2

H E A R T of the T O W N
with
E-40
ANDRE WARD
AL ATTLE S
MISTA H F.A.B.
Plus Pull-Out Poster

LeBron // Anthony Davis // Trae Young

My dad is the reason I wear 11. I want to be
the reason no one else will.
Features
2 6 . T R A E YO U N G
30. STEPHEN CURRY
40. L ANCE STEPHENSON
48. SHAI
GILGEOUS-
ALE X ANDER
52 . A L L O N Z O T R I E R
5 4 . W I L L I E C A U L E Y- S T E I N
56. THE I PROMISE
SCHOOL
62. A SUMMER OF
VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO
68. VERNON MA X WELL

M E N T, L L C A N D A N O T H E R P L A N E T E N T E R TA I N M E N T, L L C .
7 2 . B R YA N A N T O I N E A N D

R I G H T T O U S E I M A G E S O F F O X T H E AT E R I N O A K L A N D ,
C A L I F O R N I A B Y P E R M I S S I O N F R O M G A S S E N T E R TA I N -
SCOTTIE LEWIS
76. AIDAN IGIEHON

COVER AND THIS PAGE

ATIBA JEFFERSON

SLAM (ISSN:1072-625X) January/February 2019, Vol. 26, No. 1 is published every two months by SLAM Media Inc., 21 West 46th Street, Suite 504, NY NY 10036. Copyright @ 2018 by SLAM Media
Inc. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage is paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Single copy price is $8.99. Subscriptions: Subscription rates for one year (6 issues) U.S., APO,
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address changes and adjustments, write to SLAM, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL, 32142-0235. SLAM is a registered trademark of SLAM Media Inc. Reproduction without permission is prohib-
ited. Manuscripts, photos, and other materials submitted must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope; SLAM assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Printed in U.S.A.
Postmaster: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 707.4.12.5); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to SLAM, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235.

4 SL AMONLINE.COM
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 #219 JAN/FEB 2019

Front Court
1 0 . T R A S H TA L K
13. HYPE
24. SL AMADAMONTH

Back Court
78. KICKS
80. KICKS E X TR A
82. FROZEN MOMENT

Scottie Lewis and

Bryan Antoine

PORTR AIT
JOHNNY IZQUIERDO
6 SL AMONLINE.COM
 2019 VOL .26 NO.1

PUBLISHER
Dennis S. Page
EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER
David Schnur
HEAD OF CONTENT/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Adam Figman
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Michael Wilson
EDITORIAL
MANAGING EDITOR
Susan Price Thomas
SENIOR EDITOR
Ryne Nelson

The Sixth Man

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS
Arvind Pitchai, Joseph L. Sherman
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Franklyn Calle, Max Resetar, Alex Squadron
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Ian Pierno
NEWS EDITOR
Marcel Mutoni
EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS
Rajah Allarey, Habeeba Husain

W e’ve pulled off some crazy shoots But it is cool to see someone, a very CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Ryan Jones, Abe Schwadron, Tzvi Twersky
before, but this was definitely up there. real superstar, find a home somewhere BASKETBALL EVANGELIST
Stephen Curry. E-40. Andre Ward. Mistah that winds up being the perfect situation Rick Telander
CONTRIBUTORS
F.A.B. Al Attles (!). One hundred and fifty and riding it out for double-digit years— Russ Bengtson, Rus Bradburd, Ben Collins, Holly MacKenzie,
Drew Ruiz, Donnell Suggs, DeMarco Williams
local kids. A big group of teachers, super- and building a true relationship with that
INTERN
visors, community leaders. The middle of city in the process. What Stephen’s done in Sarah Toscano
a popular street in Oakland—at rush hour Oakland (and not only on the court, where ART
on a Thursday afternoon.  he’s won multiple championships, but off DESIGNER
Lester Padilla
It all came together to bring to life of it, where he’s consistently supported the JUNIOR DESIGNER
Andy Han
the cover of this magazine, a beautiful community with financial and emotional
CONTRIBUTORS
three-panel image (pull out the back cover support) is nothing short of incredible. Atiba Jefferson, Ryan Young, Johnnie Izquierdo
if you missed it) that we think perfectly I’ve been to dozens of charity events that VIDEO
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
encapsulates Stephen Curry’s strong-as- matched up NBA players with young fans, James Corbett
hell relationship with the city but seeing the kids at our ASSOCIATE VIDEO DIRECTOR, HS
Bryan LaRussa
of Oakland and those who shoot damn near faint from
ASSOCIATE VIDEO EDITOR/SHOOTERS
live there. It’s somehow been being so close to Stephen, Sean Edwards, Christian Quezada

10 years since a scrawny kid some yelling their faces off ADVERTISING
SENIOR DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SALES
out of Davidson was drafted while others struggled to Jesse Goldstein
by the Golden State War- take photos through trem- ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Michael Yaari
riors, and as the franchise bling hands, it was clear that JUNIOR CONTROLLER
prepares to move out of The Town and into something special had been happening Jake Vitaliano
MVP
nearby San Francisco for reasons I under- there. I have no doubt Stephen will do Spiro Maroulis
stand but don’t feel great about, this felt some amazing stuff in SF—he’s just kinda MARKETING PROMOTIONS SPECIALIST
Josh Frohlinger
like a proper time to honor Curry’s bond built like that—and remain deeply involved For all advertising inquiries,
with the city in which he evolved into an and invested in the city of Oakland, but the email advertising@slammediainc.com

adult, an MVP, an icon and a champion.
I’m happy we’re celebrating that bond,
because the connection Stephen has
with Oakland, or even *a city* in gener-
al, is something you don’t see too often
in sports these days. Not that there’s
anything wrong with that—I couldn’t be
any more in favor of the way athletes treat
modern free agency. It’s amazing and
everything basketball is about: the players
having real power and exercising it. They
run the League and the industry at large,
so hell yeah they should be allowed to
dictate exactly where they want to play
and for how long.  Adam Figman
New SLAM Executive Producer James Corbett is a filmmaker from NYC, neck
end of an era is still upon us, and I’m really SLAM MEDIA INC.
CHAIRMAN Joe Samberg
grateful we were allowed the opportunity VICE CHAIRMAN Peter Robert Casey
to document this moment in time before CEO Dennis S. Page
COO David Schnur
it’s complete. HEAD OF SLAM STUDIOS Reid Wittman
Which is to say: Thank you, Stephen,
Consumer Marketing, Enthusiast Media
and thank you, Oakland. Subscription Company Inc.
SVP, CIRCULATION Tom Slater
VP, RETENTION & OPERATIONS FULFILLMENT
Donald T. Robinson III
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deep in the world of social video content. A lover of all sports, James has left his Write to SLAM: trashtalk@slammediainc.com
For general inquiries, email info@slammediainc.com
glory days behind and moved on to exploring the world of basketball through a lens.
He’s been yelled at on three separate occasions for chewing popcorn too loudly in Printed in U.S.A.
Copyright © 2018 by
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is “Victory” by Puff, Biggie and Busta, and his dream 1v1 is Barack Obama. All rights reserved.

8 SL AMONLINE.COM
 Trash Talk
St. Louis, stand up. He did his thing in the
playoffs, a soon to be superstar and should’ve been
Rookie of the Year to me if you don’t like it.
Budd Mozee via Facebook
I just got my mag, and I won’t be the
first to say that your Top 50 list is sus-
pect. Kevin Love over Boogie. Come on
SLAM. Dang lol.
Chris Tillman via email
It’s a projection for the coming season.
Boogie is our guy but it was looking like he
was out until early 2019 when we voted
(and still does). Hence that ranking.—Ed.
10 SL AMONLINE.COM
Uncle Yella is still not free, yet my SLAM
Fam continues to hold me down. Happy
birthday to my son Isaiah up in Detroit.
He calls his #1 mag SLAM, the people’s
choice. They’ve provided a way for him
to see his father again. Behind bars,
God bless.
Shane Latson, Miami, FL
Stay up Shane!!!—Ed.
Superstar, huh? This is why media labels
don’t mean sh*t. Lead the league in
something. Win a Championship or two.
The pundits can’t award any player with
any of that stuff. It has to happen on the
court.
CL Greer via Facebook
A superstar has to win a Championship?
Whose rules are these? FOH.—Ed.
Man I am sick and tired of this sudden
love and fascination y’all folks are having
for Tatum! If it was based on performanc-
es, Kuzma and the man Donovan Mitchell
would be having their faces on SLAM’s
cover and not overrated Tatum.
Adil Fahmi via Facebook
Sorry, but I’m not impressed on Tatum!
He will be just another washed up regular
rookie who will be traded to different
teams after a few years! Mark my words!
Adrian De Villa via Facebook
My last preview of the world’s greatest SEND LETTERS TO:
preview ended up in SLAM 213’s Trash TRASH TALK, C/O SLAM
Talk. I predicted one of the hottest rookie 21 W. 46TH STREET, SUITE 504,
classes ever, and J. Tatum on the cover NEW YORK, NY 10036
of SLAM 218 legitimizes last year’s ca$h
MESSAGE US ON FACEBOOK
crop. Plus, Lonzo hit the gym this sum-
OR EMAIL US AT:
mer, got his weight up and found a three. TRASHTALK@SLAMMEDIAINC.COM
The Lakers may have signed Rondo but (WE MAY EDIT LETTERS TO FIT.)
when the Show begins, it’s still Triple B.
SLAMONLINE.COM @SLAMonline SLAMmagazine
BIGFOOT HOOPS PRESENTS
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BIGFOOT HOOPS-THESE ARE THE TOURNAMENTS FOR THE SUMMER BASKETBALL SEASON-ALL AGE DIVISIONS.
The Main Event played during NCAA recruiting period for college coaches and scouts. All games played at Las Vegas
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CAN YOUR TEAM STAND THE HEAT? BIGFOOTHOOPS.COM OR (713) 524-3036

 THE
OPENING
TIP
A LWAY S B Y
RICK TELANDER

I
s it just me or does it seem that
centers—the tall, gangly, or just
plain gigantic guys who play
down low, clog the lane and make
little guys’ lives miserable—are
disappearing from the NBA the way
floppy Pete Maravich socks once
did? Oh, there are still plenty of tall
guys, but if they’re anything like Kevin
MITCHELL LEFF/GE T T Y IM AGES

Durant, they’re actually elongated

2s and 3s rather than lumbering,
Godzilla-type 5s.
In another era Durant, Anthony
Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Blake
Griffin and their type would have been
considered centers and likely forced
to play with their backs to the basket
on offense and stop anybody from

SL AMONLINE.COM 13
KEVIN KNOX
NEW YORK, FORWARD
IN PUMA CLYDE COURT PURPLE GLOW
 N O Y Z » A massive photo shoot requires a massive location, and without helpful folks at
that massive location the whole thing falls apart. All of which is to say we owe a HUGE thank
you to the folks at the Fox Theater in Oakland and the Oakland PD who helped us have a fun,
safe shoot in the middle of a popular street during rush hour on a Wednesday afternoon…

ever driving through the paint on defense
and probably be forced to grapple the
whole game like sumo wrestlers. Now,
those quasi-centers are so athletic and
skilled that they play like glorified ballhan-
dling guards, shooting three-pointers and
scoring from all over and guarding almost
anybody.
True, there’s this budding superstar
center, Joel Embiid, 7-feet, 250 pounds,
who seems cut from the tough-guy Bill
Russell/Artis Gilmore mold, with the
way he rebounds and blocks shots. But
Embiid is so graceful and quick and tal-
ented that he might develop into another
Durant-style shooting threat from all over
the court. Yes, he can pull off all kinds of
dunks, but he also can launch the long
shots, even making six three-pointers in
an early two-game stretch against the
Clippers and Raptors.
Embiid’s up there with the league
leaders in scoring, but hardly any other
centers are. And it’s no wonder why. The
trey rules all these days, and if you want
the face of the long three-point shot, look
no further than Stephen Curry’s glowing
little mug. Curry doesn’t have to worry
about Goliaths on the block when he’s the
David launching shots from near half
court. Maybe it was Michael Jordan who
started the wheels moving toward
mid-sized athletes who can spread the
floor and whiz past slower centers and
make the game one of athleticism and
ballet-like skill rather than Wilt Chamber-
lain and Shaquille O’Neal-style hugeness.
Guards like Curry, Kemba Walker,
Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, James
Harden, Zach LaVine, and of course, what-
ever-position-he-is-or-wants-to-be LeBron
James, now dominate the offensive stats.
Rebounds? Yes, centers still get a lot. But
would anybody trade, say, John Wall for
Willie Cauley-Stein? Curry for Hassan
Whiteside? Don’t think so.
It’s not the centers’ fault the game has
changed. Just like it wasn’t the mast-
odons’ fault about that climate issue. It’s
called survival of the fittest or, simply,
basketball evolution.

T H I S P A G E F R O M L E F T: T H E A R O N W . H E N D E R S O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; D I C K R A P H A E L / N B A E
V IA GE T T Y IMAGES; OPP OSITE PAGE: CARTER JR : S TREE TER LECK A /GE T T Y IMAGES;
W O O T E N : T E N N E S S E E S TAT E AT H L E T I C S M U R P H Y: C O U R T E S Y O F M I N N E S O TA

16 SL AMONLINE.COM
 PICTURE ME BALLIN’

has your family bought?

WCJ: [Laughs] I know my mom and dad
bought some. I know a couple of my aunties
and uncles bought some, and I know there’s
going to be a lot more.
SLAM: You showed some serious style around
the Draft. You consider yourself drippy?
WCJ: Oh, for sure. I’m definitely coming with
the heat every single time, pre-game on. I’m
trying to show off my swag at all times.
SLAM: People already say Shai [Gilgeous-
Alexander] is the best-dressed rookie.
WCJ: Yeah. This is a sneak attack. They’re not
gonna see me coming—I like it like that. TIA WOOTEN
SLAM: Is there anything on-court you’re trying (TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY)
to sharpen and take to the next level? A Memphis native, Tia Wooten
WCJ: I feel like I’m a good defender, but I can continues to put on for her home
always be better. In this League, everybody state. The redshirt junior’s game
has the capability to score but not every- isn’t meant to be put in a box, as she
body has the capability to stop someone, led the Tigers in points (21.2) and
STICKS TALK rebounds (8.9) per game last season.
stop another team from scoring. So, I feel
She was the second-leading scorer

THE
like that’s where I can grow and my team
can grow. Offense is going to take care of in the Ohio Valley Conference where
itself—we’re going to get open shots and she also earned All-OVC First Team

GAMES WE make shots—but I feel like we can and will

get better and better on defense.
honors. Wooten posted double-digit
figures in 27 games (scoring 20 or

PLAY SLAM: There’s a lot of chatter about the

When Bulls rookie WENDELL
CARTER JR isn’t working on his
do-everything big man game,
he’s dominating his teammates
(and random people online) in
Call of Duty and NBA 2K.
SLAM: The guys at Call of Duty tell me you’re
a gamer. That true?
WCJ: Yeah. I play whenever I can.
SLAM: Since entering the NBA I assume you
have a little less time to game?
WCJ: Yeah, I do. Whenever I’m not doing any-
thing, though, I hop online and play there.
SLAM: Do you let people know you’re Wendell
Carter on there or you just kill ’em quietly?
WCJ: I don’t initiate it, but if someone asks me,
I’ll admit it. I especially do that if it’s a little
kid, ’cause I know it might make his day. I
feel like that’s an effortless nice thing to do.
SLAM: You seem quiet on the court—how
about in the game?
WCJ: When I’m playing 2K with someone I
might talk smack, but nothing too crazy.
SLAM: Who’s the Bulls’ best smack talker?
WCJ: Kris Dunn [laughs]. He’s not even mean,
he’s just funny in the way he says things.
He’s definitely the best.
SLAM: How’s the transition to NBA life?
WCJ: It’s been pretty good. My teammates
have helped a lot. It’s been every bit of what
I expected. I’m in the position I’ve always
wanted to be my entire life, so…
SLAM: That said, how many of your jerseys
League being position-less, but I think a
player is a player and there’s still a spot in
the NBA for people with your skills.
WCJ: Facts. I’m just going to bring whatever I
can to the table and help my team.
SLAM: A lot of people don’t expect a lot from
the Bulls this year. What do you expect?
WCJ: We’re a good, young team and if we
come and do what we need to do, we’re
going to prove a lot of people wrong.
SLAM: What are your personal goals?
WCJ: I want to win Rookie of the Year, of
course. I feel like that’s every rookie’s dream.
But really, I just want to look at myself at the
end and say I put my best foot forward and
did everything in my power to help my team
win. That’s all I want to do for 82 games,
including the playoffs.
SLAM: Good goals. So you don’t have much
downtime, but are you following Duke?
WCJ: Yeah. I look forward to their opener.
SLAM: I feel like every Duke class is labeled
“their best class ever.” How do you think
your class stacks up against these kids?
WCJ: If they’re not the best, they’re definitely
up there. I mean, they’re stacked. Look at
the Celtics and great teams—they play with
four or five guards at once—and I feel like
Duke will be able to play like that and ex-
pose a lot of teams. Other teams might have
great bigs, but they won’t be able to guard
all of those guards.
SLAM: How would they stack up vs. the Bulls?
WCJ: [Laughs] Oh, yeah, we would smack
them. I can give them a little bit of credit, but
not too much. Not yet [laughs].—Tzvi Twersky
more points 16 times). She had two
career-highs—33 points against
Memphis last November and 16
boards in a matchup with Morehead
State earlier this year. 
JORDAN MURPHY
(MINNESOTA)
Jordan Murphy looks to add more
accolades to his résumé during his
senior campaign. The Gophers
forward set a new single-season
school record and led the nation with
24 double- doubles. He tallied 361
rebounds, another school record, led
the Big Ten in boards and ranked top-5
in the nation. Murphy had a team- high
16.8 ppg, too, and posted a career-high
35 points and 15 rebounds against
USC Upstate last season. A candidate
for the Karl Malone Power Forward of
the Year Award, Murphy plans to help
Minnesota make a deep tournament
run come March. —Drew Ruiz

S L A M O N L I N E . C O M 17
 N O Y Z » We always knew Lance Stephenson was a legend, but our photo/video shoot with him
this month proved it 1000 times over...LAMELO BACK...One more shout to Stadium Goods for be-
ing awesome partners re. all things JORDANS Vol. 4...Cleveland is getting the 2022 All-Star Game?
No shots at Ohio, but why are we overthinking this? 1) New Orleans. 2) Miami. 3) L.A. Then repeat...

PULL UP
SLAM and STADIUM GOODS
celebrated the store’s
third anniversary and the
release of our new Jordan I
issue with an amazing
event in downtown NYC.

W
e honestly wouldn’t be
here without the Air Jordan
I. One of the aspects of
SLAM’s foundation is our
love for sneakers and the
insane world that’s been built around NBA
feetwork. The passion, the obsession, the
desire to collect every pair of kicks that
comes out can be traced back to the AJI.
So we did an entire special issue dedicated
to the I (on newsstands now!), and to
celebrate the release of that mag, the Air
Jordan I’s legacy and the third anniversary
of NYC’s dopest consignment store, Stadi-
um Goods, we hosted an event devoted to
all things AJI.
Stadium Goods opened their doors for
the SLAM Fam and JAJA Tequila provided
that good liquid courage for the evening.
Elliot Tebele, aka FuckJerry on IG, put his
crazy-rare collection of OG Is on display.
Seriously, who knew he had gems like the
“Metallic Green,” “White/Natural Grey” and
the most adorable baby Is?
The night capped off with a panel to
discuss the AJI, hosted by former SLAM
and KICKs E-i-C Russ Bengtson. The rest
of the group was rounded out by Yu-
Ming Wu (founder of Sneaker News and
CMO of Stadium Goods), Fresco Wilson
(Yu-Ming’s colleague at Stadium Goods),
Nick DePaula (reporter at ESPN and Nice
Kicks), and SLAM’s very own Joseph
Sherman. They talked about their favorite
memories of the I, how it’s transcended
C O U R T E S Y O F S TA D I U M G O O D S

the basketball court, its place in women’s

fashion and what they see for the future of
the silhouette.
(We’re fully in on Shermy’s idea to put
some rocket boosters on it, btw.)
Peep the flicks to see how the night
went down, grab your copy of SLAM
Presents JORDANS Vol. 4 now and keep
chasing those rare pairs.—Max Resetar

18 SL AMONLINE.COM
 N O Y Z » Honestly surprised Christian hasn’t demanded a relocation to Durham yet...Putting
all of our effort into one was cool, but we’re definitely going back to multiple covers next issue.
Get ready...As we went to print, renowned IG pages @SLAMkicks and @LeagueFits were just
hitting the Twitter streets. Go follow those accounts ASAP...Shouts to Kelly Tripucka, just ’cause...

PJ T U C K E R JAMES HARDEN
PJ’s cheetah wave is ASTRONAUT JAMES IN
@LEAGUEFITS new, but it’s a wave THE CUT. Heron Preston x
worth riding all year long. NASA collab goes craaazy.

FIT COIN
The currency of drip.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK
Less is sometimes more. Russ
kept it simple, but still bold,
with the red overalls and one-
of-a-kind kicks.

W I D N E R ; Z A C H B E E K E R ; N AT H A N I E L S . B U T L E R /A L L N B A E V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S
C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P R I G H T: G A R Y D I N E E N ; A N D R E W D . B E R N S T E I N ; R O C K Y

B U D DY H I E L D BR ANDON
Buddy’s gotten INGR AM
very #CaliCool The Kinston Kid
since joining is head-to-toe in
Sacramento. luxury before every
game. The Balen-
ciaga feets are
always a staple.
WATCH LIVE OUT-OF-MARKET GAMES
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Message and data rates may apply.  Subscriptions may automatically renew each season at the then-current subscription rate. Visit nba.com/leaguepass for blackout restrictions and other applicable terms and conditions.
NBA, the NBA logo and team identifications are trademarks of NBA Properties, Inc. and the respective member teams. © 2018 NBA Properties, Inc.  Photo by Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

THE OUTLET
TO THE
MOON
While everyone’s eyes are
focused on the Warriors
and Raptors, the SAN
ANTONIO SPURS are over
here doing things their
own way. And it’s working.
A LWAY S B Y
BEN COLLINS
T
here’s this website created
by a guy who is really into
cryptography, which is
basically a fancy word for
decoding a bunch of trian-
gles and emojis so you can catch
serial killers. The website is
called CryptoIsNotCryptocurren-
cy.com, and that sentence is the
only thing the website says.
Basically, the word “crypto”
got stolen from guys who used
to catch actual spies by some
22-year-olds who wanted to buy
horse tranquilizers on the internet
five years ago and accidentally
became Bitcoin billionaires. The
murderer-catchers are under-
standably a little salty about it.
As you watch Gregg Popovich
order Bryn Forbes to run around
three different screens before
N O Y Z » Our cover shoot doesn’t happen without our guy Kris Stone. Big shouts to Stoney...Very
here for political statements being made when players walk into the arena, like LeBron rocking
the Beto hat. Keep it up!...The next SLAM cover tees are FIRE...Our passport game is on point…BAG
TALK is so fun. Hit our YouTube page to peep the vids...Dave Anderson...Wally Triplett...Tex Winter...
LaMarcus Aldridge heaves up a 17-footer,
now commonly known as “the worst shot
in basketball,” you’d think it’s gotta feel
the same way for Pop. Here the Spurs are,
still catching serial killers after all these
years, while getting none of the credit.
And there’s a secret code to what
they’re doing, too.
The NBA now loathes the midrange
jumper. Taking a jump shot between the
free-throw line and three-point line is
now a felony in the state of California,
since well-meaning nerds have realized
they’re not conducive to winning a lot of
basketball games.
That would traditionally be a problem
for the Spurs, who employ Aldridge (owns
Monopoly-style property three feet behind
the free-throw line) and DeMar DeRozan
(contracts weird diseases from the paint
used to draw the three-point line).
And according to the well-mean-
ing nerds, the Spurs also hate
fast breaks, also known as “joy”
or “fun.” They are, at press time,
25th in the league in pace.
They also happen to be
winning like crazy—way more
than the nerds and even I
projected. And they’re fun
as hell.
This was a Zodiac Killer
style puzzle for most NBA
fans. And if this is the
pretty good movie about
the Zodiac killer that
came out a decade ago,
Bruno Passos is the Jake
Gyllenhaal who figured the
whole thing out.
“You don’t get this sense
in the moment, but it turns out
they are spacing the floor just
like everybody else,” said Passos. “They’re
just constantly moving.”
Passos is a writer at the legendary
Spurs blog “Pounding the Rock,” and he
figured out that this team runs on offense
more per game than any other team. They
just don’t do it on the fast break.
Spurs players were running 10.42
miles per game on offense at press
time, which is .12 miles more than the
second-place Pistons and almost two full
miles more than the last-place Pacers.
This exhausts and confuses the
defense as guards and wings run through
screens, looking for open layups and
threes. If nothing opens up, the defense
naturally sags off of DeRozan, Aldridge
and even old man Pau Gasol, who are
freed up for the midrange shots only they
love.
Basically, they’re secretly running like
hell, doing a crypto-Warriors impression.
(Sorry, again, to the guy who runs that
website.)
Passos cracked Pop’s code, even if the
league hasn’t figured it out yet.
“It’s fun. It’s very anti-2018. It’s always
a fun thing watching Pop go against
everyone and finding something new,” said
Passos.
Sites like 538 (who I implore you to
trust for election stuff because people
need to stop berating pollsters, as they’re
usually right) had the Spurs winning 37
games. That seems awfully low now.
Every other team in the NBA is doing a bad
ALDRIDGE: MICHAEL GONZALES; DEROZAN: ISSAC BALDIZON; GASOL: BARRY
Warriors impression. As teams fearlessly
stumble into the AT&T Center, then get hit
square in the face with a knuckleball, the
Spurs keep racking up Ws.
G O S S A G E ; R I G H T: B A R R Y G O S S A G E /A L L N B A E V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S
“No one was really expecting this team
to be this well-oiled offensive machine,
but here they are,” said Passos.
I’m a little jealous of Bruno here, I tell
him. This is a little transgressive, a little
punk rock, in a David Bowie’s last album
kind of way. The whole NBA has settled
into one style of play. That style of play,
before 2016, was commonly referred to
as “NBA Jam: Tournament Edition.” It is
undoubtedly the best and most euphoric
kind of basketball.
But isn’t it kind of courageous to be
something else?
“Thank you for saying that. I’ve been
beating that drum all year,” said Passos.
“It’s become a little one-dimensional,
talking about what ‘good’ basketball is.
This is good, too. And it’s even better see-
ing them being a little counter-cultural.” S
 PIC N ROLL

Following a confusing end to

his time in San Antonio, Kawhi
Leonard is back—and dominat-
ing opponents once again. As
for what happened the entirety
of last season... let’s just say we
still have some questions.
24 SL AMONLINE.COM
J O N AT H A N B A C H M A N / G E T T Y I M A G E S
 SLAMADAMONTH OCTOBER 26, 2018
SMOOTHIE KING ARENA
NEW ORLEANS, LA
T
here are many
things about
Anthony Davis that
are terrifying. There are,
of course, his dunks—you
could ask Jarrett Allen
about that—that start far
above the rim and finish
with all of the authority.
They come in all possible
forms, from alley-oops
above the square to
post-ups to devastating
finishes in transition.
Can he face up? What
do you think?
What else is terrifying
is that he hasn’t even
peaked yet. Drafted first
overall in 2012, he’s a
five-time All-Star who’s
been First Team All-NBA
three times and is still
just 25 years old.
Somehow that doesn’t
seem possible. And with
every year that goes by he
gets bigger, stronger,
faster. Back in 2016, he
had one of the best games
in NBA history—59 points
and 20 rebounds, on 70
percent shooting. That’s
what he did then. The
most terrifying thing
about Anthony Davis is
this: What is he going to
do next? —Russ Bengtson

ANTHONY DAVIS on JARRETT ALLEN

SL AMONLINE.COM 25
26 SL AMONLINE.COM
 YOUNG
GREATNESS

Hawks rookie TRAE YOUNG,

the most polarizing pick in

the 2018 NBA Draft, will

have his ups and downs this

WORDS DeMarco Williams season. But if he’s proven

P. 27
anything, it’s that the ride will

wind up being well worth the wait.

BELIEVE IT.
THERE’S A CERTIFIED BUZZ
AROUND STATE FARM ARENA.
It’s the Atlanta Hawks’ home opener and
radio stations and marching bands are
blasting music outside. Inside, things are
even crazier with fans and media ogling
over a facility that’s unveiling a $200
million makeover, the second-biggest
renovation in NBA history.
This rehab called for a full gutting—
we’re talking new concourse layouts, new
TopGolf suites, a new jumbotron roughly
the size of Cobb County, new everything.
There are so many changes to the former
Philips Arena that, when an usher hands
out souvenir programs, everyone excited-
ly grabs one for the map inside.
The team brought in a bright new
face, too, and it belongs to Trae Young.
In this rebuilding season—literally and
figuratively—the super-gifted kid out of
Norman, OK, is going to be responsible
for some fun times around the gym. But The whole organization knows what cover of tonight’s program. “He’s a little
GE T T Y IMAGES; THIS PAGE: JASON MILLER /
P R E V I O U S S P R E A D : J O E M U R P H Y/ N B A E V I A

he’s 20 and hasn’t met a 30-footer he
doesn’t like, so there are destined to be
a few frustrating moments as well. The
Hawks know this. They only hope that the
energy the fans show in the stands after
Trae means. Follow the aroma of grilled
chicken and freshly baked brownies down
to the sleek, floor-level Chef’s Club and
you’ll run into Joe Schafer, the executive
chef for the venue’s entire culinary pro-
phenom. You never know what to expect
in any sport when you draft. You never
know what you’re going to get, but I’m
excited.”
Everyone’s pumped. Until they aren’t.

a dope crossover doesn’t completely
dissipate after a dumb turnover.
“I’m excited,” Young says of his rookie
season during the Hawks’ media day
A
gram. This man leads a staff of hundreds
for every State Farm Arena event, but
even he knows that there’s another per-
son in the building with much more on his
t this point Young’s backstory
is old news. Introduced to the
masses last year at Oklahoma
GETTY IMAGES

Facebook forum with fans. “There’s a
little bit of anxiousness, nervousness, a
little bit of everything. I’m just ready to
play. At this time, you’ve been through so
much. You’re just ready to play.”
plate these days.
“[Trae’s] amazing,” says Schafer, of
the franchise-building point guard whose
face is already plastered on billboards
across the city and, of course, on the
during a freshman campaign
in which he showed the moves
of Steph and the range of
Sprint, Young literally did things previ-
ously unseen in college—like being the

28 SL AMONLINE.COM

first player to lead the NCAA in points
and assists in the same season. He had
offensive outburts of 43 and 39 before
New Year’s Eve, but as defenders wised
up, those numbers came down. Kinda
hard to do your thing when you’re dou-
ble- and triple-teamed every possession,
right?
But even with the stats tapering off to-
ward the end of the Sooners’ season, the
Hawks never wavered in their feelings
for Young. According to many reports,
Trae was the guy that Atlanta wanted
from jump—so, when the Draft came, the
franchise had no problem with trading
its No. 3 pick to the Dallas Mavericks in
exchange for the No. 5 selection and a
future first-rounder. The Mavs took Luka
Doncic with the third choice.
“Two of our goals in the next few
years is to accumulate as many assets
as we can and to get as much talent as
we can,” Hawks GM Travis Schlenk told
the Atlanta-Journal Constitution before
the season started. “Luka is a heck of a
player; we were happy with him. Trae is
a heck of a player; we are excited to have
him. When the opportunity came to pick
up a first-round pick from the Mavericks,
it just kind of made sense to accomplish
both goals with one move.” 
Most of your favorite hoops bloggers
said the Hawks royally effed up with the
transaction. Doncic, a EuroLeague
sensation, was deemed a once-in-a- gen-
eration talent. He was 18 giving
28-year-old vets 20 and 8 every night.
How could Atlanta not stick with him?
When the NBA Summer League
started, those rumbles only grew loud-
er—even though Doncic sat out for the
action. Young, on the other hand, was out
there getting his every move dissected by
analysts. He averaged 12.7 points on just
23 percent shooting in Utah. The haters
couldn’t get to Twitter quick enough.
When he got to Vegas, however,
Young’s game took off. He averaged 17
and nearly 7 assists in four games. The
shooting percentage jumped tremen-
dously, too. Things got quiet on the
timeline.
By then, though, Young and his
many supporters—one of the loudest in
the camp was Denver Nuggets rookie
Michael Porter Jr., whose friendship with
Trae goes back to their AAU days—were
fed up with the jokes and negative jabs.
Porter Jr told us followers to “keep that
same energy” when Young inevitably took
off; Trae rocked a hoodie that said “Keep
that same energy” not long thereafter.
Everyone’s quiet. Until they aren’t.
I
t brings us back to the Hawks’ home
opener. Of course, it’s vs. the Maver-
icks. Trae Young vs. Luka Doncic. The
scheduling gods would not have had
it any other way. Doris Burke and the
ESPN crew are here. The Zac Brown
Band is doing the national anthem. Future
is performing at the half and postgame.
Feels almost playoff-ish.
Trae started a little off. He’s handsy
and anxious. Three fouls before the 10:00
mark in the second. He sat down with 5
points. At one point in the first half, the
Hawks were down by 26. Doncic, on the
other hand, was poised beyond his years.
You can already see where this is going.
The Hawks’ first-year head coach, Lloyd
Pierce, must have given a Rudy-esque half-
time speech because his squad came out
fired up in the second half. Taurean Prince
and Kent Bazemore held things down in
the third quarter while Young played with a
sense of urgency in the fourth, showing off
some zip with his passes
and his underrated
knack for drawing fouls
in the paint. There was
even a rewind-worthy
moment when Dennis
I ALWAYS PLAY WITH
THAT CHIP ON MY SHOULDER,
THAT LIL’ NASTINESS.”
Smith Jr got all discombobulated during
one of Young’s silly dribbling exhibitions.
Doncic finished with 21 points. Young
ended with 17 points and 5 assists and his
Hawks got the comeback victory.
“People are going to look and say that
[Doncic] scored 4 more points than me
and that makes him better,” Young said
after the game. “Well, I’m glad my team
won. I’m glad our team came out on top.
That’s the main thing for me.”
We won’t overly simplify things too
much by calling the meeting a metaphor
for Trae’s young career—a hype-filled
start, shaky moments, strong comeback,
eventual triumph—but you can’t help but
recognize the resilience.
“Those first three quarters, when
you’re in foul trouble, your rhythm isn’t
going,” said Young, surrounded by local
reporters. “It’s tough. Luckily, I have great
teammates and veterans who just told
me to stay the course. When the fourth
quarter came, I knew I had to show up
and play for my teammates.”
It’s no coincidence that new Hawks
forward Vince Carter has a locker next
to the celebrated rookie. From in-game
inconsistencies to the post-game media
smothering, the 21-year vet has seen it
all before, so he’s taken it upon himself to
help Young navigate through the clutter.
“We sit beside each other in timeouts
or whatever,” said Carter about Young,
who sandwiched that night’s perfor-
mance between a rousing 35-point
showing against Cleveland and a rough
3-12 effort versus Chicago. “I make sure
we communicate. It’s something I want
to do. He asks me questions and I enjoy
that. That lets me know that he wants
to get better. He doesn’t want the stage
to get too big. He’s definitely humbled
himself by saying, Hey, teach me the
ropes. He’s going to put it together and
mold into one great player.”
But even with the highs and lows that
will define Young’s rookie season, the
20-year-old has been exactly what the
Hawks organization has asked for thus
far. He’s scoring, passing and generally
getting folks around Atlanta energized
about basketball again. “This was a big
game for me,” Young said. “I wanted to
win for myself, my team and this city.”
“It’s a long season,” Carter added.
“You’re going to have bad nights. You’re
going to hear people say, Maybe you’re
not this type of player. Just stay the
course. Just like that, that meter turns
the other way and you become the great
Trae Young that everybody wants to see.”
Young will have a few more uneven
games, fueling the “Doncic was the better
pick” narrative further. But if we’ve learned
anything from watching this kid over the
past year or so, it’s that if Trae keeps being
Trae, he’ll have the final say.
“I always play with that chip on my
shoulder, that lil’ nastiness,” he said. “I
just play and compete.”
While always keeping that
same energy. S
SL AMONLINE.COM 29
 STEPHEN CURRY has spent the past decade transforming

Oakland’s Golden State Warriors from an afterthought NBA

WORDS Alex Squadron
franchise to a full-blown dynasty. Now, with the team approaching
PHOTOS Atiba Jefferson
its 2019 move to San Francisco, the three-time champ is showing

P. 30 serious love to a city that has given him so much.

32 SL AMONLINE.COM

S t e PhEN
C u R rY
stands on the court at Oracle Arena with
a ring on his right finger and a micro-
phone in his left hand.
“Y’all ready?” he asks the riled-up
crowd.
Then he starts the countdown.
5,
4,
3,
2,
1…
All eyes gaze up as another banner
rolls down from the ceiling. For several
seconds, Stephen remains fixated on it.
He takes a few deep breaths and smiles
softly, reminding himself to appreciate
what it means.
“That moment, man, it’s so short, but
there’s so many thoughts that go through
your head,” he says. “That drop just
definitely encapsulates everything that
you’ve gone through.”
And with that drop, the door was
closed on an epic 2017-18 championship
run.
And the Warriors’ final season in Oak-
land officially began.
I
t’s a quiet Thursday morning at
Jack London Square in downtown
Oakland. An old-school Warriors
banner—yellow with hints of orange
and blue—flutters outside Scott’s
Seafood restaurant. A few people sit
looking out at the estuary that bleeds into
the San Francisco Bay, as they sip from
coffee cups. Somewhere on the other
side of the water is the newly constructed
Chase Center, where the Warriors will
be playing their home games come Octo-
ber of 2019.
A train rumbles by in front of Home
of Chicken and Waffles—the small spot
Stephen Curry used to routinely hit
for late night food following a Dubs vic-
tory. It’s the type of place you can smell
before you see it. The cinnamon-coated
batter, the warm maple syrup, the deep-
fried wings.
Drive straight up Broadway to 14th
Street and you’ll hit Benny Adem, Curry’s
barber’s local shop. It’s adjacent to the
Oakland City Center and only a couple
blocks from where the 2018 champion-
ship parade began. The floats cruised on
Broadway all the way to 20th, then hung
a right toward Lake Merritt, eventually
winding up on Lakeside Drive. Curry’s
first apartment was around here, a high-
rise building with a beautiful view of the
surrounding landscape.
The parade ended back on 13th Street
by the Oakland Museum of California.
Close to a million people lined the
U-shaped route, several arriving as early
as 6 a.m. to get a good spot. A sea of blue
and yellow painted the city as players
hopped from their double-decker buses
to celebrate with the local citizens.
It’s here in Oakland that the Warriors
have been for the last 47 years. This is
where the story of Stephen Curry has
unfolded. Where a kid from North Caroli-
na first arrived, anxious and bewildered,
almost a decade ago. Where that kid
started his family and is in the process
of raising three kids. Where he became a
two-time MVP and three-time champion.
“This is our new home,” Curry says. “I
really don’t feel like we’re ever going to
leave this area, and that’s something that
20 years ago...I never would’ve thought
this would be where I’d end up.”
O
ne hundred and fifty boys and
girls, all from the Oakland area,
wait eagerly outside the Fox
Theater on Telegraph Avenue.
They’ve been carefully positioned
in rows for the massive photo
you see on the cover of this magazine.
The plan is for Stephen Curry to walk
out of the theater and directly into the
pre-arranged shot. Other prominent
figures from the community that we’ve
gathered—rapper E-40, former world
champion boxer Andre Ward, Warriors
legend Al Attles and many more—will fill
in just behind him. Couple snaps of the
camera, maybe some slight adjustments
and we’re done. Quick and easy.
But the instant Curry emerges from
our makeshift green room, this plan
crumbles.
No, his presence is not a surprise. The
kids have been preparing for it for over
an hour. And yet, once it becomes reality,
once the actual Stephen Curry is standing
merely five feet away from them, the ex-
citement cannot be bottled. It all comes
rushing out uncontrollably.
Our nicely organized lines—smallest
in the front, tallest in the back—disinte-
SL AMONLINE.COM 33
34 SL AMONLINE.COM
 grate into a giant mosh pit. Kids dig into
their pockets for their cell phones, others I THANK OAKLAND FOR EMBRACING ME
reach out toward Curry in desperation.
There’s pushing and shoving as each kid
tries to inch closer. The scene suddenly AS ONE OF THEIR OWN. FOR GIVING ME
resembles a rock concert more than a
photo shoot.
From thoroughly structured to utterly
A NEW HOME, FOR GIVING ME A SENSE OF
chaotic. In a matter of seconds.
We have somehow managed to un- PRIDE AND SOMETHING TO PLAY FOR.”
derestimate the impact Curry has here.
And now, as our cover star is increasingly
swarmed by a crowd of animated chil-
dren, we start to question whether any of
this will actually happen.
It is Stephen himself who comes to the
rescue, quieting the shrieks with simple
waves of his arms.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he assures
the mass. “After we take the pictures, I’ll
make sure I say hi to everybody.”
It’s a promise that he keeps, lingering
on the block and dishing out daps that
are received with the same elation as
R I G H T T O U S E I M A G E S O F F O X T H E AT E R I N O A K L A N D , C A L I F O R N I A B Y P E R M I S S I O N F R O M G A S S E N T E R TA I N M E N T, L L C A N D

presents on Christmas.
“Go get your high-five,” one teenager
tells a younger boy, who promptly scur-
ries off in the direction of Curry.

S
teve Wilkinson is the president
of a wealth management firm in
Oakland and has been a passion-
ate Golden State Warriors fan overall passion in the people that seemed like, Wow, you’re there? Now it’s a sense
dating back to 1982. to permeate all aspects of life. As an un- of excitement that Curry and the Warriors
A N O T H E R P L A N E T E N T E R TA I N M E N T, L L C . ” R I G H T: N O A H G R A H A M / N B A E V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S

“There’s a long history of a
little bit of excitement, but a culture of
defeatism,” he says. “The culture before
Steph came was just about having fun.
The motto of the team was, It’s a Great
Time Out. Like, they’re not supposed to
win, but you’ll enjoy yourself.”
When Curry entered the NBA in
2009, the Warriors had not won a title
since 1975 and had missed the playoffs
14 of the previous 15 years. In almost
three decades of worshipping the
franchise, Wilkinson had never seen
them advance further than the Western
Conference Semis.
He recalls seeing the draft pick from
Davidson roam the streets around Lake
Merritt unnoticed and unbothered by pe-
destrians. Curry was a foreigner then, still
trying to get accustomed to an entirely
different atmosphere. Having grown up
and gone to college in North Carolina, he
didn’t know much about the West Coast.
“It was definitely a culture shock for
sure,” Curry says. “How fast things move,
how vibrant the city is and just how beau-
tiful the city is, too.”
Those strolls through Oakland
exposed a go-getter mentality and an
dersized, overlooked rookie, it resonated
with Stephen.
Even as he battled injuries early on,
and the team struggled to progress, fans
still brought the energy to Oracle every
single night.
“There was crazy noise, crazy excite-
ment, and it made playing in front of them
that much more special,” he says. “Win or
loss, they rolled with us.”
The Warriors remained a source of
enthusiasm and a significant piece of
Oakland’s identity, through the good
times and the bad. But few beyond the
borders could truly grasp that.
From the outside, the city of Oakland
is often misunderstood. The common
perception, that it’s unsafe and simply
less appealing than many of the other
regions in California, is misguided. Crime
does not define the area. What does is
a sense of pride and unity. A sense that
Stephen Curry’s ascendance has helped
to unearth.
“Oakland used to be a scary place that
people didn’t want to come to,” Wilkinson
explains. “I’d mention that I was from
Oakland when I was in other parts of the
country, and people would look at me
have brought, that this is the place to be.”
As the team has found more success,
it’s also made a point of emphasizing to
the world who it represents. Oakland
can get lost behind the “Golden State”
moniker, and so the players started
wearing alternate black jerseys featuring
“The Town”—a nickname popularized by
native hip-hop artists like Too $hort and
MC Hammer—and the city symbol of an
oak tree.
The three rings. The two MVP trophies.
The record-breaking performances. Cur-
ry’s on-court production has undoubtedly
shaped not only the external view of
Oakland, but also the spirit within the
city. That culture of defeatism has been
completely flipped on its head.
“They say sports is a microcosm of
life,” says Yusef Wright, Curry’s barber,
who was born and raised in East Oakland.
“When Steph arrived and the team start-
ed to take a turn for the better, there’s
optimism, there’s hope, there’s love.
That’s big. You can literally trace it back
to his arrival.”
Legendary Oakland rapper Mistah
F.A.B. was brought to tears when Golden
State won the title in 2015, breaking its

SL AMONLINE.COM 35

40-year drought. He likes to call himself
the Jack Nicholson of Dub Nation.
“The reason for my tears was my
mother and I used to watch the Warriors
all the time,” says F.A.B. “She would take
me to games and she would spend her
last [dollars] for my friends and I to go.
She was a huge Warriors fan. Big. Bigger
than me.”
His mother, Desire A. Jeffrey, died of
cancer in 2010.
“When they won, I could only think,
I know that she would’ve been there. I
know that we would’ve been at the game
or watching the game together. And so it
was kind of like a bittersweet thing. I was
like, Mom, we finally won. I looked up to
the sky. And I could hear her just saying,
Go, go Baby!”
What Curry has given Oakland through
basketball alone would be enough. But
for what Oakland has given Curry, he
feels a greater obligation.
“I have a 5-year-old boy who is in the
Oakland public school district,” says
Alyssa Tomfohrde, a longtime Oakland
36 SL AMONLINE.COM
resident and Warriors supporter. “And
Steph does a ton of outreach. He even
invested in our local playground and rec
center. Now it’s a place that’s safe and
people can go and enjoy it. The school
there was incredibly underserved and
I think he saw that. He was able to see
the importance of inspiring the kids who
needed it the most. I think that’s unique to
who he is as a person.”
The Curry family partners every year
with Feed the Children, an international
charity, to provide packages filled with
food and household items to Oakland
families in need.
When Stephen claimed his first MVP
in 2015, he donated the prize vehicle, a
Kia Sorrento, to the East Oakland Youth
Development Center.
After the devastating 2016 fire at
the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland,
Stephen raised more than $45,000 for
the victims by auctioning off two custom
pairs of shoes designed by a hometown
artist. Each pair, worn during a mid-De-
cember game against the Knicks, had the
initials of all 36 people who were killed in
the tragedy.
This past summer, Stephen and his
wife Ayesha helped unveil a new educa-
tion lab that offers laptops and technol-
ogy to many of the youth that did not
previously have access to them.
“It’s bigger than basketball for him,”
says Tim Hon, a member of a local
muralist group called the Illuminaries.
Hon, Steve Ha and Romali Licudan have
painted several Stephen Curry pieces
throughout Oakland, including one that’s
currently up on 4th Street. “It’s just good
for Oakland, everything that he rep-
resents.”
“Stephen Curry has meant so much
to the city,” Andre Ward tells us. “He’s
not just a basketball player. He’s not just
a superstar. He rolls up his sleeves and
gets in the community.”
We ask Andre to deliver a message to
Curry.
“If I could say anything to Steph as far
as what he’s done and what he’s brought
to the city of Oakland, it’s just thank you,”
he says. “The nation considers Oakland a
small market, but I feel like what you and
your teammates have done on the court,
and obviously the work that you put in off
the court, has really put a positive light on
a city that doesn’t always have a positive
light.”
Only a few minutes later, we ask
Stephen to deliver a message to Oakland,
and it’s filled with similar notions of love
and gratitude.
“Personally, I thank Oakland for em-
bracing me as one of their own,” he says.
“For giving me a new home, for giving me
a sense of pride and something to play
for.”
B
ack in the Fox Theater after
the photo shoot, Stephen is
still wearing his black, Oak-
land-themed Under Armour
jersey and his retro Warriors
shorts. There’s a big 10 on the
uniform—representative of his 10th year
in The Town.
The crowd outside has dwindled, al-
though a line is materializing for the Tom
Misch concert in the evening. Those who
happen to peak through the window as
they pass are stunned to see their favorite
point guard seated casually inside. One
girl types out a message using Snapchat
on her phone and presses it against the
glass. “YOU’RE A COOL DUDE,” it reads.
It’s with these people in mind that Cur-
ry is finding extra motivation this season.
He’s off to an incredible start, averaging
 NOAH GRAHAM/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES R I G H T: N O A H G R A H A M / N B A E V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S

SL AMONLINE.COM 37
34.6 points and 6.8 assists as we went
to print. He exploded for 51 points in 31
minutes in a late-October game against
the Wizards, sending Oracle Arena into
one of its typical frenzies.
“Going into a season with what we
have on our team, a championship is
what you focus on. But this year, it makes
it a little bit more focused and more
special in terms of understanding what
is at stake,” he says. “Trying to win three
in a row and this is our last season in
Oakland, playing in front of the fans there
at Oracle Arena.”
Of course, Stephen isn’t really going
anywhere. This is where he’s rooted.
Where he draws inspiration and feels
comfortable. Where he calls home.
“Me knowing Steph, and knowing how
much the city means to him,” his barber
Yusef says, “there’s no doubt that not
only the work that he’s done, but the
work that he’ll continue to do in The
Town, will be everlasting.
“There’s a bit of a gloomy cloud with
the departure to San Francisco. But what
was started here, what was created here,
what was born here, is love.”
And there is no denying a special
yearning, both in Stephen and in the
Oakland community, to finish this thing
the right way.
“Hopefully we can get one more for
38 SL AMONLINE.COM
the city of Oakland before we leave and
head over to San Francisco,” says Mistah
F.A.B.
“One more ring,” adds Ravell Sweet-
wyne, the bartender at Home of Chicken
and Waffles.
How important is it to go out on a high
note?
“It’s important to us, and I think it’s
way more important to Steph,” Sweet-
wyne continues. “He gave us everything
we wanted. Just one more.”
It’s something Curry himself has
envisioned. Another banner rolling down
from the ceiling. The
perfect ending to an
incredible ride. The
perfect send-off to the
next chapter.
As he ponders the
long journey to this
STEPHEN HAS MEANT SO MUCH TO THE
CITY. HE’S NOT JUST A BASKETBALL
PLAYER. HE ROLLS UP HIS SLEEVES AND
GETS IN THE COMMUNITY. —Andre Ward
point, from the summer of 2009 to pres-
ent day, you can detect a bit of nostalgia
in his tone.
There was that first apartment that
overlooked Lake Merritt. Those walks
around the city as an enlivened 21-year-
old. The late nights with his friends at
the chicken and waffle joint. All the
crazy moments when you could feel the
vibrations inside Oracle. The drives down
Broadway holding the Larry O’Brien tro-
phy with nearly a million people cheering
from the sidewalks.
But hold on. Now is not the time to get
reflective.
“We’ll have a lot of fun reminiscing
when it’s all over,” he says. “But we got
some more work to do.”
For now, he’s focused on one more
run. For himself and his teammates, sure,
but also for Oakland. For The Town. S
42 SL A MONLINE.COM

In the summer of 2015, the Charlotte
Hornets traded the 6-5 Brooklyn guard
to the Clippers in exchange for Matt
Barnes and Spencer Hawes. His time in
Los Angeles would end up being a quick
and frustrating one, as his playing time
dwindled from the start and he never
truly found his rhythm and role within
the rotation. Eventually, by the time the
trade deadline came around, Stephen-
son’s stint in L.A. had come to an end—he
was subsequently traded to the Memphis
Grizzlies in exchange for Jeff Green. The
short-lived tenure in Los Angeles, which
surely left a bad taste in Stephenson’s
mouth, led to a three-year expedition that
ultimately brought him back to the City of
Angels—this time in the purple and gold
as he looks for a little redemption.
D E L REY
H E P L AYA noon in
R O U GH T da y after
iles.
N G T H a M on s m
A L K I e community tephenson is
o n a ll
id S A n ge les
beachs ember, Lance e nearby Los earlier
ov am rs
early N living in the s just three yea nd while
ck in .A
He’s ba ity he resided f the Clippers return to
o m m u n e m bero r y in his
c was a m r scen e
h as be en
e ia r
when h d for the famil taples Cente ght him
te S ou
he’s op ourney back to de that has br set after
j ri d
L.A., his roller-coaster different min ion.
y ha at
a bump a La Land wit in the Associ
L rs
back to ous three yea
ltu
a tumu
the fifth team Stephenson had joined
in less than two seasons. The grand
return to Indiana, where he first earned
for the final year of his contract. his “Lance Makes Em Dance” and “Sir
This would lead to the toughest point Lance A Lot” monikers, brought back
in his career: the 2016-17 campaign. He his old swag while giving the Pacers a
signed with the Pelicans that offseason much-needed energy and confidence
but after suffering a groin injury just two spark off the bench. Last season, he
weeks into the regular season, which helped play a role in Indiana almost
ruled him out for six to 10 weeks and re- defeating the Cavaliers in the first round
quired surgery, he was waived by the team of the playoffs, coming within 5 points of
just three days later. He waited around for a Game 7 victory.
a call from another team for three months “It’s crazy because I went from getting
before the Minnesota Timberwolves, hurt, to the team cutting me, to then doing
who had lost guard Zach LaVine for the 10-days with the Timberwolves and then
remainder of the season to an ACL injury, signing a three-year contract with the
called offering only a 10-day contract. Pacers,” he says. “It was like, unbelievable.
Yet less than a week after signing with It was definitely amazing and I think that
the Wolves, Stephenson found himself was God answering all my prayers—and
battling another nagging injury—this time just all the hard work I went through to
a grade 2 ankle sprain. He’d nonetheless get the opportunity that I got. Just going
earned a second 10-day contract with the from not playing at all and doing 10 days
team before being waived by the franchise to being on a team that actually uses you
after only appearing in six games. as much as possible, and then helping the

A
fter he was moved to the Griz-
zlies, Stephenson’s time in the
League got even rockier. Despite
averaging a career-best 14.2
points per game in his 26 games
with the team to finish off the
regular season in Memphis, including
a career-high 33-point performance
against the New Orleans Pelicans and
then a 26-point outing in the playoffs
against the San Antonio Spurs, the fran-
chise declined to pick up his team option
“I had times when I felt like, Man, I
don’t think I’m going to be in the League
next year. But I always knew that if I
worked hard and believed in myself and
put God first, I’d have a chance,” Stephen-
son says. “I was controlling what I could
control and that was being in the gym
and just working hard because I knew my
chance would come again.”
Less than two weeks later, in a rather
surprising turn of events, the Indiana
Pacers signed the former Coney Island
prodigy to a three-year deal, marking
team win—that was amazing.
“I knew what I could do. I just needed
the opportunity. I just knew that if I could
get the minutes and the playing time
to show my talent, I knew what I could
do in this League. And so [the Pacers]
gave me an opportunity as soon as I came
back to the team. I mean, I worked so
hard and everything was coming easy to
me. When you have a team that believes
in you and pushes you to be great, your
talent does the rest.”
The Pacers declined their team option

SL AMONLINE.COM 43
for the final year of Lance’s contract last
June, which paved the way for him to
become a free agent. A week or so later,
an incoming call from Magic Johnson
secured Stephenson’s return to Los
Angeles, where he now looks to take care
of unfinished business and redeem the
short-lived tenure at Staples Center from
three years ago.
“Definitely going through all the
situations that I went through after I left
the Pacers—being on five different
teams—I just feel like it was a great
experience through the ups and downs. I
learned from all the ups and downs that I
went through. I think it made me stronger
and it made me the person I am now,” he
says. “I learned that you gotta stay
positive and you gotta stay hungry
throughout the tough times when I wasn’t
even playing or getting as much playing
time as I wanted. I stuck with it. I learned
that I could control only what I could
control, and that was getting in the gym
and working harder every day, pushing
myself to be better and just watching a
lot of film. Mostly it was keeping my body
in shape because when you’re not playing
that much you could get out of shape
easily. So my goal was to always be in
shape because you never know when
your opportunity comes.”
His return to Hollywood has helped
bring his flashy NYC-bred handles and
off-the-dribble moves back to the nation-

F R O M T O P : M I C H A E L G O N Z A L E S / N B A E V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S ; S E A N M . H A F F E Y/ G E T T Y I M A G E S
al stage, and only five weeks into
the season, he’s already become a
fan-favorite in Los Angeles. He’s shown

I WAS AT HOME

CHILLING AND I

GOT THAT CALL

FROM MAGIC.

I WAS LIKE, I CAN’T

TURN THIS DOWN.”

44 SL AMONLINE.COM
 L O O K G O O D A N D P L AY G O O D . . .
C U S T O M S U B L I M AT E D U N I F O R M S

NFHS APPROVED
2- PLY R EV ER SI B LE $ 9 0 • 1 - PLY G AM E $7 5 ($ 1 5 0 F O R H O M E & AWAY S ET S )

TU RN AR O UN D T I ME - 4 WEE KS
MI NI MU M OR DE R - 1 2 S ET S
flashes of the kind of impact and spark
he can bring to a team. In only the second
week of the season he dropped 23 points,
8 rebounds and 8 assists against the
Phoenix Suns off the bench, shooting 10-
14 from the floor.
“I was at home chilling and I got that
call from Magic,” he says. “I was like, No
way! They want me on the Lakers? And
with LeBron and the young fellas we
have, I was like, I can’t turn this down. I’m
just happy for this opportunity and I feel
like as I continue to work, many [more]
blessings are going to come.
“I was like, You think LeBron wants me
on this team?!” he continues. “I definitely
knew that playing alongside him I could
help him and help bring in that energy
and that toughness, that defense, and
also a clutch performance in some
games—I feel like I’m built for tough,
close games. I knew I could help this unit.
I’ve now played for Michael Jordan, Larry
Bird and now Magic Johnson. Talking to
those great players helped my game out,
just learning how they think.”
A highly touted prospect since his
early days at famed Lincoln High School
where he led the school to four consecu-
tive city championships and was ranked
among the top-10 players in the Class
of 2009, the past eight years since his
arrival to the NBA have given the former
Cincinnati Bearcat a different perspective
on the game and his role. The humbling
experiences and particularly the obsta-
cles of the past four years have set the
stage for his return to L.A., where he now
looks to prove why the Born Ready nick-
name rings true today more than ever.
“When you’re a rookie, you gotta un-
derstand that everyone is good. You might
not get your opportunity when you first
come in. I remember my first two years
I was sitting in a suit behind the bench,”
Lance says. “What I took from it was I
learned as much as I could from the older
guys and what they brought to the table
that kept them on the court and kept
them in the rotation. It’s not about talent.
You gotta know the game. You gotta know
the plays, every position, to get on that
floor. Eventually you learn you can’t just
go. You gotta do it with a team.” S

I’VE NOW PLAYED FOR MICHAEL JORDAN, LARRY BIRD AND

MAGIC JOHNSON. TALKING TO THOSE GREAT PLAYERS

HELPED MY GAME OUT, JUST LEARNING HOW THEY THINK.”

46 SL AMONLINE.COM
ON SALE NOW
 SWERVE
ON EM

While the Lakers have been getting

most of the hometown hype,

Clippers rookie PG SHAI GILGEOUS-

ALEXANDER is steadily proving it’s

just a matter of time until he becomes

a star for L.A.’s other pro team.

WORDS Holly MacKenzie

P. 49
 A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO, in a quiet gym
after a long day of training, NBA rookies were at
the free-throw line engaging in a shooting contest.
It was a low-stakes game, $20 going to whichever
young millionaire swished the most shots. A paltry
payout didn’t impact Los Angeles Clippers point
guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s desire to win.
As another rookie took his place at the line, threat-
ening to upset Gilgeous-Alexander’s path to victory,
the Toronto native pulled out all the stops to make
his opponent crack. There was chirping and trash-talking, even
kisses blown in an effort to break concentration. Gilgeous-
Alexander did what was necessary to come away on top.
“You put someone in front of him and why the Clippers selected him (via trade)
there’s a competition, he’s a different with the 11th pick in the 2018 draft. Fast
[person],” says Olin Simplis, his trainer. forward three months to the League’s
“Something just switches inside of him. annual GM survey and it’s clear everyone
That’s the thing that has stood out the else is beginning to see what the Clippers
most for me. People don’t understand saw prior to draft night. Gilgeous-Alex-
that about him yet.” ander was atop the list of responses for
That competitive streak combined with “biggest steal of the draft,” garnering 27
his rangy 6-6 frame, not to mention a sev- percent of the votes.
en-foot wingspan, is one of the reasons Gilgeous-Alexander began working
50 SL AMONLINE.COM
with Simplis in preparation for the draft.
The duo continued to train throughout the
summer leading into his first NBA season.
“He’s a quick learner,” Simplis says.
“You throw something at him, he’ll mas-
ter it. And if he doesn’t right away, he’ll
come back the next day and he wants to
do what he couldn’t complete the day
prior.
“He’s definitely ahead of the curve in
that mental aspect. He really wants to be
great and that is exciting.” 
Simplis connected with Gilgeous-Alex-
ander from the jump, saying that working
with the point guard has been one of the
best experiences he’s had in more than
20 years working with players.
“His work ethic is beyond his years,” he
says. “His attention to detail is beyond his
years. He just absorbs everything. He has
that professional mindset at an early age.
How to take care of his body, all the little
things that we asked him to do before
he steps on the court he does. He’s got a
bright future ahead of him.”
Whether he’s driving the lane to
 cram a thunderous dunk or getting a
steal, then going behind-the-back and
Euro-stepping into a left-handed lay-up
or deftly intercepting a Chris Paul pass
to sprint to the hoop for another slam,
you don’t have to watch for very long
to get excited about where Gilgeous-
Alexander is going.
Combine his natural gifts of size and
quickness and a super-high basketball IQ,
along with a relentless work ethic and
desire to be the best, and the potential is
staggering. Gilgeous-Alexander’s ceiling
is the sky.
“[I want to] get better every day, with
every experience,” he says. “I feel like
if I do that and give it my all, be smart
in how I treat my body, all of that, then
the accolades and awards that I want to
accomplish will take care
of itself. I want to attack
every day and get better
from it.”
Though he’s extremely
focused while in the gym,
he’s already found the
I WANT TO ATTACK EVERY DAY AND GET BETTER FROM IT.”
sweet spot of preparing for the future
while simultaneously enjoying the
moment.  experience and he worked himself to
P R E V I O U S S P R E A D : K E V O R K D J A N S E Z I A N / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; L E F T: J O H N M C C O Y/ G E T T Y I M A G E S
Charlotte Hornets assistant coach
Nate Mitchell has worked with
Gilgeous-Alexander for the past three
summers. This year, the newly drafted
PG would make the hour drive from
nearby Hamilton, Ontario, to Toronto to
train with Mitchell. Like Simplis, Mitchell
speaks effusively about the 20-year-old’s
desire to be great.
“He watches film so much,” Mitchell
says. “He watches games over and over,
he always asks coaches opinions on how
to get better. He’s a ball junkie, a big-time
competitor. He’s never sped up—he plays
at his speed.”
The NBA world is learning Gilgeous-
Alexander’s game as the season goes on.
It didn’t take long to be introduced to his
vibrant personality, too. The rookie won
draft night fashion MVP with a cham-
pagne suit (and matching button down
underneath it) adorned with turquoise flo-
ral print and a turquoise tie. Gilgeous-Al-
exander loves fashion almost as much
as he loves basketball, and names sitting
front row at New York Fashion Week as
one of the things on his bucket list. The
champagne color choice was appropriate
with draft night serving as the ultimate
toast to the years of work and preparation
that went into that moment.
“It’s the best feeling I’ve felt so far
in my life,” Gilgeous-Alexander says of
being drafted. “It’s kind of hard to explain,
but it’s just a whirlwind of emotion that
night. You’re in the best mood ever. You’re
happy you got drafted. You’re happy you
got this opportunity. It almost feels like
everyone’s birthday party.”
Since draft night, he has rewarded
himself for all of that hard work by filling
out his wardrobe, buying shoes from Sole
Stage on Fairfax, while Balenciaga, Saint
Laurent and Gucci have started to take
up space in his closet.
A quick scroll through Gilgeous-Alex-
ander’s Instagram—he recently finessed
himself into possession of the highly
coveted single name handle @shai, if you
were wondering—and it’s easy to see a
20-year-old living the dream in Los Ange-
les. Mitchell cautions against confusing
Gilgeous-Alexander’s quick smile for a
lack of focus.
“He’s a self-made guy,” Mitchell says.
“Nothing has been given to him. He went
to the [Canadian] National Team to get
where he was helping us. He went to
Kentucky—he started the year on the
bench [and] midway through the season,
he was a starter. Now he’s with the Clip-
pers—he’s going to come off the bench
and it wouldn’t surprise me in a year or
two if he’s their starting point guard. He
just works so hard, coaches are going to
trust him.”
The juxtaposition between Gilgeous-
Alexander’s on-court drive and off-court
demeanor is something Simplis has also
marveled over. During summer training
sessions, video and camera crews would
sometimes come in to film. Whenever
Simplis would watch the playback or
look at photos from that day’s session,
he would be surprised to see how often
both he and Gilgeous-Alexander were
captured laughing or smiling.  work hard today.’ He never needs that
“When we work out, I’m very locked
in,” Simplis says. “It’s borderline crazy
and there are so many pictures of us
smiling and laughing. Obviously, people
see the photos and are like, Oh, they’re
posed, but no. I’m defending him, I’m
bumping him. We’re trash-talking, but
having a good time. It’s fun. The one thing
that stands out, for someone so young,
he’s one of the most fierce competitors
I’ve ever seen at this stage.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was one of 13 Ca-
nadians on NBA rosters on opening night
of the 2018-19 season. It was only a few
years ago that being selected as a lottery
pick was a huge deal for basketball in
Canada. As the game continues to grow
north of the border, Gilgeous-Alexan-
der gives thanks to the Canadians who
forged a path before him.
“At first there wasn’t too many kids
playing [basketball], it was still hockey,”
he says. “As I got older, basketball really
started taking over. Now, I’d say guys play
basketball more than hockey for many
reasons, other than it’s just a better
sport. The more we play it, the better
we’re getting, I think. We’re on the rise.
“It’s thanks to all of those guys that did
it, like Steve [Nash], Rowan [Barrett], just
to name a few. Guys that went and played
Division I and put Canada on the map.”
Plenty has changed in Gilgeous-
Alexander’s world in the three years that
Mitchell has worked with him, but just
as much has remained the same. He
still sends frequent texts asking how he
can improve. Like a good Torontonian,
he still reps Drake to the fullest—“He’s
the greatest, ever”—and, of course, he’s
looking forward to his first time suiting
up in an NBA uniform in front of his
family and friends when the Clippers play
the Raptors.
“[He’s] always smiling,” Mitchell says.
“Always joking. Loves to dance. He’s just
a good kid. Doesn’t mind seeing new
things, trying new things. His mom has
been good with him in terms of him being
humble. He’s such a humble kid.
“Anybody you could have wanted to
speak to about his getting better, they
would all say the same thing—at the end
of the day, it’s Shai,” Mitchell continues.
“He’s searching out what he needs to do.
Some guys need [you to call them and
say], ‘Hey let’s go, let’s get better, let’s
conversation. He’s a self-starter. Built-in
motor. Super competitive.”
For everyone who flips to a Clippers
game this season and finds their atten-
tion gravitating toward the point guard
with the endless wingspan, Simplis pres-
ents a strong reason to keep watching.
“This kid reminds me of a 6-6 Chris
Paul. He wants to win everything.” S
SL AMONLINE.COM 51
LEBRON JAMES
Los Angeles Lakers

ANDREW D. BERNSTEIN/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

STEPHEN CURRY
A Great Day in Oakland
AT I B A J E F F E R S O N
WORDS Max Resetar

P. 52
 SAY
ALLONZO TRIER didn’t storm into the NBA the
way you might’ve thought he would had you
followed his hype-filled childhood. But he’s kept
a level head and is becoming a strong piece of
the Knicks’ increasingly bright future.
A
llonzo Trier had to think quickly.
He only had a moment to make a
life-changing decision during the
middle of the 2018 NBA Draft. The
35th pick had just passed and the
Knicks were on the board. Right
before selecting Mitchell Robinson, execu-
tives from the team made a phone call.
“After the Knicks picked at 36, I kinda
knew I was gonna go undrafted,” Trier
remembers. “They had called right before
MIKE STOBE/GETTY IMAGES
they made their pick. They had basically
offered me the deal. I listened to a few
teams call at, like, 41, 43, 46, and they
were all places that I didn’t feel were
great fits. My agent told me ‘You can have
the option of hearing your name called to-
night and you can go to a situation where
I don’t know what it’ll be like for you. Or
you can be undrafted and go play with the
Knicks. Unfortunately you won’t be draft-
ed. You won’t hear your name called to-
night.’ We gave it thought and we turned
those other teams down and we accepted
the Knicks deal.”
It was the latest fork-in-the-road for
Trier. The 22-year-old has been in the
spotlight since 2009, when The New York
Times published a lengthy feature on
him, detailing his early accomplishments
and his already insane schedule. He was
dominating his age group in Seattle at
that point in time, his long braids dancing
in the wind whenever he’d carve up
defenses. In the years that followed, Trier
would go on a basketball odyssey. He
would hoop in Oklahoma, moving there at
the age of 14, playing his AAU ball with
the OKC Storm. He decided to relocate to
Montrose Christian High School for his ju-
nior year of high school, the same school
that Kevin Durant starred at. He played so
well, averaging 25 points per game, that
he wanted to find even better competi-
tion. He spent his final year of high school
at Findlay Prep, a basketball factory that
has produced talents like Avery Bradley,
Tristan Thompson, Kelly Oubre and most
recently Bol Bol. Trier stuffed the stat
sheet again, pouring in 26 points a game.
Wherever he was playing, Trier was a
guaranteed bucket.
“At a really young age, I just knew how
to score the ball. It was just, like, really
easy for me,” he says matter-of-factly. “I
was just advanced in that area, under-
standing angles, understanding ways to
get my shot off, how to make a shot from
anywhere on the floor at any time.”
He continued to score at the Univer-
sity of Arizona as he began to rack up
individual achievements. He put up 18
points a game as a junior, leaving Tucson
with First-Team All-Pac-12 (2018) honors
and the Pac-12 Tournament MOP award
in 2017.
Yet he didn’t hear his name on June
21, 2018.
“I’ve been through adversity for rea-
sons I can’t control,” he says. “Obviously it
didn’t go the same path that we thought it
would but that’s how things happen in life
sometimes. I know I’m in a good place.”
Trier had gone from a nationally known
prospect to a draft night afterthought. But
he kept all of those receipts. After being
counted out, after going undrafted and
after balling out through Summer League
and the preseason, he’s proving to be ready
for his moment under the bright lights.
He’s played in all eight Knicks games this
season as we went to press, scoring in
double figures in four of them and provid-
ing high-energy signs of life to a struggling
team with a potentially bright future.
“He’s actually handled the waves very
well,” Knicks head coach David Fizdale
says. “If he has a bad game, his routine
never changes. If he didn’t score a lot, he
comes in here with the same attitude, the
same work ethic, [being] the same good
teammate. He’s just focused in on trying
to come in here every day and get better.”
Seattle. Oklahoma City. Rockville, MD.
Henderson, NV. Tucson, AZ. It all led to
opening night at Madison Square Garden,
when Trier skyrocketed up to the rim
for a signature poster dunk, sending the
World’s Most Famous Arena into hysteria.
“They tried to crucify me,” he wrote
in an Instagram post after the first game
of the season. “All the pain I had to go
through, they created a monster!” S
SL AMONLINE.COM 53
 WORDS

P. 54
Alex Squadron
S TA C Y R E V E R E / G E T T Y I M A G E S
 FLIP SWITCH
Kings big man WILLIE CAULEY-STEIN’s career was heading in the wrong
direction, but a change in mindset and some renewed hunger has it looking
like the future is awfully bright for the 25-year-old 7-footer.
W
illie Cauley-Stein is laying in
his hotel bed in downtown
Philadelphia, unable to
sleep. His mind is wander-
ing. He’s allowing it to think
big, to imagine things it
hasn’t really before.
It’s mid-December of 2017 and the
Kings are in town to play the Sixers. In
less than 24 hours, Willie—Sacramento’s
starting center—will score 9 points and
grab 6 rebounds in a 101-95 victory at the
nearby Wells Fargo Center.
But right now, approaching 3 a.m., he’s
awake and contemplating his future in
the game of basketball. He’s resetting his
goals and pondering what it would be like
to be one of the NBA’s best players. He’s
ready for it.
So he sends a text to his veteran
teammate Vince Carter, an eight-time All-
Star headed for the Hall of Fame. I’m tired
of being overlooked, he tells VC. What do I
have to do to be “the guy?”
It’s a moment that sent Willie on an en-
tirely new path, one that continues today.
Vince outlined what it would require
for Cauley-Stein to get there—the hours
he would have to pour in and the men-
tality he would have to embrace. While
his work ethic was already strong, Willie
admits he had not been fully invested
before then. There were more steps he
could take. Hearing from Carter,
e
th
he began to confront that fact.
So he hired a chef and a mental coach.
He took his training, both on and off the
court, to another level.
“I’m doing it like they say the best do
it,” Cauley-Stein tells us. “I’m expecting
nothing but the best. If I am doing what
they say the best are doing, then I got to
get the best results and I got to believe
the best results are coming.”
D
uring his three-year stint in the
NBA, Cauley-Stein—a 7-0 big man
with incredible athleticism and
unique quickness for his size—has
provided a glimmer of hope about
the rebuild in Sacramento. But
the former No. 6 overall pick out of
Kentucky has also struggled with
consistency, commanding the paint in
some games and disappearing in others.
That sleepless night in December dras-
tically altered Willie’s mindset on the floor,
helping him to end the 2017-18 season on
a high note, averaging 16.9 points and 7.9
rebounds through the final nine outings.
“Always in attack mode,” he says of his
new approach. “Before it was just—some
games I’d be in attack mode, other games
I’m wanting somebody to tell me to be
in attack mode. Or I’m thinking, Should
I be in attack mode? Or, Should I shoot
this ball? Like, watching myself play the
game instead of playing the game.”
Fueled by that encouraging finish and
an intensifying hunger to be “the guy,”
Willie had a busier summer than usual.
“[Before] I wasn’t working like the people
that are doing this are working. I was
lying to myself, thinking that I was,” he
explains. “Until I started really doing
what they’re doing, for the last five to six
months, I’m really doing some stuff that
I never thought I would do before. It’s
special, man. It’s really special.”
And it’s translated to an impressive
opening to the 2018-19 campaign. As
of this writing, Cauley-Stein is posting
career-highs in points (15.7), rebounds
(8.2) and field-goal percentage (57), and
the Kings are surprisingly 6-4.
“It’s special what this game can do
to you. If you do all the right things and
invest and put in the time and have a
good work ethic, it’s beautiful what can
happen,” he says.
The 25-year-old has different expec-
tations for “what can happen” as the
season progresses. He’s allowing himself
to think big, to imagine things he hasn’t
really before.
“I’m 100 times better than I was last
season. Mentally, physically. Like 100
times better. I don’t think I’m the same
person,” Willie says.
“Before I was just playing this game,
now I’m invested in it. It’s not just a game
anymore.” S
SL AMONLINE.COM 55
THeY
gOT
Ne XT
With the I PROMISE SCHOOL, LeBron James

is leaving a mark on his hometown of Akron

that will be felt for generations to come.

WORDS Ryan Jones

P. 57
 Y
YOU CAN’T MISS THE SIGNS. Hung
from lampposts, painted on the sidewalk
in front of the building, the signs let you
know this isn’t some ordinary elemen-
tary school. The signs offer a unifying
mantra—We Are Family—and a statement
of commitment, reinforcing the words
that are written right into the name of the
school: I Promise.
The signs are convincing, but then you
enter the building—straight in through
two sets of double doors and a right into
the main office—and there’s some-
thing else you can’t miss. It’s the staff
members greeting students with hugs,
asking the kids who stop in if they’ve
eaten breakfast this morning, sending
them back to class with a firm word of
encouragement: “I want you to be great
today.” This is when you know the place is
really different.
Unique, unprecedented, impactful,
game-changing: So much about the I
Promise School reflects the example
of the 33-year-old Akron native who
inspired it. Though it just opened in July,
I Promise is already fulfilling the vision
LeBron James had for the sort of place
that could have been life-altering for him
during his own tumultuous upbringing.
Born to a single mother in a difficult ur-
ban environment, LeBron faced instability
and financial uncertainty through much
of his youth, and famously missed more

58 SL AMONLINE.COM
than 80 days of school during fourth
grade. Statistically, he was one of those
kids who never should have made it, who
seemed destined for a negative outcome.
Now he’s helping create the sort of
opportunities for a new generation of kids
that only he could have dreamed of.
Michele Campbell, executive director
of the LeBron James Family Foundation,
says the inspiration for the I Promise
School grew from LeBron’s desire to
“identify kids like him. He created this
because, through the uphill battles he
and his mom had growing up, there were
people in this community who helped
them.” Now, Campbell says, “his ultimate
goal is that this creates generational
change in Akron.”
There was a deserving crush of
national media attention when I Promise
opened in late July—from every angle,
the story was too compelling to pass
up. But we waited until October to make
the trip so we could witness first-hand
the progress of this groundbreaking
school. A collaboration with Akron Public
Schools—and it’s important to note that
it is a public school, not a charter—I
Promise opened with about 250 third and
fourth graders, with plans to expand to
full first- through eighth-grade capacity
by 2022. The school pulls from the most
academically at-risk populations across
the city, with a focus on those reading
below grade level. And that’s just the
first sign of how I Promise represents
an entirely new approach to public
education.
“We know that a lot of kids’ behavior
and performance isn’t based on the school
or the kid,” Nicole Hassan says. “It’s based
on what’s going on at home, with the
family.” Hassan, the liaison between Akron
Public Schools and the LeBron James
Family Foundation, explains it was essen-
tial that the school considered “barriers
to learning”—anything in the students’
home or family life that might get in the
way of being able to attend and excel in
the classroom. The solution: The school’s
Family Resource Center and comprehen-
sive “wraparound” support.
For the students, this approach takes
a number of forms: from breakfast and
lunch provided free in school to daily
“social emotional learning” sessions that
help students develop skills that go be-
SL AMONLINE.COM 59
 I THINK LEBRON RECOGNIZES THAT IT TAKES A VILLAGE

TO RAISE A CHILD. LOOKING AT [THE SCHOOL] HOLISTICALLY

JUST VALIDATES WHO HE IS.” —Victoria McGee

yond spelling and math. From the words
of the teachers and staff to the literal
writing on the wall—the halls are covered
with encouraging slogans and mantras—
students are constantly reminded of the
school’s Habits of Promise: Perseverance,
Perpetual Learner, Problem Solver, Part-
ner and Perspective.
But again, that’s only half the battle.
The other half comes in the school’s
approach to everything outside the
classroom: The I Promise Too program
offers on-site GED classes for parents
whose students are enrolled, so that
kids and their mothers or fathers are
often in the building at the same time,
learning on different floors. Parents can
also take ESL classes, vital as Akron’s
population becomes ever more diverse.
There’s a food pantry, a partnership with
the local foodbank, for parents to pick up
groceries they might not otherwise be
able to afford. And then there’s Victoria
McGee, who directs the school’s Family
Resource Center, and who ties in all the
facets of the I Promise approach as well
as anyone.
In her role, McGee oversees not only
the food pantry and GED program, but
also assists families with resources like
legal services and career placement. And
as with so many of the teachers and staff
at I Promise, the impact goes beyond job
description: When the family member of
a student dealing with domestic abuse
needed a safe place earlier this fall, she
sought out Miss Vikki. But even with that
focus on families, McGee, like the rest of
the staff, is a beacon of warmth for the
students. During our visit in October, a
trio of girls happily walked into her office
during a break, came over to her for hugs
and then made themselves at home.
A vital resource for both students and
families, McGee is also something else: a
close connection to LeBron. Her brother
in law is Willie McGee, LeBron’s close
friend and former AAU and high school
teammate, and now the athletic director
at their alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary
HS, just a half mile down the road from

60 SL AMONLINE.COM
 I Promise. Vikki and her husband helped
raise Willie, and they’ve known LeBron
since he was about the age of the kids
she’s helping now. More than most, she
understands why all of this matters to
him so much—and she appreciates how
much “We Are Family” goes beyond an
easy slogan.
“I think LeBron recognizes that it takes
a village to raise a child. Looking at all of
this holistically just really validates who
he is,” McGee says. “The students walking
these halls, he was that student. So that
P H O T O S C O U R T E S Y O F T H E L E B R O N J A M E S FA M I LY
whole ‘We Are Family,’ that unity, that
F O U N D AT I O N ; A L L I S O N FA R R A N D / N B A E V I A G E T T Y
togetherness, that whole mindset is what
you see here. You don’t necessarily have
to be blood to be family.”
IMAGES; JASON MILLER/GETTY IMAGES
Jarvis Landry is learning this first
hand. Our October visit to I Promise coin-
cides with a surprise appearance by the
Cleveland Browns’ fifth-year receiver, the
latest in a line of special guests—Justin
Timberlake came through a few weeks
earlier—who have visited the school since
it opened. The appeal for the students
is obvious—as if having LeBron as their
primary benefactor isn’t cool enough—but
with Landry, it’s clear this isn’t only about
putting smiles on kids’ faces. You can see
it on his face as he walks the hallways
and pokes his head into classrooms,
checks out the food pantry, meets
parents doing GED prep work, or checks
out the “Happy Happy” room, where the
school keeps a healthy stash of extra
clothes, particularly cold weather gear,
so no kid will ever have to do without.
Taking it all in, Landy is clearly, powerful-
ly moved.
When I ask him how this visit came to-
gether, Landry echoes the perspective of
so many other young athletes on LeBron.
“He’s an idol of mine,” the soft-spoken
WR says. “I follow him on Instagram, and
I’d seen that he opened a school. Then at
the opening, he had a picture in the main
foyer, and it just blew my mind—that an
athlete took this step, to change so many
lives. I just wanted to be a part of it in any
way I could.”
Landry grew up a world away in small-
town Louisiana, but he had no trouble
relating to LeBron’s motivation through
memories of his own childhood. “Going
through the building, I was just thinking
how much this could’ve helped me when
I was a kid,” Landry says. “And then think-
ing, what if something like this was in my
community? As an athlete, we usually
just think of giving our time. But this is
something… I’m telling you, this is beyond
what he had to do.”
It’s a reminder that, at this point in
LeBron’s career and public life, his impact
is increasingly difficult to measure. On
the court, you can check the numbers
and the titles, and argue the GOAT debate
however you see fit. But off the court,
from the example he’s setting for the next
generation of ballplayers to the chances
he’s providing the kids following his path,
the legacy is hard to fathom. I Promise
doesn’t happen without a public school
system eager to find new ways to help its
neediest students, or without dozens of
dedicated educators committed to those
kids inside the classroom and out. But it’s
never even a dream without that kid from
Akron—and that’s true no matter how far
he is from home.
“His love for Akron, no matter where
he works, is seen through these children,
and through this lifetime commitment
to making change here,” Campbell
says. “When LeBron had his first game
this season, we were all in purple and
gold. We’re here to support him. You’ll
find nothing but love and support for
him here. He’ll always be committed to
his hometown.” S
SL AMONLINE.COM 61
the windy city welcomes winter
Even the basketball

players aren’t

safe as violence

continues to hit

CHICAGO’S

WEST SIDE.

Here, a former

P. 62
WORDS Rus Bradburd
coach looks back

and wonders if

things will ever get any better.

Shawn Harrington

THE SCHOOL YEAR is well under way,
and I’m back teaching at New Mexico
State University. But I can’t stop thinking
about my summer in Chicago. And Mar-
shall High School. And Shawn Harrington.
As a boy, I attended Chicago public
schools for 11 years, and then stayed
put for college. Chicago is also where
my wife and I have spent the past 10
summers, to duck the heat of the South-
west and visit some of my old haunts.
Our tiny apartment is in what we call
“leafy Ravenswood,” an idyllic North Side
neighborhood where the biggest hassle is
that the bistros on Lincoln Avenue are
too pricey.
Four years ago I began spending
a lot of time in a very different part
of Chicago, the West Side. What I’ve
witnessed there since 2014 is what
now keeps me up at night. Let me see
if I can explain.
In the 1980s and ’90s I also passed
countless hours on the West Side,
convincing black teenagers to travel
1,500 miles to play college basket-
ball. I was a college assistant coach,
a basketball recruiter, and this urban
enclave was fertile recruiting ground
for sleepers—young men who would
not be going on to play at Kansas or
Duke but could rank among the best
players in our conference. Our teams
were well stocked with Chicago kids.
In my 14 seasons coaching at UTEP
and New Mexico State, I was a reg-
ular at high school games, summer
64 SL AMONLINE.COM
leagues, rec centers and tournaments
across the West Side. Often I was the only
white person in the building.
I met Shawn Harrington in 1992, and
he was the primary reason I returned to
the neighborhood when I started coaching
at New Mexico State. He had been a
stand-out at city powerhouse Marshall,
and I recruited him to play for our 1995-
96 team. The story gets murky here, but
Shawn played one great season for us
before transferring.
A few years after that, I quit coaching
altogether. Shawn and I lost touch for 20
years. I was living not only in a different
state back then, but also a different
world, strolling the halls of academia,
lulled by the university life, isolated from
my old hoops connections—and the West
Side of Chicago.
That changed five years ago on
January 30, 2014, when Shawn and his
daughter were on their 7:30 a.m. com-
mute to school.
Shawn was working as an assistant
coach and educational support person at
Marshall; his daughter attended nearby
Westinghouse High School. While waiting
for a stoplight to change, shots ripped
through the windows of their rental car—
his own vehicle had been stolen a few
days earlier. Shawn pushed his daughter
down and blanketed her with his body
a second before a bullet pierced her
headrest. Another bullet hit Shawn in the
spine. He instantly lost feeling in his legs,
and now he’s confined to a wheelchair.
The shooting was a case of mistaken
identity, but it received plenty of media
attention for a few reasons. First, Shawn
Tim Triplett with his Marshall teammates
had acted with astonishing courage. Also,
years earlier, he had appeared in a few
scenes of the landmark documentary
Hoop Dreams. Finally, he was a former
college basketball star who had earned
his degree. The diploma meant that he
had choices and did not have to return
to the West Side. He came back mostly
because he had fathered a child—the girl
whose life he would one day save.
The tale of Shawn’s heroism spread
through the city, and while so many
shootings are forgotten, or not even
reported, his quickly became a sort of
true “urban legend.” The hole in the
headrest, the unharmed teenager with
shattered glass in her hair, screaming
until he calmed her and told her not to
panic—“We’re fine, call your mom and tell
her you’re OK, then call 911”—all the time
with a bullet lodged in his back.
Shawn’s troubles were just beginning.
Ninety days after the shooting his
paychecks stopped because he couldn’t
perform the “educational support” duties
he had been hired to do, working with
special education kids. Marshall has no
elevator, so following students from class
to class and monitoring their progress
was impossible. His healthcare vanished
soon after his paychecks, and despite the
fundraisers I and others helped organize,
his medical bills were piling up. A single
rehab session cost $850, and Medicaid
would not kick in for two years. It all
made my head spin.
So I did what I have been doing since
I left coaching. I decided to write a book.
Remember, I’m an academic now, and
writing a book to shine a light on a topic is
what we are supposed to do. I contin-
ued to advocate for Shawn, calling on
everyone I knew to help with donations,
or seeking an introduction to someone
who could help him land a job he could
perform—where he might again thrive.
I started scribbling notes, paying more
attention to the news, and, for the last
four summers, looking closer at the West
Side community, only this time, not for
basketball prospects.
Y
ou might already know about
Marshall’s iconic status in the
Chicago basketball scene, and
not just because of Hoop Dreams.
The Commandos have a long
record of great, undersized,
over-achieving teams. They also have
Dorothy Gaters, perhaps the best high-
school basketball coach in America. She
coaches the girls, and she’s won more
than 1,000 games. What makes Marshall
unique is that it’s practically one single
program. The boys’ and girls’ teams share
everything except locker rooms: offensive
sets, gym times, scouting reports and
zone presses. And pride. And they win.
But that doesn’t protect them from the
stupefying violence in the streets around
the school.
After Shawn was paralyzed, a stag-
gering string of events unfurled over the
next four years in the mostly apathetic
city of Chicago. Just a few short months
after Shawn survived, a former Marshall
player named Martin Satterfield was
shot six times, including twice in the face.
Satterfield lived, but like Shawn, he’s now
in a wheelchair.
WEST SIDE
RESIDENTS ACTUALLY
LOOK FORWARD TO
SNOW AND ICE
BECAUSE IT WILL
MEAN FEWER PEOPLE
OUTSIDE, AND THUS
LESS VIOLENCE.
Several months after Satterfield was
shot and paralyzed, another Marshall
hoops alum—Shawn Holloway—was
killed. Although he had already graduated
and his playing career had been sporadic,
his murder rocked the school.
Next came Tim Triplett. He had once
scored 50 points in single game—against
Marshall. But the whole school celebrat-
ed when he transferred to Marshall for
his senior year. He was admired for his
bubbling charisma and charm, and he
was good enough that he likely would
have earned a full scholarship after two
years playing at a junior college—just as
Shawn Harrington had once done. But
in the spring of 2015, Triplett, then a
redshirt college freshman, was murdered
at lunch time on the West Side.
A few months later, Marshall alum
Marcus Patrick was killed on Augusta, the
same street where Shawn was shot.
Next, a former player named Keyon
Boyd, whose nickname at Marshall had
been “Smiley,” was murdered in the
middle of the day.
That made five former Marshall
basketball players, all of whom had
graduated, shot on the West Side over the
course of two years. Four of them were
dead, and one of them would likely never
walk again. And, of course, there was
their coach, Shawn Harrington, who was
still struggling with rehab. Each killing
rattled Shawn, re-traumatized him. He
stopped going to the funerals.
The Chicago Tribune and Chicago
Sun-Times cover gun violence, but the
shootings are so common that they’re
difficult to track—Wait, I’ve read this
story already, right? Yet this collective
tragedy, this Marshall-specific epidemic,
was becoming a story in itself. Eventually
the New York Times picked up on it. Soon
after that, Chicago native Bryant Gumbel
came home to interview Shawn for a
segment on HBO’s Real Sports. Gumbel’s
piece was called “The Hooper’s Pass,”
about the long-extinct safety that ballers
could once claim.
In October of 2016, less than three
years after Shawn and five other Marshall
alums had been shot, Edward Bryant was
murdered. The difference this time was
that Edward Bryant was a current Mar-
shall player, a genuine Division I prospect
at 6-5. That shooting—before the first
game of his junior year—also claimed the
life of his twin brother Edwin, a Marshall
football player.
Another alum was killed six months
later. James King had been Marshall’s
undersized senior center the year Shawn
Harrington was shot. This one really
shook Shawn, as he had worked with
King in class for three-and-a-half years.
He was laid back, an old soul, and like
Shawn, King had been shot in a case of
mistaken identity.
In an all-too-common story in Chicago,
nobody was arrested for any of the seven
player shootings. (Martin Satterfield
declined to cooperate with the police
investigation.)
Four years after they shot Shawn, two
young men were sentenced to 59 years
each. Truth-in-sentencing laws in Illinois
dictate that they’ll be in their mid-70s
before they see a day of freedom.
By then I had piles of notes and a
SL AMONLINE.COM 65

A memorial for the Bryant twins
headful of confusion and sorrow. My ed-
itor had made it clear that the book was
to focus on Shawn Harrington. But with
each shooting—particularly the killing
of Tim Triplett—the book, like the West
Side, seemed to spin out of control. Still,
the manuscript was due in September of
2017. I weighed heartbreaking tragedy
after tragedy and tried to figure out how
much space to devote to each young man.
Finally, there was a bit of an upturn,
if not a “happy ending.” Arne Duncan,
the former United States Secretary of
Education and CEO of the Chicago Public
Schools, was able to get Shawn’s job at
Marshall repurposed so that he would
not have to travel beyond the first floor.
The lack of elevator would no longer be
an issue.
Shawn began to work sporadically
as a Restorative Justice Counselor,
interacting with troubled kids and
students affected by gun violence. He
has not been able to return to coaching
at Marshall—the gym is on the second
floor—but this was a new generation of
kids, anyway. The players who had
waited anxiously for their popular
assistant coach to return had all
graduated. Shawn began to focus on
his youth team, a crew of preteens
he’s worked with since they were in
third grade.
The book was published in May, but
even an academic knows that merely
writing a story, or appearing at book-
stores, does not fix things. The killings—
66 SL AMONLINE.COM
the ones connected to Marshall High
School basketball—continued.
This past July, Cedric Williams
became the seventh murdered Marshall
basketball player.
In August, yet another Marshall
football player was murdered—after a
basketball game on August 16, outside
the “Golden Dome” fieldhouse in Garfield
Park. Shawn grew up playing there; it’s
the closest city park to Marshall. Today,
there’s even a spring youth tournament
there named in his honor. But that night,
after the Marshall frosh-soph played,
a scuffle broke out among some fans.
That’s when a boy pulled out a gun and
shot Kenwon Parker in the chest, killing
him. Kenwon had simply been watching
his friends play basketball. He was 16.
Another kid was killed, too. He was 14.
Police could not legally hold the al-
leged shooter for long. He was just 13.
C
hicago’s West Side residents
don’t wish for summer like most
of America. When warm weather
creeps into the neighborhood,
more people mill about on the
street, and a dreadful sense that
things could go horribly wrong at any sec-
ond rolls in like bad weather from Lake
Michigan. It is only in October, when the
weather cools, that people can imagine
the quieter winter season on the horizon.
Instead, some West Side residents actu-
ally look forward to snow and ice because
it will mean fewer people outside, and
O P E N I N G S P R E A D : J O H N J . K I M / C H I C A G O T R I B U N E / T N S V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S ; P R E V I O U S S P R E A D F R O M L E F T: W O R S O M R O B I N S O N , J O H N J . K I M / C H I C A G O T R I B U N E / T N S V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S ; T H I S P A G E : S C O T T
thus, less violence. As the total shootings
have gone up, the number of arrests—and
the ages of shooters and victims—have
decreased.
Meanwhile, I’m pretty comfy back in
New Mexico. I don’t even lock my house,
let alone my car. That’s the danger of
academia, the trap. Maybe you live in a
place where you can ignore the violence,
too. At the university, everything becomes
theoretical, rhetorical, and that becomes
a sort of cushy sedative. We’re thinking,
writing and talking about it, and that’s
enough.
Two years ago, Shawn had the idea to
start a West Side basketball tournament
called “Hoops for Peace Chicago.” Players
get a free book, and if they’re old enough,
they can register to vote and be organ
donors. It all started as a theory, but now
it is tangible.
Shawn gets it. He gets it in a way that
few professors do. I’m trying to get it,
though, and if I don’t spend too much time
in university meetings, maybe I’ll have
a chance. I’ll keep in touch with Shawn
Harrington again this school year. Even
the least successful coaches hold out
hope each winter that, no matter how
remote, this could be the beginning of a
OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
better season. S
Rus Bradburd’s most recent book is
All the Dreams We’ve Dreamed: A Story
of Hoops and Handguns on Chicago’s
West Side.
MAD
WORDS Donnell Suggs

P. 68
NICe
VERNON MAXWELL was known for

his…let’s call it fierceness. But what

can’t be ignored is that the Houston

Rockets legend and two-time NBA

champion was one hell of a hooper.

THE
man once known as “Mad Max” isn’t very mad these days—
in fact, he’s quite happy, especially on the course. “I think
golf has settled me down,” says Vernon Maxwell, who ad-
mitted to playing “up to four times a week” during a phone
interview. The guy who once ran into the stands in San Antonio to get
in touch with a particularly rowdy fan now finds other ways to deal
with stress. “[Golf], that’s my relaxation. It’s what I enjoy doing.”
From 1988 to 2001 Maxwell enjoyed was 1986-87, his junior year, when the and Rumeal Robinson. Maxwell once
playing basketball for 10 NBA teams Gators made the Sweet 16. Maxwell’s again shined amongst the stars, finishing
while garnering a reputation for team-leading 21.7 points per game, plus the game with 23 points and 10 assists.
confrontation and, above all else, strong play from senior point guard It was a no-brainer that a team with a
winning. Everywhere he played the team Andrew Moten and the addition of the first-round selection in the 1988 NBA
was made better by his presence, if late Dwayne Schintzius, a McDonald’s draft would pick the top off-guard in the
not in the locker room then definitely All-American, all contributed to powering SEC, the player most responsible for
on the court. Florida to their first-ever Tournament bringing big-time basketball to the
A Gainesville, FL, native, Maxwell was appearance and a first round matchup University of Florida, right? Wrong.
destined to play for legendary former NC with Valvano and Sloan’s former Maxwell was drafted 47th in the second
State and then University of Florida employer, NC State. The Pack didn’t round by the Nuggets, who immediately
coach Norm Sloan and the Gators. An stand a chance. The unheralded but sent him to San Antonio, three spots
all-state, All-American caliber recruit higher seeded Gators (the Gators were a ahead of current Golden State Warriors
coming out of Buchholz High School, 6-seed, the Wolfpack an 11) won the coach Steve Kerr and after the likes of
Maxwell had his choice of high-level game, 82-70, behind Maxwell’s 28 points. Temple’s Tim Perry, Jeff Grayer, Derrick
programs but those schools would have Then-future NBA players Vinny Del Chievous, Randolph Keys and Orlando
had to be within driving distance to land Negro, Chucky Brown and Charles Graham. A 6-8 power forward from
the 6-4 guard. Even some of the game’s Shackleford couldn’t do anything to stop Auburn University at Montgomery, an
best collegiate coaches couldn’t get Maxwell on the biggest stage. “Vernon N.A.I.A. school, Graham was drafted by
the versatile scorer away from his was our go-to guy,” says Moten, currently the Miami Heat with the 40th pick—even
momma’s cooking. the head basketball coach at West the home team wouldn’t take a chance
“I probably made my decision when I Gadsden High School in his hometown of on a player that admittedly had “kind of
got on my first ever flight to Raleigh Quincy, FL. A four-year starting point had a bad attitude.”
[North Carolina],” Maxwell says. He had guard at Florida who was one year ahead Moten agrees, “Vernon was definitely
been en route to visiting the reigning of Maxwell, Moten echoes what many supposed to be a first-round pick,” he
NCAA champion NC State Wolfpack and former teammates say about Mad Max: says. It’s been said that Maxwell probably
their enigmatic head coach Jim Valvano. “He was one of the best teammates you would have been better off playing his
Valvano was only 37 years old when he could have on a basketball court. You college ball away from where he grew
led the Cinderella “Cardiac Pack” to the knew he had your back.” up, as his drop on the draft board suppos-
NCAA title in 1983 and even before that The Gators moved on to blow out the edly had to do with minor scrapes with
was regarded as one of the nation’s best No. 3 seed Purdue Boilermakers 85-66. the law. “Sometimes people say one
recruiters. “The flight was probably an Coached by Gene Keady, the 25-5 thing about a kid and the next thing you
hour and a half, but it felt like forever,” Boilermakers were the 1987 Big-10 know the player starts slipping,” says
Maxwell says. champs and had lost just four games up Moten, himself an All-SEC First Team
Valvano and the Pack didn’t close the to that point. The Sweet 16 would match selection the year before who was
deal. NC State’s loss was Florida’s gain. the Gators up with eventual runner-up drafted in the fourth round of the ’87
During his four years in Gainesville, and second seeded Syracuse. The 87-81 draft by the New Jersey Nets.
Maxwell helped what was then just loss still bothers Maxwell to this day—he Maxwell not only made the Spurs but
a mediocre program—having failed believes his team was just as good or started 36 games while averaging 11.7
to ever make the NCAA Tournament— better than an Orangemen side loaded points, 3.8 assists and a steal per game.
turn into a force to be reckoned with with NBA talents like Derrick Coleman, He split time at shooting guard with
in the SEC. During his freshman and Rony Seikaly and Sherman Douglas. “We Willie Anderson and Johnny Dawkins for
sophomore years, that trend of March- definitely underachieved,” Maxwell says. a 21-win Spurs team under current SMU
less basketball continued despite “We had a lot of characters on that team, head coach Larry Brown before he was
Maxwell averaging 13.3 points per game but we were really good.” traded to Houston during his second
as freshman and a team-high 19.6 during His senior season would end with a season. For the next five and half
his sophomore stint. loss in the second round to a Michigan seasons, Maxwell was the starter for
The breakout season that brought team with eventual NBA players Glen what would ultimately be some of the
Maxwell and the Gators into public view Rice, Gary Grant, Loy Vaught, Terry Mills best and worst years of his career.

SL AMONLINE.COM 69
 He peaked at 17.2 ppg during the
’91-92 season. Maxwell’s 51-point game
in January of 1991 against Cleveland
was a clear demonstration of his ability
to dominate. He played on the famous
“Clutch City” Rocket teams of ’93-94 and
’94-95, becoming close friends with NBA
veteran guards Mario Ellie and Sam
Cassell and winning a pair of champion-
ships in the process. “I knew how much it
meant to the city, to the fans,” Maxwell
says. “To bring the first professional
championship to the city was big.”
“He was one of the fiercest competi-
tors I have ever played with or against,”
Ellie says.
“[Maxwell] was an ultra-competitor,”
Cassell says. “Some of the other 2-guards
in the League were taller or stronger, but
he never backed down and he wasn’t
afraid to mix it up with anybody.” As a
rookie fresh out of Florida State in 1993,
Cassell wasn’t sure what he was getting
into as a first round pick joining a team
with an already established backcourt in
Maxwell and veteran point guard Kenny
Smith. Maxwell, then a five-year veteran,
could have given the
rookie the cold shoulder,
but he did the opposite.
“My first year in the
League he took me under
his wing,” Cassell adds.
“MAXWELL WAS AN ULTRA-COMPETITOR. HE WASN’T
AFRAID TO MIX IT UP WITH ANYBODY.” —Sam Cassell
“He gave me my toughness.”
For better or worse, toughness was
Mad Max’s most visible quality. That
toughness was on display for all to see
when the Rockets were up against a
potential sweep during the 1994 Western
Conference semifinals playing in Phoenix
after blowing consecutive 20-point leads
in Games 1 and 2. Maxwell’s 31 second-
half points sealed a Game 3 win and
helped lead to an eventual seven-game
series win for the Rockets. In Game 7 of
the ’94 Finals, Max’s 21 points—only
Hakeem Olajuwon (25 points) and Knicks
PG Derek Harper (23 points) scored more
that night—and game clinching three-
pointer over the outstretched arms of
Knicks guard John Starks solidified his
position as a Rockets legend.
It appeared that things couldn’t get
much better for Maxwell as the Rockets
approached the 1995 playoffs, but that
70 SL AMONLINE.COM
positivity didn’t last long. The Rockets
had traded for Hall of Fame guard Clyde
Drexler, which cut into Maxwell’s
minutes. During the first game of that
postseason, in a game against Utah,
Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich put
Max in the game to attempt a game-win-
ning or game-tying shot with 2.4 seconds
remaining. Maxwell had played 16
minutes in the game and shot 1-7 from
the field, scoring 3 points, and by his own
admission didn’t feel respected by his
coach. Maxwell missed the forced
three-point attempt and famously
stormed off the court. He never wore a
Rocket uniform again.
“That was the worst decision of my
life,” Maxwell says. “I’ve run it through
my mind a thousand times. All I had to do
was sit there. There was a whole lot of
series left to play.”
“We were all hurt, especially Sam
and I, because we were tight,” Ellie says.
“We lost one of our soldiers. [He] was
one of the best teammates I have ever
had in my life.”
“[He] thought he was disrespected,”
Cassell says. “I told him this wasn’t our
series, but he just didn’t understand. We
won the championship the year before
with him as the starter and he just
couldn’t understand the present situation
with him coming off the bench.”
Maxwell, who was on a “leave of
absence” as the Rockets won the 1995
NBA championship, would sign the
following offseason with Philadelphia to
play for John Lucas and the 76ers on
what would ultimately be an 18-win
team. The Rockets would go on to win
48 games that season before losing to
Seattle in the second round of the
playoffs. The old saying was true: You
couldn’t live with him or without him.
The Rockets would fail to return to the
NBA Finals without Maxwell on the
roster. He didn’t fare much better,
moving on to San Antonio following his
one season in the City of Brotherly
Love—and from there he bounced around
the NBA, playing for Orlando, Charlotte,
Sacramento, Seattle, Philly (again) and
Dallas before hanging up his jersey in
2001. He never again topped the scoring
numbers he put up during his years in
Houston in the early ’90s, though he did
average double digits in four of the
post-Houston seasons.
The glory days of ’94 gone and his
career over, Maxwell retired and moved
to the Charlotte area, played golf and
removed himself from any NBA circles,
keeping up with close friends but making
no overtures to join college or profes-
sional coaching staffs. When we speak,
He still sounds like he’s ready to get back
into the game in some way, though the
League has yet to help him gain entry.
“I’m getting my résumé together,”
Maxwell says from his home in Houston.
The veteran guard is interested in getting
into coaching like his buddies Ellie and
Cassell, who both spent years in the NBA
as assistants. “Hopefully I can start at
the bottom of some organization and
work my way up.”
Ellie thinks Max can certainly bring
something to a team but understands
why the opportunity didn’t immediately
present itself. “Once you’re out of the
League [as a player] you have to keep in
contact with people and Vernon didn’t do
that. He has a wealth of basketball
knowledge and I know he’d be a fantastic
coach.”
“Vernon did a lot of winning compared
to a lot of guys,” Cassell says. However
the reputation of the man who at one
time was universally called “Mad Max”
for good reason—go search for a video of
P R E V I O U S S P R E A D : N AT H A N I E L S . B U T L E R ; R I G H T: A N D R E W D .
his fight with Michael Jordan on
YouTube—may hinder his opportunities.
“Perception is everything in the league,”
Cassell says. “Vernon is a great guy, but
perception is everything.”
Maxwell agrees. “When it comes to
BERNSTEIN/BOTH NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES
coaching you have to climb that ladder.
I don’t know if it’s because of my past. I’m
just waiting for that opportunity to
happen for me.”
On March 19, 2015, the Rockets
celebrated both championship teams and
every member was invited back to
Houston. “Not-so Mad Max” made an
appearance and was once again a Rocket,
if only for a day.
“When [he] came back for the reunion
everyone welcomed him with open arms,”
Ellie says. “Everybody loves Vernon.”
You can’t be mad at that. S
Lewis and
Antoine
THE COME UP
Together
New Jersey natives SCOTTIE LEWIS and BRYAN ANTOINE have risen up the HS ranks
and become two of the best and most exciting up-and-coming guards in the country—and they’ve
done so alongside one another every step of the way.

W
ITH THE NUMBER OF Lewis, a 6-5 guard, committed to the to ESPN, he’s the highest-rated recruit
elite high school programs Florida Gators after also holding offers to commit to the Wildcats since Corey
and AAU club teams multi- from the likes of Kentucky, Arizona and Fisher, a member of the Class of 2007, did
plying exponentially every Kansas, among the dozens of other schol- so over a decade ago.
year, high school recruits arships on the table. He ultimately chose The duo helped lead Ranney to a 28-5
now have options upon options regarding Gainesville over Lexington. record last season while reaching the
where to play and who to play with. As Antoine, also a 6-5 guard, committed Non-Public A championship, winning
a result, highly rated prospects annually to Villanova in September after listing the Shore Conference Tournament and
switching teams during the winter or Duke, Florida, Kentucky and Kansas sectional playoff title (both achievements
summer months has become the norm. among his other final options. According were a first in school history) and finishing
Yet for a pair of five-star senior guards out
of New Jersey, this trend has had no im-
pact on their journeys. Scottie Lewis and
Bryan Antoine are the longest tenured
star duo in high school hoops.
“Absolutely! Of all time!” says Lewis
when asked if he’s part of the best duo
in basketball. “We’ve lasted the longest.
Can’t no one say they’ve been together
longer. It’s like seven years now.”
Starring at the Ranney School, located
just a few miles off the Jersey Shore in
Monmouth County, the pair has brought
into the national spotlight a program that
wasn’t on anyone’s hoops radar prior to
their arrival.
Just recently, both blue chippers,
ranked among the top 15 recruits in the
Class of 2019, announced their college
decisions—signaling an end to their
historic run sharing the court together at
Ranney and with the Team Rio program
during AAU season.

WORDS FRANKLYN CALLE PORTR AITS JOHNNIE IZQUIERDO SL AMONLINE.COM 73

 ranked second in the state.
The Antoine-Lewis tag team show
hasn’t just garnered attention for the re-
sults on the court. The jovial pair has also “WE’VE LASTED THE LONGEST.
figured out how to stay in the moment and
enjoy the experience they’ve created. CAN’T NO ONE SAY THEY’VE BEEN
TOGETHER LONGER. IT’S LIKE
“Every game, we try to approach it as
serious as possible, but the moment the

SEVEN YEARS NOW.”

ball tips off and Scottie takes the ball
down the lane and dunks on somebody
and everyone turns around hyped and
screaming—that point is a balance of be-
ing serious and having fun,” Antoine says.
“I think that’s when it’s really going to
hit us—when we have that first practice
and Bryan is not there and I’m not there
for him,” Lewis says of the pair’s inevi-
table split. “But we’ve been to so many
camps [where] we haven’t been on the
same team and we’ve practiced with new
guys and faces, so I think that has kind of
prepared us for that next level and being
used to not having each other there.”
Antoine and Lewis are just the latest
names on a long list of Jersey natives
putting on for the Garden State on the
national level in recent years. Just last
season, NJ was home to three of the top
— L E W I S
25 recruits in the Class of 2018.
Despite being a dynamic one-two
punch on the national stage for the past
few years and displaying an indestructible
chemistry on and off the hardwood—
which is even more evident when at
times they finish each other sentences
during our sit-down interview—the two
hold vastly contrasting personalities and
approaches to the game.
Lewis sees himself as more of the
vocal leader and spends most of the time
playing off the ball and doing a little bit of
T HIS PAGE: B OB BL A NCH A R D, BA SK E T BA LL H A LL OF FA ME
everything, while Antoine is more of the
soft-spoken assassin and the primary ball
handler and scorer. While Antoine has
more of a laid-back, glass is half full men-
tality, Lewis admits losing isn’t something
he deals with well.
Antoine averaged 21.1 points, 3.4
rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.5 steals and 0.8
blocks per game last season. Throughout
his career at Ranney, he’s averaged over
20 points (20.7) per, piling up 1,745 points
in 84 games.
Although today he is touted as one

74 S L A M O N L I N E . C O M

of the elite scorers in America, at one
point in Antoine’s life, it was the diamond
and not the hardwood that appeared to be
his calling.
“When I was 4, I started playing bas-
ketball, but when I moved to New Jersey
[from Florida] I don’t know why but I
started finding baseball so intriguing,”
Antoine says. “For like three or four years,
that’s all I did. I trained. I played every po-
sition but I was mainly first base because
I was a tall kid and had a long reach. But I
ended up picking up basketball and every-
thing blew up from there.”
Lewis has also surpassed 1,000
career points at Ranney but is known for
filling up the stat sheet beyond just the
points column, averaging 16.4 points, 5.5
rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.9
blocks last season.
A two-sport athlete, Lewis is also part
of the track and field team at Ranney,
where he says he’s run the 100 meters at
a personal-best 10.6 seconds—which he
says is the school record. He also runs the
200m, this year started running the 400
and also does the high jump.
Lewis’ goal heading into college is the
same as most kids in his position: to win a
National Championship.
Heading into November, Florida had
the fourth-best recruiting class for next
season, according to ESPN. The Gators
have already secured commitments from
three top-40 prospects and are looking to
add more.
THE COME UP
Antoine is heading into a Villanova pro-
gram that has won the National Champi-
onship twice in the past three seasons and
has become the clear-cut top program in
the legendary Big East Conference. Yet he
isn’t approaching his college goals in the
same manner we’ve come to expect for
players of his stature.
“For achievements for next year, mine
are a little more different than winning a
national championship,” Antoine says. “I
have the pleasure to be coached by Jay
Wright and the stuff that he’s done to his
players over the course of three-to-four
years—they’ve turned out to be a finished
product [that] he envisioned when he first
started recruiting them. So I’d say my
achievement for next year is to just soak
up everything he has to tell me and learn
from everything he has to teach me. I feel
like if I listen to him and I pay attention
to what he’s saying then hopefully if the
whole team does the same we could
probably end up winning a national cham-
pionship.”
But before they take over college
hoops on their own, they still have one
more season together in which to add
accolades and historic feats to their
résumés. The two have already left their
prints on a community that up to this
point hasn’t been known for elite hoops
talent. And it’s that kind of effect that the
duo hopes to have on an even larger scale
moving forward.
“I think we’ve been a lot more driven
than motivated,” Lewis says. “I saw a
quote one time that said, ‘Never be moti-
vated but always be driven.’ Because an
artist is always motivated—it could take
them one year [to] do a painting, but that
motivation only lasts however so long,
and when you’re driven that’s skin-deep,
that’s in your heart and mind, and so that’s
something that lasts forever. I think we’ve
been more driven than anything to be able
to express and use our platform and voice
to affect people near us and far.” S
THE COME UP
 No Weakness
When he was just 13, University of Louisville commit and highly ranked
big man AIDAN IGIEHON moved from Ireland to New York to pursue his
hoop dreams. So far, the journey has been pretty damn incredible.
I
T W A S J U N E O F 2 0 1 4 , and
13-year-old Aidan Igiehon packed
his bags, said goodbye to his mother
and boarded a flight across the
Atlantic Ocean to New York City.
The Clondalkin, West Dublin, native had
left behind his local Moyle Park College
friends and instead enrolled
at Lawrence Woodmere Acad-
emy—over 3,100 miles away
in Long Island. Despite having
just started hooping the year
prior, the promising physical
attributes (he was already 6-4
when he moved to the States)
and visible high-ceiling poten-
tial was enough to prompt a
hoop dreams relocation.
It would only take a couple
of years before the now 6-10
five-star recruit rose to nation-
al stardom and began piling
up scholarship offers from
the nation’s top basketball
programs.
In retrospect, Igiehon actu-
ally sees starting basketball
“late” as his advantage.
“I started playing bas-
ketball when I was 13 years
old—super late! As late as can
be,” Igiehon says. “[But] I think
it served me well. I was eager
to learn. I was behind. I came
here and people were years
ahead of me. What happened
was, I kind of kept this tunnel
vision and just kept working
and working, and when I
stopped and looked to the side,
I was like, Damn, I’ve caught
up and I’ve passed people!
[Because] my love for the game was new, I
wasn’t bored.”
Another advantage? Being physically
gifted. There’s a reason his nickname is
“The Irish Hulk.” It is his natural physique
as well as his experience as a former
soccer player that he says are the main
reasons why the transition to hoops, espe-
WORDS FRANKLYN CALLE PORTR AITS JOHNNIE IZQUIERDO
cially once he arrived in the US, wasn’t as
bad as expected.
“Honestly, my athleticism is God given,”
says the explosive center, currently ranked
among America’s top 40 seniors. “I could
always run and jump. I always had a
natural feel [for] the transition of the
game because when I first came here, the
game was so much faster than how it
was [back home]. But the way I adapted—
I adapted within a couple of months. A
lot of taller guys that are my age and
6-10, 6-11—they can’t really run that well.
Not a lot of them. I think it’s easy—I used
to play soccer so I’m nimble. That kind
of comes really easy for me.”
Known for his sturdy build and power-
ful drives to the rim, Igiehon has embraced
the “Irish Hulk” moniker, especially now
that it has become a part of his daily
routine.
“That’s kinda what I’m known by now.
It’s so funny how you pretty
much get a nickname and
that’s what you’re known by,”
Igiehon says. “I remember I
walked into a barbershop and
they were like, Wait, you’re the
Irish Hulk! And I was like, Nah,
I’m Aidan, it’s me. And they’re
like, No, you’re the Irish Hulk. I
saw your video!”
In mid-October, Igiehon
committed to Louisville after
also considering Kentucky,
Oregon and St. John’s. As of
early November, Louisville’s
2019 recruiting class is ranked
among college basketball’s
top five. The Cardinals have
already secured commitments
from five top-100 recruits in
the senior class. For Igiehon,
though, his decision came
down to the experience he had
on his official visit down in the
Derby City—both on and off
the court.
“They made me feel like
I was there already,” Igiehon
recalls. “I came in straight
to the center court and the
spotlight was just on me. And
[you hear], ‘Coming in at 207
pounds, Aidan!’ So you’re just
like, whoa! And, you know,
the Yum Center is huge. It’s
like 20,000 seats. So you’re just looking
[around] as a kid, like, whoa! They put on
the uniform and did a photo shoot. And I’m
feeling good. Let me tell you, Jeff Ruby’s
[Steakhouse]—Coach [Chris] Mack took us
for the official visit dinner—that sealed the
deal for me. That was like the best steak I
ever had.” S
SL AMONLINE.COM 77
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KICKS
K
yrie Irving is all about story-
telling. He uses his sneakers
as platforms to share his story,
as well as the stories of others.
He’s hit the court in numerous
PEs throughout the years, harkening back
to his time shooting in the driveway with
his father, or eating cereal while watching
Grease, or grabbing donuts from Krispy
80 SL AMONLINE.COM
Kreme. He even created a pair of Kyrie 4s
called “Power is Female,” in celebration of
strong women. They dominated the WNBA
footwear scene all summer.
“Before, I was just trying to get a shoe
out,” Irving says, via Nike. “I was just trying
to have something that looks hot, looks
good. Now I’m trying to have something
that is driven from who I am. In that, I’m
just a normal person with a vision. I want
to have everyone be included in it.
“With the colorways and the stories
these relay, I’m trying to be more honest.
Whether people pass judgment on the
stories or not, it’s going to happen. The
importance is making these relatable.
And at times, I want to support others in
sharing their stories. People sometimes
feel like they’re alone or they feel like they
can’t connect to anyone. I want to come in
and bridge that gap for them—that’s part
of the great potential of this whole thing.”
Irving’s going to use the Kyrie 5 to
continue to share moments from his past.
The 5 has lots of room for creativity, an
area where Irving thrives. He and his team
at Nike have pushed the boundaries of col-
orways for the past few years. Now that
the rules restricting sneakers are gone,
the Celtics star has room to play.
Ben Nethongkome, Senior Footwear
Designer at Nike Basketball and the lead
mind behind the 5, packed the new silhou-
Know Me
KYRIE IRVING is using his fifth
Nike signature sneaker to tell
some amazing stories—and get
a whole lot of buckets.
ette with all-new technology. He started
at the base, creating the all-new Nike Air
Zoom Turbo bag. It’s designed to work
in concert with the 5’s curved outsole, a
T H I S PA G E : C O U R T E S Y O F N I K E ; M A G L E Y: S TA C E Y R E V E R E / G E T T Y
composition that’s been part of the Kyrie
line for years. That curved outsole aids the
I M AG E S ; T U C K E R : B I I L L B A P T I S T/ N B A E V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S
ever-shifty Irving in using his feet, stop-
ping, starting, darting all around the floor.
“In the Kyrie 5, it is distributed across
the entire forefoot footbed, working with
his quick-change-of-direction style of
play,” Nethongkome says about the new
Air bag. “When he’s banking, cutting, or
attacking in drastic degrees, his foot will
engage the Air Zoom Turbo unit providing
responsiveness at all directions.”
Nethongkome’s team was able to
shape the airbag to the curved outsole
by using a new engineering process that
“creates flexibility in the Air unit via a
series of welded channels,” according to
the Swoosh. A new containment system
and a new traction pattern round out the
5’s functionality. The silhouette is out now.
—Max Resetar
 Heat of the
Moment
The man responsible for
keeping track of
PJ “SNEAKER KING” TUCKER’S
kicks collection explains
the process.

A
nthony Nila, the Houston Rockets’
equipment manager, is laughing
about working with PJ Tucker.
“In my office, just from last year,
[Tucker] said it’s well over $100K
of tennis shoes,” Nila says. “It’s hard to imag-
ine. I’m like, ‘Tuck, you can buy a house. You
could buy a car.’ It’s definitely crazy.”
Nila’s been with the Rockets since 1994.
When the Comets started dominating the
WNBA, he worked with Sheryl Swoopes, a

Way Too Fly

PUMA is back in hoops, and their first moves
have proven that they’re dead serious about becoming a
legit player in the space once again.
Nike athlete. Tracy McGrady also had a sig-
nature deal when he was in H-Town. But Nila
says he’s never seen anybody with the feets
like Tucker.
“When he first came I thought it was just
a joke that he was bringing his own [shoes],”
Nila says. “I would put an order in with Nike
and he didn’t wear any of them. All of a

P
sudden, he comes in with three pairs each
UMA Hoops came through with a right hook a few days before the day and some of them, the cost… I’m just like,
2018 NBA Draft. Deandre Ayton and Marvin Bagley III led the way as there’s no way shoes could cost this much.”
the brand found its way back into the basketball space, becoming After Tucker played in 106 different pairs
their first endorsers. Before Terry Rozier, DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy last season, Nila’s prepared for the ride this
Gay were among the others to ride the wave, PUMA introduced their year. He ordered two separate sneaker bags
new basketball silhouette at an event in Brooklyn, right before last summer’s just for Tucker’s collection. He also has
draft. A blazing-bright orange treatment was unveiled. It covered the Clyde James Harden, Carmelo Anthony and Chris
Court Disrupt, PUMA’s first basketball sneaker in 20 years. Paul—each with their own signature kicks—on
The sneaker is an updated version of the PUMA Clyde, the signature model the squad. And even though the restrictions
that Walt “Clyde” Frazier made famous in 1973. This new adaptation, according on colorways have been lifted by the
to Max Staiger, Category Manager for Basketball at PUMA, was heavily influ- NBA, Nila says it’s still business as
enced by the shoe that came out 45 years ago. usual for him.
“The old Clyde, we really took the design aesthetics,” Staiger says. “We “The procedure, it’s about the
really used it as a foundation and a starting point, from a look and feel. Then same,” he says. “I just put in
we asked ourselves what technologies do we have in the toolbox.” an order but I can’t order
That arsenal included a knit upper and a knit collar, a rubber cupsole and a anything with funky colors.
new foam material made up of NRGY beads. Like, James Ennis, he’s
“NRGY beads is actually our hybrid foam,” Staiger says. “It’s a proprietary like, ‘Man, I’m not gonna
combination of these beads and a larger foam compound. If you combine them wear anything you’re
together, it gives you great energy return. gonna give me.’ I said,
“We encapsulated the NRGY foam in this full-rubber cupsole which actual- ‘This is what Nike gives
ly relates directly to the design aesthetic from the Clyde,” Staiger continues. you. If you wanna get
“It gives you great lateral support and fantastic traction. But then it’s encap- something, you’ve
sulated in this rubber. Very strategically placed technology.” gotta do like PJ.’”
The brazen introductory colorway set the pace for PUMA Hoops. They’re —MR
not trying to just fit in. Staiger emphasizes how much they’re looking to
establish themselves as “a culturally led initiative,” and not just a basketball
brand. That mentality is going to influence all of their moves going forward,
including how they design their kicks. —MR

SL AMONLINE.COM 81
 STEPHEN CURRY OCTOBER 10, 2009

Here’s Stephen 10
years ago. Three
championships, two
MVPs, five All-Star
Games, six signature
sneakers later...who
could’ve guessed?

ROCKY WIDNER/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGS

82 SL AMONLINE.COM
 COMING SOON TO
UA.COM/BASKETBALL