“Ask a basketball player for change of $1, get 75 cents back because no fourth quarter”

A regulation basketball game consists of four quarters. (Overtime is held if the score remains tied.) The fourth quarter is usually decisive, but some basketball stars are criticized for not stepping up their games in that last quarter. “Ran into LeBron last night & asked him for a dollar. He gave me 75 cents. I was puzzled then realized he never gives you the fourth quarter” was cited on Twitter on March 13, 2011. “I asked LeBron for a dollar, he gave me 75 cents back. He doesn’t have a fourth quarter” was cited on June 13, 2011.
 
The joke is usually said about LeBron James, but other basketball players’ names have sometimes been used.
 
   
Twitter
TeamFlightClub | BIL
‏@teamflightclub
Ran into LeBron last night & asked him for a dollar. He gave me 75 cents. I was puzzled then realized he never gives you the fourth quarter
8:29 AM - 13 Mar 2011
 
Twitter
Beastley Boulevard
‏@beastlyBLVD
I ran into LeBron and asked for a dollar. He only gave me 75 cents and I was like WTF til I realized: he never gives you the fourth quarter!
8:37 AM - 13 Mar 2011
 
Franklin Now (WI)
“I asked LeBron for a dollar, he gave me 75 cents back. He doesn’t have a fourth quarter.”
Posted by Kevin Fischer on June 13, 2011
 
Twitter
David Harris
‏@DharrisStateFan
I asked Kevin Durant for change for a dollar. He gave me back 75 cents. Apparently he owns the fourth quarter. #ThunderUp
10:26 PM - 12 Jun 2012
   
Google Books
Sports and Identity:
New Agendas in Communication
Edited by Barry Brummett and Andrew Ishak
New York, NY: Routledge
2014
Pp. 74-75:
All over Flannery’s and places like it across Ohio, they cracked oft-told jokes (“I asked LeBron for a dollar, he gave me 75 cents back. He doesn’t have a fourth quarter.”)
 
Twitter
I Like Beer
‏@Give_Me_A_Beer
@BoooooUWhore The old joke was if you had $1 and asked Lebron for change, you’d only get 75 cents back because he had no fourth quarter.
9:27 PM - 30 Oct 2014