'Navy Seals Drove Us to the Gym': 2x NBA Champ Gets Real on Hooping with Barack Obama and LeBron James

Shane Battier was a First Team All-American, an ACC Player of the Year, and the Most Outstanding Player on a national championship-winning team at Duke. He played 13 years in the NBA, winning rings in two of his final three seasons as a member of the Heatles-era Miami Heat. However, nothing compared to being invited to play basketball with Barack Obama at his 49th birthday party.

The year was 2010, and Obama was not even halfway through his first term as president. Battier, who was a member of the Houston Rockets at the time, got a call he didn’t expect.

The former defensive stopper and all-time glue guy shared this surreal story on Pablo Torre Finds Out. The details are so incredibly specific that they’d be impossible to make up.

“I get a call out of the blue, they say, ‘Hey, what are you doing on this day? The President has requested you to play in his birthday pickup game’,” Battier recalled.

The game was loaded with some of the best players past and present, from Magic Johnson to Carmelo Anthony, Alonzo Mourning to LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade.

Hearing this, Pablo Torre remarked, “The stuff a kid would do who loved basketball, and had the power to invite everybody.” And he’s absolutely right. Well, what would you do if you were the leader of the free world? Answer: Invite LeBron to your basketball birthday party.

Battier then described what it was like getting to the gym for the party. “The defensive driving, like Navy Seals who drove us to the gym, that was badass. That was the coolest part, those guys were bobbing and weaving.”

President John F. Kennedy may have had the most televised moment in Presidential birthday celebration history: Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to him way back in the day. But that honor would’ve gone to Obama if he just put this game out there.

Battier said he was on POTUS’ team, and after they lost the first two games, he had the privilege to hear a unique motivational speech.

“President Obama says, ‘Guys, bring it in. As your Commander-in-Chief, I command you to not lose this last game’. When your President gives you an order, you listen,” Battier recalled.

And the Presidential team did win that final game, with Obama himself hitting the winning shot. He held his hand in the air to celebrate.

Lest anyone think this group of NBA legends allowed the birthday boy to win and have his moment in the sun. Well, No.

“There were no hard fouls, but they were blocking his shot. I think the President appreciated that. He didn’t want charity,” Battier said.

To this day, Battier says that he has no idea why he was invited to the game alongside guys like Magic and LeBron. But Obama had his reasons.

Firstly, Obama was and is a real sports fan, and he wanted people to know it. Anybody could have used their power to invite some of the most famous players of all time. But by inviting Battier, Obama was flexing that the President knows ball.

Secondly, legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was the coach of Team USA at that time. Obama began the tradition of making his NCAA Tournament picks when he took office in 2009, and he nailed his first bracket when he took Duke’s arch-rival, the North Carolina Tar Heels, to win it all. Picking an all-time Blue Devil like Battier was a way of thanking Coach K for keeping it civil.

“It was an unbelievable day,” Battier recalled. “But the coolest part was we’re on the South Lawn having a birthday barbecue afterwards, and they’ve got some hip-hop playing.

“And all of a sudden, ‘Pony’ by Ginuwine comes on. And I’m just thinking to myself, ‘Our forefathers are rolling in their graves right now that Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ is playing on the South Lawn.”

The world missed out on experiencing what sounds like the coolest event ever. The stories will have to do for now.