Brian Grant started his NBA career back in 1994 with the Sacramento Kings. He ended up spending 12 seasons in the league and he played for five different teams. In addition to the Kings, Grant played for the Portland Trailblazers, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns. Grant was with the Heat for four seasons, from 2000 until 2004, and he got to play with Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem.

On a recent episode of Legends Lounge, Brian Grant discussed what it was like playing with Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem. Wade was a rookie, but he was still as confident as ever. If he felt like he was open, he was going to shoot the ball. That's what the coaches wanted him to do, and he had no trouble doing it.

“So Dwyane is going on slashing, shooting,” Grant said on the show. “I go ‘hey man, pass it down boy.' He goes, ‘coach tells me if I'm open shoot, I'm gonna shoot.' I was like, okay. Yeah, right now I gotta battle this cat over here, Udonis, who's slinging me and throwing me around. I even took the boys fishing. like, can you quit slinging me around?”

Former Miami Heat player Dwayne Wade reacts after learning a statue will be erected outside of Kaseya Center in 2025, during a special ceremony during halftime of the game between the Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets.
© Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Udonis Haslem was physical and hard to go up against

Wade was a shooter, and Haslem was one of the most physical players on the team. It was difficult to go up against him in practice, but Grant liked Haslem a lot, and he revealed what Haslem used to call himself, too.

“I'm cranking it up,” Brian Grant said. “I said, that's hard work. Like the hard work to be putting on me every day. Now, he (Udonis Haslem) was cool. Dade County's Finest. That's what he referred to himself as, Dade County’s Finest.”

Grant went on to play for the Lakers and the Suns after he was done playing in Miami. His time with the Heat was certainly the end of his prime, and he played just one season with Phoenix and one with Los Angeles after that. He decided to retire in 2006 after finishing off his career with the Suns.

Brian Grant ended up playing in the league for a long time and he played with some great players like Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem. When you end up spending 12 years in the league, you're going to have some good stories to tell. His experiences with the Heat sound about right, and he probably has a lot of other things to share about his time in Miami as well.