LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have collectively made well over $700 million in salary in their NBA careers, plus untold millions from endorsements, but according to former teammates Udonis Haslem and Carlos Arroyo, the two once flew off the handle when they were fined $1,000 each by the team for not wearing Miami Heat gear on a road trip.
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Speaking on The OGs podcast, Arroyo described how LeBron and Wade had fine slips waiting for them in their lockers after practice one day, and Haslem laughed as he recalled that they were so incensed that they had to be separated from assistant coach Keith Askins.
“They were .38 hot. They were hot as a pistol … They got into it. We had to separate ’em. [Askins] wasn’t backing down. D-Wade wanted some smoke. He make $100 million and there’s a thousand-dollar fine slip and he wanna fight.”
Years later, this is a funny story about two superstars overreacting to something that should have been insignificant, but really, it’s one of the first documented instances of “Heat culture.”
Once LeBron chose to take his talents to South Beach to join forces with Wade and Chris Bosh, the Heat became the most famous team in the world, but they still might not have won two titles with that group if their best players weren’t held to the same level of accountability as the bench guys. LeBron especially probably wasn’t used to being held accountable this way, but the Heat held them to a different standard.
Pat Riley has always been known to go after his stars harder than the role players. When LeBron and Wade became teammates, the two were at the peak of their popularity and at the peak of their game. They obviously thought their talent would keep any fine at bay. But Pat doesn’t play that way. And even though they were mad at the fine, it definitely sent the duo a message. The organization would always be above individuals. Heat Culture.
In LeBron’s case, there may have been another reason he was so angry at the outcome. After all, his dedication to saving money isn’t a mystery.
LeBron has a history as a penny-pincher
This is also not the first time that one of LeBron’s former teammates spoke publicly about his frugal ways. Kevin Love spoke to Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks in 2022, and he told a story that would be unbelievable if it hadn’t already been confirmed by LeBron’s longtime friend Chris Paul.
“They talk about wealth, and sometimes it’s the things you don’t see, and for [LeBron] behind the scenes, if we’re in Toronto, that drive from the airport and going through customs to then getting to our hotel, yeah, there’s no data used at all, he’s waiting for the wifi all the time. Then the drive from the hotel to [the arena], also waits to get to the arena wifi.”
Love and Rooks laughed at the idea of LeBron, a guy who Forbes estimated about two months ago to have a net worth of about $1.2 billion, behaving in a way more befitting of someone who’s barely making ends meet, but still, Love did say, “I can appreciate it, I gotta say, it’s not like I’m mad at it, but I’m like come on bro, like seriously?”
Warren Buffett once said, “Do not save what is left after spending, spend what is left after saving.” LeBron seems to have taken that advice to heart, hilarious though it may be.