The high-flying, Ex-NBAer, Darius Miles, shared some very funny, very emotional, and very candid stories today in an article in The Players’ Tribune entitled, What The Hell Happened to Darius Miles, coedited by his partner in crime, best friend, and former teammate, Quentin Richardson.
Darius shared his story of nearly dying before getting to experience Alonzo Morning’s legendary Summer Grove party:
Can you believe this? I come down with adult fucking chicken pox at Zo’s Summer Grove. I mean, honestly.…
Now, you can laugh all you want, but if you’ve ever had adult chicken pox, you know it ain’t even funny. I was in bad shape. I was calling my momma like, “Momma! Get on a plane! You gotta come take care of me
Miles also spoke on a traumatic experience of getting held at gun point as a child in East St. Louis:
I was the youngest kid out there, but I was the biggest. So he came straight at me, thinking I was the leader. When you’re looking down the barrel of a gun, you got one thing that can save you, and it ain’t reasoning with the man. It’s power.
So I said, “I’m so-and-so’s son.”
I dropped my dad’s name.
He said, “What?”
I said, “I’m so-and-so’s son. I wouldn’t do this.”
My father wasn’t really in my life, but he was a known guy. His name carried weight. That was probably the only thing that saved me. The dude lowered his gun, told us to get the hell up out of there, and he went back inside.
But that’s not the end of the story. Like I said, this is East St. Louis. This is 89 blocks. There’s nowhere to hide. This dude could still get to me whenever he wanted. So I ran straight home and told my momma what happened, and she went and got her gun. Then she called all my cousins, and they rolled up on the dude’s house and popped the trunk.
When they pop the trunk on you, they’re coming in like Navy SEALs.
So they went in and sent the message.
And the message was, “You do not ever, in a million years, f**k with Ethel’s son again.”
Then, Miles shifted gears a little bit to talk about a run-in with LAPD with a Shaq-sized plot twist:
I turn to look out the window, and I can’t even see this dude’s face he’s so big. All I see is his chest.
“I SAID WHERE YOU G’WAN BOY?”
Then he bends down and looks in the window.
Big, dumbass grin on his face.
It’s Shaq.
Flip the pages to see Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson finally explaining how they actually stole their famous “Two Taps to the Head” Salute from the then-highschooler, Trevor Ariza; a video of Darius discussing meeting his idol, Michael Jordan for the very first time; and highlights of some of Darius’s greatest dunks.