Me and Mike, we’ve been through everything together,” Chalmers said. “So it’s just good to be on this type of platform with the Big3 and to have somebody that you’re close to be on your team, see every weekend and have that kind of camaraderie. It’s just good that we were able to keep that friendship and keep building.”

Tickets for Sunday’s Big3 action at Kaseya Center can be purchased here.