Rasheed Wallace couldn't help but praise Arvydas Sabonis as a basketball player. Sheed had the opportunity to play with one of the greatest European players of all time when he was with the Portland Trail Blazers.
During a recent episode of the Sheed & Tyler Podcast , the 2004 NBA champion particularly paid tribute to Sabas' ability to pass and called him the best passing big man he ever played with. However, Wallace added that Sabonis wasn't just an excellent passer but was also a notorious drinker.
While he said he loved to play on the court with Arvydas, Rasheed vowed never to drink with the Lithuanian legend after watching him take down a big Magnum joint like he was drinking water.
"Don't drink with him," said Wallace. "You will have instant liver and kidney damage."
Sabas and Schrempf played with the Jail Blazers
As much as his passing, drinking has always been a part of the Sabonis myth. There is a famous story where Arvydas got so drunk after Lithuania won the bronze medal game in the 1992 Olympics that he failed to appear during the medal ceremony.
Three years after the Barcelona incident, Sabas finally arrived in the NBA after a long wait. One year later, in 1996, Sheed joined him in Portland. The two played together in an era in Portland known as the Jail Blazers . While Sabonis wasn't a Jail Blazer, his alcoholic reputation caught the attention of his teammates.
"Drinking is his thing," explained Wallace in another episode of his podcast. "I will never try to drink with that man again in my life, no sir. Even back then, when I was drinking, he would do vodka. I see him and my man Detlef Schrempf, you know those big Magnum bottles? Like the different liquor and sh** the giant joint. They took one of them joints down, just them two."
Related: Patrick Ewing on how Larry Bird surprised him when he joined the NBA: “Whatever you were saying for a man who can’t jump, he’s demolishing everybody”
The 'big fella' liked to smoke cigarettes too
But drinking wasn't Sabonis' only favorite pastime. Former Jail Blazers point guard Damon Stoudamire once witnessed the Lithuanian gentle giant smoking a pack of cigarettes during halftime. 'Mighty Mouse' narrated the incident on The Post Game podcast via Open Court .
"It was halftime," recalled Stoudamire. "I was like, where's Sabonis, where's the big fella at? Turns out, he was out on the loading dock, smoking cigarettes."
Sabonis is one of the biggest what-ifs in NBA history. Many wonder how good he would have been if he had come to the league when he was much younger. However, while America never got to see the best version of Arvydas on the court, his teammates witnessed why he was a legend outside the court, too.
Related: "If he didn't like you, he wouldn’t speak English around you" - Brian Grant reveals Arvydas Sabonis' weird habit
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