Amar'e Stoudemire Says He Once Saw Someone Put Teammate to Sleep with Headlock

On the same night of a bizarre locker room skirmish between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers, Amar'e Stoudemire shared his own strange story.

Appearing on Monday night's Desus and Mero, the former Phoenix Suns star recalled witnessing one teammate locking another into a sleeper hold. Stoudemire told the recipient to stop joking before realizing he had passed out. 

Although he didn't mention any names, Shaquille O'Neal is the likely culprit. In December 2013, Grant Hill recalled that the Big Aristotle placed Gordan Giricek in a headlock. During the 2016 All-Star Weekend, O'Neal confirmed the tale when former Suns point guard Steve Nash joined the TNT studio team (at the 4:38 mark):

"Everybody's trying to get serious, but [Giricek] just kept talking," O'Neal said. "So I told him, I said, 'Gordan, shut up. We only got 15 minutes. Don't say nothing else to me.' But he was playing, so I put him in a chokehold. Steve came out of the bathroom and seen him on the floor."

Giricek played 22 games for Phoenix in 2007-08, a season in which Stoudemire submitted 25.2 points and 9.1 rebounds per game for the Suns. Let's hope he hasn't witnessed a teammate placing another in a sleeper hold more than once.

[Desus and Mero]