— AM: Because I wanted to stay in Charlotte. I did. I mean, I wanted it. I loved the city. I loved the fan base. It was close to Virginia. It was very close to my home. So I had family members and friends driving up, it was like a five-hour drive. So it was perfect.

But I’m gonna tell you. I have a calendar and I’m scheduling my everything, but God coordinates my steps. ... I miss Charlotte. I love Charlotte. But Miami was a perfect fit for me. It really was.

I had a perfect basketball architect in Pat Riley. He had so many similarities to John Thompson. Defensive-minded. All about preparation. It was like a match made in heaven.

— SF: What was your biggest highlight playing for the Heat?

— AM: The one that stands out the most is June 20, 2006 (the day Miami beat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals) ... the first championship in franchise history. To be a part of that and how we did it — being down 0-2 in the Finals and then to come back and win it.

— SF: Shaquille O’Neal was drafted No. 1 in 1992. You were picked No. 2. And you ended up teaming up in Miami. How’d that work out?

— AM: For us to be two alpha males coming into the league, butting heads against each other for years and years — we would have never thought in our wildest dreams we would be teammates and would be winning the championship. The year before that we had Christian Laettner. He was the third pick (in 1992). I’d be willing to bet that’s probably the first time in the history of the NBA that the first, second and third pick of the draft were on the same team together.

— SF: It’s a miracle you played in that series at all, because you did so less than three years after a life-threatening kidney disease that required a kidney transplant and forced you to temporarily retire.

— AM: Yes. A health-related issue that came out of nowhere. Genetic issue. Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. It scars the filters of the kidney — slowly. You lose kidney function and ultimately you need a transplant. At that particular time I was diagnosed, I was on top of the world. I was first-team All-NBA. We had just won the gold medal (for the U.S. in 2000). I was Defensive Player of the Year. I was an All-Star. I had just witnessed the birth of my second child. And everything came crashing down. ... I didn’t ask God to heal me. I just said: “Give me the direction I need. Because I’m lost right now.”

And I understood the reason why I went through what I went through. I feel like I’m still inspiring people, when I speak to people who are going through kidney-related issues … I was able to go back out there and play and win a championship with a transplant. It inspires people when they see other people do it.

— SF: You barely knew the cousin who gave you his kidney, right?

— AM: Yes. I was given the gift of life by Jason (Mourning’s second cousin, Jason Cooper). We just celebrated 20 years post-transplant in December 2023. We had a huge dinner down here (in Miami). It was fun. ... As far as knowing him: I told you I had a big family. Jason was my grandmother’s brother’s son — so, a second cousin. The last time we had seen each other was 25-27 years prior. We were babies. ... (Cooper saw a report of Mourning’s desperate need for a kidney on TV, then told Mourning’s father he wanted to help). It was crazy. ... Out of all the people that got tested (for a possible transplant), he was the one they chose.

— SF: You’ve got a very active charitable foundation in South Florida. Why?

— AM: When I came here, we were playing in the old arena and it was about five blocks from here, closer to Overtown (a neighborhood of Miami). I had just signed a $100 million contract and I had to drive through Overtown at that particular time to get to work. And I would see the deplorable conditions. And I would see trash in the streets. I educated myself on the statistics in the community, you know, the drug abuse, the violence. Two out of every 12 kids graduated from high school.

And I said, “Enough.”

I’m not gonna sit here in this town, make this place my home and sit there and look at it and not do anything about it. I have to be an active participant and be a beacon of light for this community. I got to help change the narrative. And so now we’ve got a $22 million, 56,000-square feet facility in the Overtown community providing services free of charge, for children and families in their community.

— SF: What, to you, is the most important part of life?

— AM: Giving back, man. We’re here to serve, not to be served. ... You don’t have to have a lot to do it. It’s your time. Showing love and support. Be a positive influence to a child.

Because I look at kids as messengers to a future that we won’t see.

We’ve got to make life better for somebody else, because they won’t forget that. And then they’ll do it for somebody else, and then they won’t forget, and they do it for somebody else. ... It’s just so rewarding to know that these kids (who have benefited from his foundation) are going to go out and they’re going to serve, just because we have prepared them to do so.

So that’s the difference. Service.

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For a fuller version of this interview in podcast form, go to “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” wherever you find your podcasts, and search for the Alonzo Mourning episode.

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