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#216 JULY/AUG 2018

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14. 22. 32. 42. 52. The Outlet Shareef O’Neal Anfernee Simons Ben Simmons 2018 SLAM Boys and Girls HS All-American 16. 24. 34. 46. Teams NBA Legends and DeAndre Ayton Jalen Brunson Emoni Bates Their Sons 56. 30. 36. 48. A’ja Wilson 20. Collin Sexton Luka Doncic Gary Harris and Allen Iverson Jamal Murray

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Coming this August #216 JULY/AUG 2018

THE FUTURE ISSUE

58. 72. Cassius Stanley Carlos Boozer 60. 73. NBA 2K League Cherokee Parks 62. 74. NBA Signature The Four-Point Shoe Athletes Line 65. 78. Kobe’s Signature Kicks Sneaker Line On Court 66. 80. Connecticut Sun Slamadamonth 68. 82. Nico Mannion Frozen Moment 71. The G League

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2018 VOL.25 NO.4

PUBLISHER Dennis S. Page EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER David Schnur HEAD OF CONTENT/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Adam Figman CREATIVE DIRECTOR Alexis Cook EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Susan Price Thomas SENIOR EDITOR Ryne Nelson 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 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS The Sixth Man Ryan Jones, Abe Schwadron, Tzvi Twersky BASKETBALL EVANGELIST Rick Telander SENIOR WRITERS Russ Bengtson, Michael Bradley, Khalid Salaam, Leo Sepkowitz, ou’ll notice that this issue is energy and resources in covering the high Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams, Nima Zarrabi a little...different. There’s no school basketball scene than ever before CONTRIBUTORS Ben Collins, Jack Jensen, Sam Laird, Y formal HYPE section, no NOYZ, (word to @SLAM_HS—go follow that on Howard Megdal, Lang Whitaker no PUNKS, and it’s absent a lot Instagram and Twitter if for some reason ART of the usual sections that fill your average you’ve been sleeping), and we’re excited DESIGNER Lester Padilla issue of SLAM. to announce that this August the first CONTRIBUTORS Cassy Athena, Jamal Burger, Matthew Coughlin, Instead, with a few exceptions, we set- ever SLAM high school all-star game will Pablo Garcia, Chase Grizzly, Jack Jensen, Charlie Lindsay, tled on a slew of stories and tossed them be going down at the legendary Dyck- Jarod Opperman, Jonathan Pushnick, Ricky Rhodes, Evan Trusewicz, Vuhlandes, Ryan Young, Mark Ward on top of each another, one after the next man Park in New York City. That whole VIDEO after the next. This wasn’t out of laziness weekend is going to be fire, and if all goes SENIOR PRODUCER or lack of inspiration. We decided to format to plan, will set the stage for a recurring Derek King ASSOCIATE VIDEO EDITOR/SHOOTER the issue this way because all of the event that’ll take place for years to come. Christian Quezada stories are (again, with a few exceptions) Can’t wait. ASSOCIATE VIDEO DIRECTOR, HS Bryan LaRussa so connected by a common theme that ADVERTISING putting rigid boundaries between them Peace, ADVERTISING DIRECTOR didn’t feel right. Michael Yaari JUNIOR CONTROLLER SLAM 216 is our second annual Future Jake Vitaliano Issue. (We leaned into the concept a little MVP Spiro Maroulis softer during last year’s version of this is- For all advertising inquiries, email [email protected] sue—SLAM 211—but this year we’re going SLAM MEDIA INC. all out.) Just about every article in here CHAIRMAN Joe Samberg nods to the future of hoops and the direc- Adam Figman VICE CHAIRMAN Peter Robert Casey CEO Dennis S. Page tion that the game and culture are heading COO David Schnur in. There’s a way heavier youth basketball P.S. While I can’t promise we won’t be HEAD OF SLAM STUDIOS Reid Wittman presence than I believe in any issue of using this magazine to try all sorts of fun Consumer Marketing, Enthusiast Media Subscription Company Inc. SLAM ever; all of the NBA features focus stuff in the coming months and years, I SVP, CIRCULATION Tom Slater VP, RETENTION & OPERATIONS FULFILLMENT on up-and-coming superstars as opposed do know that next issue we’ll be returning Donald T. Robinson III to already-established icons; and even to our usual format, with the same mag To carry SLAM in your store: 800.381.1288 the couple of Old School pieces are about sections you’ve come to know and love. SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE guys working to make an impact with the For US: [email protected] or 800.333.6411 International: 386.447.6383 or write to SLAM, P.O. Box next generation (or in one case, the next P.P.S. Oh, almost forgot! The digital ver- 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235. Please include name, address and phone number on any inquiries. wave of NBA execs). sions of our new covers MOVE. So make Canada Post: Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to IMEX Global Solutions, P.O. Box 25542, It’s a theme that aligns well with sure you peep them on our social accounts London, ON N6C 6B2. just about everything going on at SLAM or website after you’re finished reading BACK ISSUES these days. We’ve invested more time, this thing. To order back issues, visit https://www.circsource.com/store/storeBackIssues.html Occasionally our subscriber list is made available to reputable firms offering goods and services we believe would be of inter- est to our readers. If you prefer to be excluded, please email your current address and a note requesting to be excluded from these OFF THE BENCH promotions to SLAM Media Inc. at [email protected]. Write to SLAM: [email protected] You can thank our Creative Director, Alexis Cook, for the fresh new look For general inquiries, email [email protected] we’ve been rocking for the last two years. Before she took over at SLAM, Alexis worked at Guitar World, XXL and Popular Mechanics. When she’s not designing SLAM covers with Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins and an Printed in U.S.A. alligator (!), Alexis spends her time traveling the world (Iceland and Portu- Copyright © 2018 by SLAM Media Inc. gal are her latest recommendations) and watching serious TV like The Real All rights reserved. Housewives of New York. Check out more of her work at alexiscook.com.

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For real, this might be the best cover ever. separate award than MVP, which is most month for women’s basketball. Huw Hopkins via Facebook *valuable*. But what do I know?—Ed. An example of this is in the National <3—Ed. Championship game in which Arike How can anyone there say they know Ogunbowale hit the winning three and Klay Thompson should be leading his anything about basketball and the NBA how she had done it in the previous game own team, I’m sure he could do it. Put when you leave the good Doctor off the (the Final Four game). I know you guys him on a team like Milwaukee or New cover (of the TOP 100 issue). Dr. J was have a lot on your plate with covering Orleans, and you could have a team otherworldly!! He is, in my estimation, the NBA playoffs and all but I’m sure all go from fringe playoffs to a legitimate the most exciting player to ever lace of your female readers and others alike championship contender. them up! Period!! Your can redress your would really appreciate it if more women Dylan Robinson via Facebook massive oversight by doing a feature were covered in your issues. on the good Doctor forthwith. The Doc Lauren Nelson via email I am 13 years old, and I don’t know what continues to be disrespected, and it has This issue has the first ever Girls SLAM SLAM’s opinion on the MVP this year to STOP!!!! HS All-American team, plus features is but I’m thinking LEBRON JAMES all Maurice Moody via email on an up-and-coming WNBA team and the way. Not James Harden, LEBRON. an up-and-coming WNBA superstar. KING JAMES’ stats are way better. He First off, I love your magazine, it’s Enjoy!!!—Ed. leads Harden in RPG, APG, BPG, FGM, definitely the best basketball mag in and is 3.3 points behind him in PPG. the game and I really look forward to Not to mention that Harden is one of reading it every month. But I would really SEND LETTERS TO: the League’s worst defenders unlike appreciate if you would cover women’s TRASH TALK, C/O SLAM LEBRON. Also, being a big Pacers fan basketball more. You rarely have female 21 W. 46TH STREET, SUITE 504, as myself let’s see if we can’t get Victor athletes in your magazine (maybe one or NEW YORK, NY 10036 Oladipo on the cover of SLAM soon. two at most) and it would be nice to have MESSAGE US ON FACEBOOK Gabriel Jolly via email either more women regularly in your OR EMAIL US AT: I still think they should start a Most issues or a whole magazine on the game [email protected] Outstanding Player award for the *best* of women’s basketball. There have been (WE MAY EDIT LETTERS TO FIT.) player in the League and have that as a many memorable moments in the past

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CAN YOUR TEAM STAND THE HEAT? BIGFOOTHOOPS.COM OR (713) 524-3036 THE FUTURE ISSUE REALITY CHECK

A YOUTUBE CHANNEL KNOWN AS scouting my two dream prospects tive-but-mixed review. INTHELAB KEEPS IT REAL—LIKE, on YouTube alone, I project both It forced me to encounter a truly Luka Doncic and Jaren Jackson Jr horrifying thing: nuance. VERY REAL—WHEN IT COMES TO to shoot 95 percent from the field That’s what the real future is DOCUMENTING THE PLAYERS in the NBA. Reality is mathemati- in basketball: Kids, freaked out by WHO WILL SHAPE THE GAME OF cally closer to 9 percent. computers and the spooky garbage BASKETBALL FOR YEARS TO COME. That’s where Devin Williams they can do to you, will watch one comes into play. Devin isn’t in that of Devin’s videos on YouTube—then gaggle of dream prospects. He they will go outside and do it. WORDS BEN COLLINS //////////// just showed me I’m Diane-ing all When he’s not doing deep-dives of them. on specific players, Devin makes “Some of the kids I’ve seen out videos on specific moves and NFORTUNATELY, AS A living person, there are the most skilled I’ve ever crossovers that used to be region- you have a cell phone somewhere within 15 seen, but it comes at a cost,” he told al. He slows everything down— inches of you right now. And with that, you me. “You learn so much by watching both in the scouting videos and the U have infinite access to pictures of people the game, but just by watching the tutorials he puts together—then you barely even like going on vacation to highlights, you don’t notice how hard makes it all pretty in After Effects. Cabo San Lucas every single weekend, swimming with it can be. It’s highlights. You have to “I was learning everything from sharks, eating steaks personally slaughtered by Antho- watch the whole game to get it.” VHSes to AND1 mixtapes. Now you ny Bourdain and drinking chocolate out of a waterfall. Devin runs a YouTube channel can watch it in slow motion and Scientists who are bad at naming things have identi- called InTheLab. He signed on to speed it up. There are no secrets,” fied this phenomenon as social media-related FOMO. play at Fresno State a few years he said. The British government even put a study out saying ago, got hurt, then transferred to the No secrets. It’s the democratiza- that staring at pictures of all of those people from Academy of Art in San Francisco, tion of the game. college who never appear to be working out, yet where he learned how to edit videos. For anybody in hoops, whether somehow look hot as hell, is “detrimental to young Now he flies around the it’s Devin creating the video room people’s mental health and wellbeing.” The study world and shoots what look like of the future or a kid learning to says scrolling endlessly through this stuff could affect Christopher Nolan movies about replicate weird Serbian crossovers sleep, hurt self-image, and, Hey Diane, where do you the intricacies of hoops. Lots of in Brooklyn, there are no secrets in even find a chocolate waterfall? Is that naturally dollies and drones and high-end the future. occurring or what? And does your dad have some sort cameras. Almost 350,000 people For Diane and her chocolate of deal with Virgin America? Come on. subscribe to his channel. He flew Photoshop waterfall, no secrets is I’ve been getting real Diane vibes from the YouTube to Spain to watch Doncic and a nightmare that can’t come soon pages of every draft prospect I like right now. Based on came back with—get this—a posi- enough. S

14 SLAMONLINE.COM THE HEAT IS ON. A NEW CLASSIC BEGINS JULY 11-15, 2018

BIGFOOTHOOPS.COM (713) 524-3036 LIKE FATH

THE FUTURE ISSUE DID YOU KNOW THAT A WHOLE BUNCH OF TOP PROSPECTS ARE THE SONS OF POPULAR NBA PLAYERS? THIS ISN’T EVEN ALL OF ’EM—BUT IT DOES GIVE YOU A PRETTY GOOD IDEA...

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ILLUSTRATIONS CHASE GRIZZLY ///////////////////////////////////////////////

Clockwise from top left: Zaire Wade and Dwyane Wade, Scotty Pippen Jr and Scottie Pippen, Kenyon Martin and Kenyon Martin Jr, LeBron James Jr and LeBron James, Greg Anthony and Cole Anthony, Shareef O’Neal and Shaquille O’Neal, Bol Bol and Manute Bol, Darius Garland and Winston 20 OF THE BEST HIGH SCHOOL AUGUST 18, 2018 //

HISTORY WIL PLAYERS COME TO THE MECCA DYCKMAN PARK, NYC

LL BE MADE THE FUTURE ISSUE ONCE AGAIN IT’S ON

ALLEN IVERSON BROKE ONTO THE SCENE IN HIS ROOKIE SEASON, BUT IN There was plenty new in a career-low until his final YEAR 2, HE ESTABLISHED HIMSELF Philadelphia that season, not two truncated seasons, more least a new head coach in the than a decade in the future. AS A TRUE SUPERSTAR—WITH A BOLD, well-traveled Larry Brown. But at that point, he was still ICONIC JERSEY ALONG FOR THE RIDE. There were new additions like building, too: In three of the Theo Ratliff, Eric Snow and next four seasons, he’d lead WORDS RYAN JONES ////////////////// Aaron McKie, guys who would the NBA in scoring, including become integral components back-to-back seasons of 31- of a team that was—although plus in 2000-01 and 2001-02. few realized it—on the verge And of course, in the summer of something special. And of ’01, he would carry an over- OU’D BE forgiven truth—was less obvious. of course, there was a new matched Philly squad all the for thinking, at first That season provided our fit, as the team moved away way to the NBA Finals, where glance, that Allen first peek at an efficient AI. from the red, white and he put a scare in the mighty Y Iverson took a step At (maybe) 6-0 and a wispy blue unis of recent seasons Lakers and recorded the most back in his second 160 or so pounds, Iverson was in favor of a heavy dose of iconic moment of his career. NBA season. never going to be that dude black and white, including All these years later, Coming off his unfor- who gave you 50 percent that white home jersey with watching The Process hit light gettable Rookie of the Year from the floor. But in ’97-98, a stylized gold “SIXERS” speed and these new-look campaign, Iverson in Year 2 he came as close as he ever flowing across the front. The Sixers blossom into title posted slightly lower totals would, hitting better than 46 look was bold and brash, not contenders, it’s easy to forget almost across the board: His percent on his patented mix unlike the little dude with the the more gradual path their points, assists, rebounds and of soft-release jumpers and No. 3 on his chest. Illadelph predecessors took free throw attempts in ’97-98 death-defying drives. It defi- Philadelphia would wear two decades ago. Different were all down slightly from nitely didn’t hurt that he cut a variation of that jersey over teams, different approach, his first year in the League. his three-point attempts near- the next few years as it built different star—and a cultural Free of context, you might ly in half, a strategic choice and progressed from an East- icon and singular talent we assume the worst: That he for a guy who was rarely ern Conference also-ran to the won’t soon forget. S was complacent, that he Curry-esque from beyond the Eastern Conference champs. hadn’t worked to get better, arc—and whose penetration And in a way, that process (ha) that defenses had already fig- was increasingly the focus of began in ’97-98. Iverson’s 22 ured him out. The reality—the the Sixers’ offense. ppg that season would remain

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MY NAME THE FUTURE ISSUE IS MY NAME

SHAREEF O’NEAL KNOWS HE HAS BIG—LIKE SIZE 22 BIG—SHOES TO FILL. AND YET, and he strives to be just as undefinable off the court. There’s his diverse—and often customized—sneaker THE WISE-BEYOND-HIS-YEARS lineup, his passion for Dragon Ball Z and the little known UCLA COMMIT DOESN’T CARE fact that he loves to put ink to paper and draw when he’s MUCH, TBH. HE JUST WANTS not serving up buckets or Fortnite Ws. But whatever the TO DO HIM. creative outlet or on-court result, Shareef says his dad and the entire O’Neal squad always let him ride his own wave. WORDS AND PORTRAIT “I’m not pressured to play basketball. If I wanted to put down the ball today, hang up my shoes, he wouldn’t JACK JENSEN be mad,” says Shareef about his pops. “And if he’d ask me what else I’d want to do, I’d tell him and he’d be OK with it. He understands that I’m not Shaquille O’Neal. YPE IS A TRIP. It can build you up, My name’s Shareef O’Neal, and I’m building a whole new flood your IG and knight you a member of name for myself. So whatever I want to do, he’s up for it.” the chosen elite overnight. It can also call What the elder O’Neal and greater basketball public you overrated just as quickly. It’s some- are also up for is all that Shareef has in front of him—es- thing Shareef O’Neal—son of, yup, you pecially with college and a whole new set of expectations guessed it—has dealt with his whole life. and opportunities approaching. It would be a handful for H “Just because of the name I have, the any incoming recruit, but for Reef, it’s not about pressure. last name I carry, I feel like people are ex- “Probably everyone who’s heard of me, they don’t think pecting me to do a lot of things,” he says. “If I don’t live up I’m going to be as good as my dad,” he says. “Some people to those expectations, then I’m hyped up and overrated.” are kind of believing in me. My dad, he says I was better OK, how’s this for hype: at 18 years old, O’Neal just than him when he was my age, so that kind of boosted wrapped his senior season at Santa Monica’s Crossroads me up a little. But pressure, I don’t think pressure exists School. With it, he collected both a California State Divi- anymore. I used to think it was when I was growing up, and sion II title (he dropped 29 and 17 in the title game) and the I used to doubt myself when I had a bad game ’cause of John R. Wooden Award for POY, and is committed to play what people would say, but it doesn’t exist to me anymore. at UCLA next season. He also stands a towering 6-10, can I know what I can do and I’ve proven myself throug high rain down threes and put you on the wrong end of a very school. So I’m just looking to keep proving people wrong.” shareable dunk GIF. Oh, and he’s extremely coachable. It’s an admirable—if not completely appropriate— Actually, that ain’t hype; that’s just Shareef. approach for a player who’s probably heard every heckle, “Shareef is amazing—the most humble kid I’ve proba- hyperbole and criticism in the book: focus on yourself, on bly run across,” says Crossroads coach Anthony Davis. “I what you can control and let the outside periphery fall to want to credit that to his family. His mom, his dad, they’re just that. Smart kid. And for someone who, as of this writ- always here, they’re always in his corner. You can just tell ing, hasn’t gone to his senior prom yet, that’s what’s most they raised a great young man. He’s always looking to exciting—that he’s just beginning to scratch the surface. get better, he’s always asking questions, he’s always on “He hasn’t reached his max potential, and when he his teammates and being that leader. UCLA is getting a does,” Coach Davis, says, smiling, “it’s going to be very unicorn, a very special kid. He can do everything.” scary.” Shareef describes his style of play as unpredictable, That ain’t hype, either. That’s just Shareef. S

SLAMONLINE.COM 23 24 SLAMONLINE.COM THE FUTURE ISSUE

BULLY SEASON APPROACHING

SEVEN-FOOT DRAFT PROSPECT DEANDRE AYTON HAS ALL THE PHYSICAL TOOLS NEEDED TO BECOME THE LEAGUE’S NEXT DOMINANT BIG MAN. THE ONLY REMAINING QUESTION IS— WHAT TEAM WILL HE DO IT FOR?

WORDS YARON WEITZMAN PORTRAITS MATTHEW COUGHLIN /////////////////////////////////////

EANDRE AYTON IS introducing me to three of his best friends. First there’s Josh. Josh’s voice is that of a generic white dude and he makes appear- ances when DeAndre is forced to do interviews. Josh has one purpose in life: to help the world see how fabulous a guy DeAndre is. So there’s Josh, and then there’s Eric, whose Dvoice, not surprisingly, is nearly identical to Josh’s. Eric is new and DeAndre is still trying to carve out his character. At the moment, it boils down to a collection of hobbies—like playing NBA2K and Fortnite, lots and lots of Fortnite—which, coincidentally, DeAndre happens to share. So there’s Josh and Eric. And then there’s Alejandro. Alejandro is DeAndre’s favorite of the trio. He’s been around the longest and

SLAMONLINE.COM 25 THE FUTURE ISSUE

appears most frequently. “If I don’t want to do something I have to, I’ll just make fun of it,” Ayton says. Certain questions “bring out Alejan- dro.” This, Ayton proudly adds, often “shocks” whomever he is speaking to. I ask Ayton if he has an example he can share. He does. Over the past year, he says, Alejandro would often come out if and when Ayton attend- ed a University of Arizona frat party. “I didn’t want to talk to anyone and so I told everyone my name is Alejandro. I said—” and here Ayton’s voice shifts into a not-so- great impersonation of a Latino accent—“Who’s DeAndre? My name is Alejandro. Where are you getting this DeAndre kid from?” Ayton’s always had some jokester in him. His mother, Andrea, says she always thought he’d be- come a comedian. Her point is that these characters have always lived inside him. But lately Alejandro has been making more appearances. This, of course, is thanks to Ayton’s bud- ding basketball fame. In just a few months, he’ll hear NBA Commis- sioner Adam Silver call his name during the NBA Draft. Ayton’s name might be the first Silver calls out, or maybe the second. Perhaps it will be the third, but it’s highly unlikely Ayton will have to wait any longer than that, not with his bouncy 7-1, 260-pound frame, Popeye-like muscles and deft feet, which his mother says were honed as a kid dancing to Michael Jackson videos. It’s a blend of physical tools and skills that make scouts woozy. And Ayton knows it. He knows how talented he is, how great he can be. “The NBA ain’t ever seen a player like me,” he says at one point during his afternoon with SLAM. He may be just 19 (he’ll turn 20 in July), but his future, to be the future of the game, is a future he wants and expects. And yet to fulfill all the promise packed into all those muscles, to see that future come to fruition, he’s going to first have to learn how to navigate all the bumpy terrain that comes along for the ride.

26 SLAMONLINE.COM T’S EARLY APRIL and strengthening his ball skills and launching three-point- long, DeAndre and his family were we’re in Phoenix, and it’s ers and not leaving the floor before draining 50 shots packing their bags and headed to about 12:30 when a smiling from deep, which, Weaver says, Ayton usually does in 70 San Diego and playing alongside DeAndre Ayton—he’s always or less attempts. The form’s not perfect, but it’s far from kids who had no qualms with re- smiling, unless you make clunky. Watch him shoot and then cue up the highlights minding him how trash he was. the mistake of trying to of him bullying opponents last season during his lone “They really got on my ass,” Iwake him up in the morn- year at Arizona, to the tune of 20.1 points and 11.6 re- Ayton says. He was afraid to talk ing—strolls down the ramp bounds per game, and you can see why an NBA general back. He knew they were right, leading toward the basketball manager and an assistant general manager that I spoke that his game was raw. But also, “I court where our interview with for this story both described Ayton as an “incred- had a little accent back then and and photo shoot are scheduled. ible” offensive talent, exactly the type of player a 21st a deep voice and they would make This is notable because our century NBA offense can and should be built around. fun of it.” He adds that he had a bit interview is scheduled to begin at “There are a lot of versatile bigs, but I’m a different of a stutter. 12:30, meaning Ayton is on time, Driven at least partially by that something rarely said about NBA ridicule, he began spending school players, meaning Ayton’s either nights in the gym, sometimes incredibly punctual or doesn’t until 2 a.m. His skills grew. So yet recognize how much of his “ THE NBA did his body. “I got pretty good at surrounding world orbits around basketball pretty fast,” he says. He him. It could be the latter. But the was dubbed the best eighth-grade half-dozen times over our few AIN’T EVER basketball player in the country. hours together that Kyle Weaver, With that came confidence, on the Ayton’s former high school coach court but also in personality. and current personal trainer, has SEEN A PLAYER “As I got better I started disre- to remind him where he left his specting [the people I was playing wallet and phone and keys doesn’t against],” Ayton says. He’d run with exactly paint the picture of a per- LIKE ME. older pros trying to get into the fectly organized teenager. ” NBA and drop lines like, Yo, you Ayton spends the afternoon play in the G-League—what? Man, cracking jokes and admiring his I’m going to the NBA, and, How old own photos—“That’s sexy shit,” he are you? You already lived your life. exclaims after seeing one—and I’m going up and you’re going down. swatting away his trainer the first, It was quite the transformation. oh, half-dozen times Weaver at- versatile big,” Ayton says. “The versatile bigs that are During the initial years in San tempts, perhaps only half-jokingly, in the NBA, all the unicorns, they start outside in. I Diego, Ayton lived in three different to transform the photo shoot into a establish myself down low before I come out. That homes—all belonging to men con- practice session. Upon hearing the was just old school to me—that’s how they taught me nected to Balboa City School, the photographer ask Ayton to dribble how to play.” private academy Ayton attended— for the camera, Weaver, a Phoenix But also, “You know, I hate being a big man, before Andrea moved the family to native with dark black hair who’s because I don’t like jump hooks. I don’t want to see a Phoenix. There he enrolled at Hill- built like the former college guard seven-footer do a jump hook so I don’t do them. I’m crest Prep, where Weaver served he is, strolls over, wearing a grin an entertainer, I like entertainment. I like to entertain as the basketball coach. “When he and carrying a second ball. myself.” first got to us, he was really shy “Get that shit away,” Ayton, Which is great. The challenging part is learning how and quiet,” Weaver says. “You could smiling and relishing a day off, to adjust when the world around you suddenly feels as tell he didn’t really trust people.” responds. He’s spent hours with if it’s closing in and choking the fun out of the fun, or Ayton declines to go into detail Weaver over the past few weeks entertaining, aspects of your life. on these years. Instead, he says, working on his handle, going “I’ve been around a lot of snakes, through various drills where he people who say they have your best pounds both ball balls into the interest [in mind] but they’re really ground. He’s never really needed YTON WASN’T always a boisterous there for their own purposes. Kids guard skills before, not when Joel Embiid clone. Growing up in The like me, who are in my position, he’s always been the biggest and Bahamas, he didn’t start playing bas- really have to watch out for that. strongest man on the court, but he ketball until the fourth grade and, by They got guys who will give you knows the NBA game is different his own admission, he was “trash.” But their whole world, but they know today, and that nowadays even sev- by age 12, he had shot up to 6-5 and what you’re going to get in the fu- en-footers are asked to shoot from Aso naturally he caught the eye of some ture and take that away from you.” deep and put the ball on the floor. coaches who reached out to some I ask how that’s changed him. So he spends his pre-draft days scouts who connected with the Aytons and, before “It changed me a lot in how I

SLAMONLINE.COM 27 corrupt and twisted rule? But what does matter was how the ordeal stripped away Ayton’s adoles- cence and introduced him to his new normal. And it wasn’t just seeing his name tossed into stories containing phrases like “federal investigation.” It’s the microscope that he’s been thrown under, like the pre-draft scouting reports crit- icizing his effort and motor while playing at Arizona. “I don’t get that,” Ayton says, growing animated. “What does that even mean? That gets on my nerves. I honestly hate that. “I’m playing small ball, switch- ing on guards and then have to go back to the post and switch back onto the guard the whole game. Like, there’s times where they put their best guard at the 4 and I have to guard him all game. I have to run behind screens, come off off- ball screens, then try to rebound, then switch back onto the big.” That particular critique, he adds, “makes me sick.” His mother sums it up a few days later over the phone: “His whole season at Arizona, we never got a break. His name was all over the place. He’s such a happy kid, but there I don’t think he ever had a chance to smile.” Which is perhaps what excites him most about the NBA. Basket- THE VERSATILE BIGS THAT ARE IN ball will soon again be fun. In fact, “ in the time since Ayton’s college THE NBA, ALL THE UNICORNS, THEY season ended and he began his official pre-draft training with Weaver in Phoenix, it already has. START OUTSIDE. I ESTABLISH MYSELF After our interview, Ayton works up a small sweat getting up jump- DOWN LOW BEFORE I COME OUT.” ers with Weaver before heading to the sideline to pack up his things and head home. Two teenage boys approach him. They’re dressed in basketball clothes and have spent the past half hour or so shooting around on a separate hoop. They read people,” Ayton says. “When it February on the heels of the FBI’s investigation into tell Ayton they saw a Snapchat comes to my personal life, I watch the NCAA. The report claimed Arizona had discussed video he posted earlier during the people around me. Even family paying him to come play for the university. It has since shoot and recognized the gym’s members—I watch how they act. been both refuted and denied, though ESPN has stuck logo and so they decided to come Who was there with you with the behind the story. meet him. struggles, especially when all this Beyond the scope of the world of NCAA infractions, They ask him for pictures and stuff happened at U of A.” whether Ayton was paid is largely irrelevant—has autographs. By “stuff,” Ayton means the anyone explained why, exactly, the FBI is essentially Smiling, Ayton fulfills their

ESPN report that came out in conducting an investigation to enforce the NCAA’s requests. S IMAGES MILLER/GETTY ETHAN

28 SLAMONLINE.COM BE A PART OF THE #SLAMFAM GO TO SHOP.SLAMONLINE.COM AND GET YOUR GEAR TODAY

@SLAMonline SLAMmagazine Johnson is in the process of estab- lishing the Crimson Tide as more THE FUTURE ISSUE than just a distraction between football and spring football. With Sexton running the show last season, he and the Tide were impossible to ignore. He averaged team highs of 19.2 points and 3.6 assists in leading Bama to a 20-win season and the second round of the NCAA tournament, where they fell to eventual champ Villanova. Given that debut season and the increasing love from NBA scouts, there was little doubt that Sexton’s next step would be the League. “When you grow up playing, everybody wants to make it to the NBA, but during the season I was just focused on the now, trying not to get too far ahead of myself,” Sexton says. “I think that helped POP OUT me, just allowed me to play my game. But once the season was GEORGIA NATIVE COLLIN SEXTON BROUGHT THE over, I talked to my family and the coaching staff, and I decided the FIRE DURING HIS ONE SEASON PLAYING COLLEGE time was right.” BALL. NOW HE'S TAKING HIS HARD-NOSED Decision made, he's split his MENTALITY STRAIGHT TO THE LEAGUE. time since season’s end between Tuscaloosa and Atlanta, working to fine-tune his game, particularly his three-point shot—he hit 33.6 percent from beyond the arc last season. Given the room to improve OLLIN SEXTON SURVEYS the motivation for him to complete there, and his relative lack of size, competition, and he refuses to be his first full year of college—and Sexton knows there are some who outdone. He sees them, he knows promise his parents he’ll work doubt his NBA potential. He says who they are, what they’ve accom- toward completing his degree even he’s less worried about adapting plished, and he’s committed himself as he preps for the draft—you can than maximizing what he already to achieving the same lofty goal. In imagine how competitive he is on does well. “Honestly, I’m just going his mind, he has no choice. the court. There’s a reason they to go out there and play,” he says. C He’s going to finish college. Just call him Young Bull. “Why change what helped me get ask his dad. A 6-3, 190-pound lead guard, to this point?” “My daughter has her degree, my older son has Sexton has used his work ethic and As his father acknowledges, his and Collin doesn’t want to let them one-up him,” fierce competitive drive to elevate Collin “has always played with a Darnell Sexton says with a laugh. It’s early May, and from good-but-not-quite-elite high chip on his shoulder.” That’s re- Darnell, father of a likely 2018 lottery pick, is talking school prospect just two years ago flected in the players he admires, proudly about his son’s focus on academics. Last fall, to a first-round lock in the 2018 guys like Russell Westbrook, Allen Collin posted a 4.0 GPA in his first semester at Ala- NBA Draft. He blew up in the sum- Iverson and even Kevin Garnett, bama, and he was on pace to match it this spring. “He mer of 2016, averaging 30-plus as not only for their games, but for finished up his finals just the other day,” Darnell says. a rising junior on the Nike EYBL cir- their mentality. “He’s really determined to do what he needs to do.” cuit and suddenly drawing interest “Garnett, on the court, he didn’t Given that he’ll likely be signing a seven- or (and offers) from pretty much every have no friends,” Sexton says. eight-figure NBA contract in the coming weeks, it top-tier program in the nation. The “Every time I go out there, I feel would be easy to forgive Collin Sexton—freshman or suburban Atlanta native surprised like I have something to prove. But not—for succumbing to a serious case of senioritis. But many by choosing Alabama, where I feel like I’m not proving it to other if that competitiveness with his older siblings is enough former NBA player and coach Avery people—I’m proving it to myself.” S ANDY LYONS/GETTY IMAGES

WORDS RYAN JONES /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

30 SLAMONLINE.COM

agree on Simons’ potential—he’s a consensus top-20 pick in most of the reputable mock drafts. A 6-3, 185-pound combo guard, he pos- THE FUTURE ISSUE sesses an explosive and versatile offensive game, and he’s as com- fortable getting to (and above) the rim as he is splashing from deep. He knows his strengths—and he knows who to share the credit with. “I’d say it’s my shooting and playmaking ability, and my IQ—that came from my dad,” he says. “He made me think about the game a lot more—to be instinctive, but at the same time, think about it before it happens.” CALL OUT It’s a balance the great ones are able to master, and Simons knows he has a long way to go. Which is only natural: Always young for his grade, he reclassified back a year in high school—a rarity among top players—and began to make up ground on his peers. Just three MY NAME years ago, he left his original high school, Edgewater HS (FL), for POINT GUARD ANFERNEE SIMONS IS ARMED WITH powerhouse Montverde Academy, UNWAVERING CONFIDENCE AND A SKILL SET RELATIVELY but he struggled to get any run. He went back to Edgewater the fol- SIMILAR TO HIS NAMESAKE—BOTH OF WHICH WILL BE lowing season, then on to IMG for NEEDED AS THE FLORIDA NATIVE HEADS STRAIGHT that postgrad year. Both in the prep FROM IMG ACADEMY TO THE NBA DRAFT. ranks and the summer circuit, he’s since showed that he has more than caught up with his peers. Now he’s focused on that next, huge step. In addition to guys like NFERNEE SIMONS IS thinking ball. He actually graduated in 2017, McCollum and Mitchell—he counts about slowing things down. Under- then played a post-grad season at Spida as a mentor and friend— stand, we don’t mean this in some IMG, making him eligible to enter Simons admires guys like Jamal vague, figurative sense, but quite lit- the 2018 draft. And in March, he Crawford and Dame Lillard, “guards erally: When we catch up with Simons confirmed he would do just that. who are able to score the ball and in late April, he’s talking about how And there, of course, is the do other things, too.” A seemingly A he’s focused on improving his ability irony: A young man focused on less likely inspiration is the guy who to control things on the basketball slowing things down, even as he inspired his name; Simons’ parents court—to dictate pace and flow—the better to exploit accelerates and blows right by one were big Penny Hardaway fans, and openings and impose his will. of the “expected” stops on the road Simons eventually become a close “Working with my trainer, especially the past couple to his NBA dream. friend and teammate of Hardaway’s of weeks, he’s been teaching me how to slow the game “Honestly, I’m just confident in son, Jayden. down, to be more efficient,” Simons explains. “I like myself,” Simons says. “Whatever And if Simons can’t match the how guys like CJ McCollum or Donovan Mitchell do team chooses me, I’m just going original Penny’s rare combo of size that. They know when to slow the game down.” to try to get in there, learn and get and skill, he’s confident in what he All of which is an entirely logical thing for Simons better. I’m confident that I’ll be has—and what he can build from to be thinking, especially right now. After wrapping able to compete.” it. “I feel like I’m pretty decent at up his prep basketball career at IMG Academy this He’s not the only one. Whatever everything, but I know I’ve got to spring, the Orlando native did what any elite prospect skepticism might still exist in 2018 get better at everything, too—every would at that time: He focused on getting ready for the among certain so-called draft day, inch by inch,” he says. “I try next level. But for Simons—unlike the rest of the 2018 experts about a player skipping col- not to get too far ahead of myself, class—that didn’t necessarily mean big-time college lege for the League, most observers but I’m really focused.” S

WORDS RYAN JONES PORTRAIT MATTHEW COUGHLIN //////////////////////////////////////////////////

32 SLAMONLINE.COM

THE FUTURE ISSUE JALEN’S PLAN

VILLANOVA GRAD JALEN BRUNSON ACCOMPLISHED A LOT DURING HIS THREE YEARS IN COLLEGE. NOW HE’S TRYING TO DO JUST AS MUCH—NAH, EVEN MORE—AT THE NEXT LEVEL.

HEN THE BRUNSONS set playing at the highest level.’” foot on the Villanova campus It’s a way different approach for their official visit in Septem- than what you’d expect from one ber of 2014, they did so with a of the McDonald’s All-Americans, blueprint in hand. But it wasn’t whose goals are usually to get into W necessarily one that would the NBA as soon as possible. Yet look to get their All-American for the Brunsons, the plan was to son into the NBA as soon as possible. In actuality, the put Jalen in the best situation so of experience in the NBA as a plan wouldn’t get Jalen Brunson to the League for a that he could remain in the League player and coach provided Jalen few years. for as long as possible. with a unique perspective. As a “He was projected as a one-and-done kid, and I Rick enjoyed a nine-season ca- youngster, he would find himself [knew] Jalen wasn’t one-and-done,” says Rick, his reer in the NBA, where he bounced hanging in NBA locker rooms and pops. “The type of player he was going to be—he just around playing for eight different practices, surrounded by some of wasn’t ready to be that type of kid. So we got here teams. The former Temple Univer- the game’s biggest stars. It created with a three-year plan. I told Jay Wright, ‘I have three sity standout is now an assistant some memorable stories, like years for him to graduate, for him to win his National coach for the Minnesota Timber- the time he got a chance to meet Championship, and he’s going to get out of here.’ That wolves. His post-playing career has Michael Jordan but refused to let was our plan the whole time. included coaching positions with MJ sign his jersey. “On our official visit I sat down with Coach Wright the Denver Nuggets, Chicago Bulls, “After the game, somehow, I got and the coaching staff and I said, ‘This is the layout of Charlotte Bobcats (now the Hor- to go to the Wizards locker room how I believe Jalen can be successful and reach his full nets) and the University of Hartford. and meet Michael Jordan,” recalls potential, his personal goals and his personal dream of Having a dad with over 15 years Jalen. “I walk in and I had his jersey BRETT WILHELM/NCAA PHOTOS VIA GETTY IMAGES

WORDS FRANKLYN CALLE ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

34 SLAMONLINE.COM on. Everywhere I went, I got a jersey at the National Championship game to help take down His track record, though, paints a from that arena. He walked up to UNC. Although he was in the starting line-up that first different picture. me and said, ‘Hey, do you want me year, older players overshadowed him. “He’s heard—he’s human,” Rick to sign your jersey?’ And I looked By his sophomore year, Jalen had become a clear- says. “He’s heard and read about, at him with a straight face and was cut leader of the team and was poised to make another ‘He’s not an athlete, he’s too small, like, ‘No, you’ll mess it up.’ Everyone deep run in the Tournament. After averaging 18.9 ppg too slow.’ But like I keep saying to in the locker room was crying.” and 4.6 apg this past season as a junior, he helped lead people, he’s one of eight people in Fast-forward to 2018 and Jalen the Wildcats to their second National Championship in the history of Illinois to win over is now getting ready to enter three years. 100 games in high school. He’s the NBA draft with two National Probably even more impressive, despite his athletic won over 100 games in college. He Championships under his belt and accomplishments and responsibilities, the lefty will won two gold medals. At the end of National College POY accolades. also be leaving Villanova with a degree in three years. the day, you keep doubting him, he The 6-3 guard was a freshman Despite his impeccable college résumé, mock drafts keeps winning. You keep doubting during the 2015-16 season, when and “analysts” have Jalen projected as a late first-round- him, he keeps getting Player of the Kris Jenkins hit a buzzer-beater er or even a second-round prospect as of early May. Year. So, that’s the motivation.” S

/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

SLAMONLINE.COM 35 JALEN BRUNSON COLLIN SEXTON ANFERNEE SIMONS DONTE DIVINCENZO 2018 National Champions

TOM PENNINGTON/GETTY IMAGES THE FUTURE ISSUE

INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY

A 19-YEAR-OLD SLOVENIAN DRAFT PROSPECT NAMED LUKA DONCIC HAS DOMINATED THE BEST NON-NBA BASKETBALL LEAGUE IN THE WORLD IN AN UNPRECEDENTED WAY, PUTTING UP NUMBERS UNLIKE ANY TEENAGER…EVER. AND HIS NEXT CHAPTER MIGHT BE EVEN BETTER. BELIEVE IT.

WORDS SAM LAIRD PORTRAITS PABLO GARCIA ///////////////////////////////////

36 SLAMONLINE.COM SLAMONLINE.COM 37 THE FUTURE ISSUE

in international competition last September. But for “It was always just…” Mirjam I. all his success, Doncic is still primarily discussed by flicks her wrist and makes a basketball obsessives and draft aficionados. whoosh-ing sound. That’s about to change. Soon, he won’t only be a Before he became a teenager, subject for the recesses of Basketball Twitter. Soon, a young Doncic’s talent had made he’ll be opinionated on by your uncle who watches him a legend in Slovenia’s basket- W First Take. Soon, Doncic will be in the thick of it. This ball circles. What stood out then is is what happens when you’ve been tabbed as one of what stands out now—a savant-like HEN LUKA DONCIC pulls basketball’s next Big Things. feel for the sport, preternatural up to a photo studio in central “Not even a little bit, I didn’t imagine that,” Doncic skill level and a combination of Madrid on a crisp April afternoon, says, two months before the draft, about the wave of vision, imagination and unselfish- a scuffed and scratched basketball attention that’s just beginning to swell. ness that allows him to dictate the travels with him. The Spalding The future is wide open for Luka Doncic, basketball’s entire flow of a game as opposed goes most places with Doncic. It international man of mystery. But to fully appreciate to simply dominating as a scorer. lives in the trunk of his car, always where the young star is going and the heights he could He’s a natural point guard who can at the ready. That’s not strange, reach, you have to understand the unprecedented path just as easily play the 2 or 3. though—most teenage hoopheads Doncic has traveled so far. You have to understand how “He was a great kid, always keep a weathered rock in the trunk. he arrived at this moment on the verge. smiling,” says Lojze Sisko, director What’s different is that Doncic’s of the youth program at Doncic’s ride happens to be a metallic blue childhood club in Slovenia. “Every Porsche with paint so shiny the day after practice ended, he went car’s surface ripples in the sunlight. WHEN YOU to the court outside and practiced This is the dichotomy of life “ more.” for Doncic, who’s only a teenager Doncic was just 13 when he but already been a pro for years. GO TO THE COURT, earned the offer that would change He seems in many ways like any his life. Real Madrid—arguably the 19-year-old. He’s a sneakerhead world’s most iconic sports club— who spends a lot of time playing YOU JUST CHANGE. wanted to sign him, move him to Overwatch. He calls L.A. “amaz- Spain and develop him for its senior ing,” especially “the beach and team. The choice was not a simple the cars.” He posts frequently to YOU’RE A DIFFERENT one: Real Madrid was a chance for Instagram—and when he does, growth far surpassing anything die-hard NBA fans implore Doncic at home, but the Spanish capital to join their favorite team. PERSON.” is 1,200 miles from Slovenia and “Come to the Suns,” they com- everything Doncic had ever known. ment under his pics. “I was just a kid,” Doncic says “Future Knick.” today. “Come to the Lakers.” After weeks of internal debate, Doncic isn’t just a kid from a the 13-year-old Doncic decided to country most Americans would go to Madrid. The first few months struggle to find on a map. He’s also were difficult. “Not just once,” a 6-8, 220-pound teenager who Doncic says, he considered return- annihilates grown men in the Euro- ing home. He arrived without even League—the world’s second-best knowing the local language. basketball circuit—for Real Madrid, II. “All my friends, school, family— one of the world’s best non-NBA everything was in Slovenia,” he teams. From Arvydas Sabonis to HE STORY STARTS IN a tiny says. “But after I learned Spanish Kristaps Porzingis, Doncic is doing country wedged between Italy, it was easier to communicate, to things no one his age has ever done Austria and Croatia. A nation smaller make new friends.” in Europe. Now he’s projected by T geographically than New Jersey, Doncic lived with other young experts as a top pick in June’s NBA with a smaller population than the soccer and basketball prospects in Draft. If he goes first overall, he’ll borough of Queens. A place known mostly for pictur- Real Madrid residences. Eventually be the first European perimeter esque landscapes and charming architecture. he settled in, and on the court he player ever to earn that distinction. It was here, in the Republic of Slovenia, that Luka blossomed under the mentorship of Stories and details are just was born to Mirjam Poterbin, a former hurdler and veterans. By 16, Doncic was playing beginning to trickle out as the draft dancer, and Sasa Doncic, a longtime European pro for Real Madrid’s senior team approaches. His profile was boost- baller. Practically from birth, Mirjam says, Luka’s ob- alongside former NBA players like ed after helping lead underdog session was “ball, ball, ball.” When he was just 1, she Rudy Fernandez and Andres Slovenia to a FIBA EuroBasket title put up a miniature hoop in his room. Nocioni. He was literally a boy

38 SLAMONLINE.COM an Internet connection can go back today and trace his rise. There he is in 2012, dominating a youth tournament in Italy. There he is a year later, age 13, throwing no-look passes and dropping 70-foot dimes for a Real Madrid junior team. There he is splashing three straight triples as a baby-faced 16-year-old going against grown men in a 2016 EuroLeague road game. Doncic made his biggest leap as a pro this season, during which he was 18 and 19 years old. He more than doubled his scoring average, from 7.8 to 16.9 points per game, good for third in the EuroLeague. Playing 25 minutes per game, he also averaged 4.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists, which ranked 11th in the league. He was second in both fouls drawn and free throws attempted. And Doncic led the entire league in player efficiency—joining the likes of Sabonis and Andrei Kirilenko while becoming the first teenager ever to accomplish the feat. Doncic says he began to truly believe he could “be something” when he started getting regular minutes with Real Madrid’s senior team two seasons ago. This season, he transformed alluring potential into elite production at Europe’s highest level. Now the next logical step—the only logical step—is the NBA.

III.

NE HOUR before a late-April EuroLe- ague playoff game Oagainst the Greek club Panathinaikos, Doncic gets loose at half-speed. As Future blares and Madrid’s WiZink Center slowly begins to among men, but oozed potential. was going to be very different from other players we’d fill, Doncic swishes four straight “When we recruited him when had before in Spain. We weren’t 100 percent sure, but three-pointers from the deep right he was 15 years old,” says Quique we had the feeling we had some kind of gold in our wing. Next, he dribbles left into the Villalobos, a former Real Madrid hands.” lane and unspools an exaggerat- player and Doncic’s agent with Doncic ascended without the mixtapes and viral ed one-legged floater that goes BDA Sports, “we already knew we crossovers that accompany American prodigies. But about 20 feet high before dropping had something in our hands, which with the benefits of hindsight and YouTube, anyone with through the net. Real Madrid just

SLAMONLINE.COM 39 split the first two games of the emanates an exuberant confidence. He’ll yell after big promise, we have no idea what’ll playoff series at Panathinaikos’ shots, hang on the rim to punctuate two-handed dunks, actually happen. raucous home court in Athens. stare at defenders for an extra moment after scoring. From the outside, though, Tonight’s is a pivotal game, but There’s a flair, an edge, a hint of cockiness to his game, Doncic seems unbothered. Doncic’s relaxed shooting session but Doncic shrugs off the shift in personality. “That’s what’s really good with belies no stress. “When you go to the court, you just change,” he Luka,” Mirjam says of her son. The game’s first basket comes says. “You’re a different person.” “He’s here. He doesn’t think about off a Doncic assist. Madrid then Anthony Randolph, a 2008 NBA lottery pick and the next game. He’s thinking about takes a 4-0 lead when Doncic teammate of Doncic with both Real Madrid and the the game today. Also in his life he’s uses his thick frame to back down Slovenian national team, says this self-belief is one of like this. He’s not thinking about former University of Florida star the young star’s biggest attributes. what might happen or how it’s Nick Calathes before nailing a “Even if he’s had a bad game so far, if it comes down going to be.” tough fadeaway. With less than 10 to the last second, he’s going to take that shot,” Ran- A few minutes after the April seconds remaining in the half, Don- dolph says. “He has enough confidence not to get down photo shoot in Madrid, after drib- ic blows by former Michigan State on himself and just to keep playing.” bling the scuffed basketball that star Adreian Payne near half-court. That mindset, combined with Doncic’s versatility, lives in the trunk of his Porsche Then he charges down the lane and vision and skill, make him a special prospect. Not that while cameras flash away, Doncic spikes a one-handed poster dunk. he’s without weakness. If anything holds Doncic back sits on a bench in a brightly lit Next to the Panathinaikos bench, from becoming a full-fledged star, it will likely be his studio. He says his full focus is on Madrid’s section of purple-shirted lack of top-shelf explosiveness. But six years after he leading Real Madrid to a Euro- hardcore fans—including a guy left Slovenia for Real Madrid, the hype around Doncic is League title, but allows that he’s banging a large drum and two guys growing for good reason. excited for what will follow. He’s with megaphones—erupts. Doncic “Talent-wise, he’s one of the best I’ve seen,” says “here,” as Mirjam says—but also beats his chest as the dust settles. Randolph, who spent six seasons in the NBA before knows he’s at a special juncture. After halftime, Doncic scores going to Europe. “As long as he continues to get better “You’re happy and you’re sad a Madrid’s first bucket of the third and stay humble and keep working, I feel like the sky’s little bit, you know?” Doncic says. quarter with a fast-break lay-in. the limit.” “Because I will live a new life.” A few minutes later he finds the As Doncic reflects in the Span- angle on a pick-and-roll to make ish metropolis he moved to at 13, a beautiful bounce pass for an he wears brand new Supreme x easy basket. Panathinaikos calls IV. Nike Air Force 1s on his feet. The timeout. Doncic looks at the crowd crisp white kicks are emblazoned and pumps his arms on his way to T MUST BE SURREAL existing on the brink with the logos of various NBA the bench. He finishes with a mod- between two realities. Today, Doncic might be teams. Phoenix Suns. Dallas Mav- est stat-line—7 points, 3 assists, well-known to European basketball fans, but ericks. Atlanta Hawks. On and on. a game-high 10 rebounds—but I in a year he could be one of the NBA’s hottest Soon, he’ll be in one of these places Madrid comes away with an 81-74 names. If he struggles in a EuroLeague game, playing for one of these teams. win and the series lead. it might get micro-analyzed by a couple draft nerds, Soon, the whole world will know Doncic is reserved and amiable but if he hits an NBA slump, trolls and hot-takers will Luka Doncic. Soon, the rest of his

off the court, but during games he rip him to shreds online and on national TV. For all the life will really begin. S IMAGES CANADA/GETTY SONIA

40 SLAMONLINE.COM RESPECT THE GAME

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THE FUTURE ISSUE

BEN SIMMONS AIN’T YOUR AVERAGE ROOKIE. THE 21-YEAR-OLD POINT FORWARD IS ALREADY RACKING UP TRIPLE-DOUBLES AND CARRYING A LEGIT CONTENDER THROUGH THE PLAYOFFS—AND HE’S BARELY GOTTEN HIS FEET WET. PROCESS THAT.

WORDS YARON WEITZMAN PORTRAITS JONATHAN PUSHNICK ////////////////////////////////////

WYANE WADE FIRST met Ben Simmons a few years ago. He can’t remember exactly when, but what he does remember was that it was for a summer workout, and that LeBron was there, too, and that Simmons at the time was a skilled but shy Australian kid who had just recently D come over to the United States to play high level high school basketball. And also this: “You could see the way he looked at guys like ourselves and how we worked, he was taking notes, mental notes,” Wade recalled prior to a recent practice in his first-round playoff series against Simmons’ Philadel- phia 76ers, a series in which Simmons carved up Wade’s Heat and became only the fifth rookie in NBA history to record a postseason triple-double. “To see him a few years later and see where he is in his game, it’s impres-

SLAMONLINE.COM 43 THE FUTURE ISSUE

sive. He’s on a different level.” During that same series, Sim- mons’ teammate, veteran guard JJ Redick, summed up Simmons’ game similarly, saying: “It’s almost be- come expected now that he’s going to go average a triple-double.” That’s barely hyperbole. Sim- mons finished his rookie season averaging 15.8 points, 8.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game, all while helping lead the Sixers to a 52-win season and a first-round series victory over the Miami Heat. As far as rookies go, what Simmons did, and is doing as of this writing, in his first year in the League is nearly unprecedented. There’s the Oscar Robertson-like numbers and the All-NBA-level defense and the point guard skills and poise and feel. All that packed into a ripped 6-10 frame and you can’t help but think of previous THE THING THAT DRIVES and current one-name greats—you “ know, guys like Magic and LeBron. But most of all, there’s that ME IS JUST ME WANTING thing you see while watching Sim- mons play, whether in person or on TV. If you’ve watched him recently TO BE THE BEST. AND WIN you’ve no doubt recognized it. The cliché would be to label it the “It Factor,” but doing so would be an CHAMPIONSHIPS.” oversimplification. Simmons is both aggressive and composed, both rousing and repeti- tious, and he is forever effortlessly walking the tight rope that connects these two worlds. It’s a trait rarely seen in players, let alone rookies athletes ever find within their grasp. mentally prepared all the time,” (or, for you Donovan Mitchell-loving He’s chasing greatness. Simmons says. “It’s a long sea- sticklers out there, second-year son—it’s draining.” guys playing NBA games for the And yet, somehow, Simmons first time), and yet it’s the founda- ORGET, FOR A moment, your opinion managed to get better as the sea- tion of Simmons’ basketball DNA. on the whole Trust the Process ordeal son inched on. His numbers spiked, And it’s all because he’s chasing and whether you’re a Sam Hinkie devotee and the team won, and as the year something different than most. or believe that he and his acolytes have went on he became even more sure “The thing that drives me is just F cheated the game. and comfortable orchestrating the me wanting to be the best and All that is in the past now. The Process is offense and getting where he want- get different accolades and win complete, and the Sixers are now the team of the future, ed on the floor whenever he wanted. championships,” Simmons tells and that’s because of their two stars of the future, Joel Talk to Sixers coaches and they’ll SLAM in April. “Just push and see Embiid and Ben Simmons, who appear set to, respective- rave about his poise and IQ. They’ll how far I can go in this league and ly, play the roles of Philadelphia’s Kareem and Magic. tell you how they’ve never seen a make a name for myself.” That’s not to say that Simmons’ path toward that player his age possess not only the He’s asked why that’s import- future is a clear one. He’ll be the first to acknowledge skills but also all the stuff that goes ant to him. that the NBA is hard, and that being a star at that level, into the constructing of a star. “Because I can,” he says. and bringing your A-game every night, can deplete Take, for example, the way Sim- Simmons, in other words, is even the strongest of men. mons has gone about leveraging a chasing something that only a few “The hardest part this season was probably staying perceived weakness into a strength.

44 SLAMONLINE.COM Simmons’s lone flaw is his lack Yet Simmons, from his first possession of his first ERE’S A FUN of a jump shot. It’s not that he game, refused to give in as his opponents attempted to stat you proba- doesn’t make many shots from dictate his moves. Instead, he spent the year standing bly don’t know: deep; it’s that he rarely shoots from tall, like a quarterback in the pocket, and firing lasers During the regular beyond 15 feet. Opposing coaches to open teammates, or punishing defenders for provid- H season only one have been well aware of this all ing him with a runway to take off from. player (Russell year and so Simmons spent his “It’s hard for guys to stop me driving down the lane. Westbrook, because of course) rookie season watching defenders [I’m] 6-10, 240 [pounds], fast pace,” Simmons says, recovered more loose balls than sag off of him, daring him to launch. before adding the key part: “I stick to what I’m pretty Ben Simmons, according to It’s a tactic that’s crippled myriad good at.” player tracking data compiled by young players throughout NBA his- How does a 21-year-old dominate the NBA in his first the NBA. And while Loose Balls tory. It can sap a player’s confidence season as a pro? By recognizing what it is he’s chasing, Recovered may not be the sexiest and aggressiveness. Even all-time yes, but also by understanding what his strengths are of categories, that a player of greats like LeBron James have, at and doing his best to stick with them. Simmons’ caliber, in his first NBA times, struggled navigating these That’s the kind of thing that might sound simple. But season, meaning exhausted from types of schemes. it’s a trait rarely seen in men Simmons’ age. all the games and travel and more, would so willingly hit the floor so frequently, is telling. It shows that Simmons isn’t just preaching what he thinks people want to hear when he professes to be chasing more than individual accolades—though he’s made clear that this season’s Rookie of the Year award is an honor he believes belongs to him. It shows why Sixers coach Brett Brown blushes when- ever Simmons’ name is mentioned, and why Simmons’ teammates adore playing alongside him. Says Simmons, when presented with this data: “I think it shows that every possession counts.” And here’s another obscure stat, another number that illus- trates how little Simmons cares about racking up numbers, a trait not often seen among players who rack up numbers the way he does: Eight times this year, according to that same data compiled by the NBA, Simmons attempted a shot from beyond half court with the game clock ticking down. This might sound like nothing, but in an age when the majority of players will sneak in an extra dribble right before the buzzer so that their heave is late and, thus, not counted against their shooting percentage, habits like these are telling. They show that he’s not just talk, and that winning is truly the most important thing to him. They illus- trate why Simmons is the future. Greatness, after all, doesn’t take plays off. That Simmons already recognizes this is why he’s so likely to achieve what he seeks. S JESSE D. GARRABRANT/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

SLAMONLINE.COM 45 THE FUTURE ISSUE WHO’S STOPPING

wing, out near the three-point line. Emoni’s told to fake middle with a jab step and then explode to ME the baseline. He gets a few reps in while his uncle plays mock de- fense. But the kid’s already so nice that one jab step causes his uncle to come up out of his sneaker. A EMONI BATES IS JUST 14 YEARS OLD, STILL NOT lone Nike Hyperdunk 2017 sits A HIGH SCHOOLER. AND YET, AT 6-7 AND WITH THE near the three-point line as Emoni ABILITY TO SPLASH JUMPERS AND SOAR THROUGH THE lifts up for a reverse dunk. AIR, THE KID IS ALREADY RECEIVING COLLEGE OFFERS When he sits down afterward, he shakes his head and laughs AND DRAWING COMPARISONS TO NBA GREATS. about the moment. “From the first time he picked WORDS MAX RESETAR PORTRAIT VUHLANDES up a rubber ball, he would just con- centrate and dribble and dribble,” Elgin says. “Really engaged with what he was doing. Just nonstop.” COUPLE DOZEN kids are running Elgin, put fifth graders through Emoni started to hoop in the around the basketball court at Lin- drills. He’s only a few years older fourth grade. He scored 26 points coln High School in Ypsilanti, MI. The than them, but he’s already a world in his fourth grade championship hardwood floors are accented by ahead. He’s 6-7 with long arms and game at just 8 years old. blue bleachers and blue paint that big hands and an ability to soar “He just got his jumper working make up the free-throw, three-point through the air for crushing dunks. early,” Elgin remembers about that A and halfcourt lines. A handful of par- After a few moments, he hits game in Saline, MI. “He hit, like, five ents dot the sidelines, while another the court opposite his father to threes. Once the jumper got going, few coach the young hoopers on the floor. start his workout. He goes through the bucket just got bigger and big- The gym’s live for 6 p.m. on a Wednesday night in college-level dribble combinations ger. Then he started making some April. There’s something going on everywhere you look. that lead to sidestep jumpers. He’s midrange, off the dribble pull-ups. I And the No. 1 eighth grade basketball player in the nailing them, too. All net. was in awe.” country is quietly standing on the far sideline. He’s also working with his Emoni started to ramp things up Fourteen-year-old Emoni Bates watches his father, uncle. They set up on the right in fifth grade. And then by the time

46 SLAMONLINE.COM he hit middle school, he noticed a shift. His father is putting him Now the spotlight’s starting to “I feel like when I started getting better and I could through an intense secondary brighten on Emoni. He’s already actually take my game to the next level was my sixth workout to show off his advanced got an offer from DePaul, months grade year, when I first got onto the circuit,” Emoni talents in front of our cameras. before his first day of high school. says. “Nobody knew me and I played real good. I real- Emoni starts to leave a couple of He says that whenever he walks ized I could take the game over.” shots short. He gets heated and into a gym “a lot of heads turn.” Emoni has a unique skill set that’s aided by his height yells his own name in frustration, Comparisons are being drawn to and athleticism. He’s able to go get his own buckets, fully clapping angrily. Elgin tells him to Kevin Durant. But the 14-year-old capable of creating off the bounce for jumpers. He’s al- push through and he’s right back to doesn’t buy into that. ready collected a few bodies and he can catch-and-shoot. hitting the bottom of the net. “I want people to look at me as Or he can hit the glass, cleaning up teammates’ misses. “You caught me on an off day,” my own player,” he says. “So when Even with everything he can do physically, his great- Emoni says right before ripping off kids come up, I want them to look est skill is his desire. He’s very, very, very competitive. a one-handed dunk. up to me and say I want to be the “You don’t go out there to compete to be second,” Emoni’s the third generation of next [Emoni].” Elgin says. “You wanna be the best. I encourage him to Bates ballplayers. Elgin’s father, A little bit after Bates says that, always have that killer instinct. Because when you’re who played ball in the Army, is a pair of kindergarten-aged kids on the court, it’s not about being friends. It’s all about floating around the gym at Lincoln, are wide-eyed, with their heads competing and pushing whoever it is to the brink.” helping one of the younger players. peeking around the partition at “When I’m off the court, I’m a nice guy, but on the Elgin played pro ball in Europe and Lincoln High School. They watch court, I just don’t have any friends,” Emoni says. “You’re his sister averaged 24 points, 12 as the maybe not-so-distant future an enemy to me.” rebounds and 8 blocks as a high of basketball sails through the air He gets especially aggravated with himself. school All-American. to crush yet another dunk. S

SLAMONLINE.COM 47 THE FUTURE ISSUE ALTITUDE RISING

THOUGH A BUNCH OF OTHER SQUADS ARE GETTING THE (RIGHTLY EARNED) PLAYOFF SPOTLIGHT, DENVER’S DUO OF GARY HARRIS AND JAMAL MURRAY HAVE BEEN GROWING INTO ONE OF THE LEAGUE’S MOST PROMISING YOUNG BACKCOURTS. COME THIS TIME NEXT YEAR, YOU’LL SEE.

WORDS AND PORTRAITS JACK JENSEN ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

48 SLAMONLINE.COM SLAMONLINE.COM 49 THE FUTURE ISSUE

DENVER IS NOT A sacred hoops mecca. It is not a city dripping in Larry O’Brien trophies and national TV appearances. Its basketball team, the Nuggets, doesn’t play beneath a mountain of champion- ship banners up in the rafters. In fact, at the time this feature went to print, the Colorado fran- chise’s all-time NBA title count young rivalry. It’s an emerging battle that has also “I’m always encouraging Jamal, stood at an even zero. seemingly taken fire overnight, sparked in large part I’m always on his side. Once I see So what. by L.A.’s growing distaste for the 21-year-old Murray’s him getting in that pissed off mood, Today’s Denver Nuggets refuse on-court swagger at the tail end of their last two I’m like, ‘Shit, go at him!’” Harris to let past or present growing meetings. And in last night’s game, the second-year says. “I’m his biggest hype man, pains define their future. It’s a pro from just outside of Toronto dropped 22 points and so once he starts doing that, I’m belief spearheaded in large part by 8 dimes to help push Denver to its 36th win. like, ‘Go crazy, shoot it.’ I’m happy their supremely young and pow- Murray’s in-game flair would go on to receive less- for him, especially when he gets erfully dynamic backcourt of Gary than-stellar reviews out of Lakerland, with everyone from hot. I’ll be right there telling him to Harris and Jamal Murray. What the coach Luke Walton to the very vocal Lakers faithful offer- shoot every time. And if he’s having pair currently has brewing out in ing up sharp opinions on the guard’s hardwood comport- an off game, I’m right there telling the Mile High has both the Nuggets ment. Beyond the stuff of pickup game regularity, it’s also him to keep shooting it.” organization and its fans primed to a reaction that this writer—having grown up in the Denver When he’s locked in and firing ascend to an entirely new altitude. metro area through many a Nuggets era and lineup—has off blue arrows all over the court, Still, well before dreams of ring not seen from an opposing crowd in recent memory. like against L.A., that’s when sizings can ever take shape, Harris Not that the kid minds, mind you. Murray’s at his best. It’s half of needs to make one thing clear: “We just have a lot of fun playing basketball, and it the Nugs’ secret ingredient to its Please don’t piss off Jamal. shows in our style of play,” Murray says, Harris nodding formula at guard: Jamal brings the “The scouting report on Jamal? in agreement nearby. “We get a lot of wins that way. So heat and Gary sets the cool. Fire Don’t make him mad,” says Harris, I don’t really care what people say. We just go out there and ice, all the way. laughing. “Once Jamal gets mad, and hoop.” “Gary’s kind of the opposite,” you don’t know what you gon’ get. “I feel like us, man, as far as best backcourts, we’ll Murray says. “Gary’s always cool, He’s going to be unconscious and go against anybody,” Harris adds. “I feel like I can speak calm and collected. He’s one of a that’s when he starts hitting all for Jamal on this: We’re not going to back down from kind, man. He’s a two-way player.” types of crazy shots, starts talking anybody. And we’re ready to go at whoever we play As pure as his jumper, Harris to you crazy. Being on the team, I against every night.” is both equal parts smooth and love seeing that. I love when peo- Since coming into the NBA as the seventh pick measured, just like his game. ple piss him off. I love playing with out of Kentucky in 2016, Murray has done exactly He’s so chill and so poised that pissed off Jamal. That shit’s fun.” that: hoop and have fun. This past season, he poured it’s easy to forget he’s only 23 years It’s mid-March in Denver. This in nearly 17 per, including 16 games with at least 25 old. Yet, from Murray to coach Mike time of year, that could mean points. He also just turned 21 in late February. Malone to newcomer and four-time either sun or snow, but for this trip, To watch Jamal Murray score is to observe a thing All-Star Paul Millsap, it’s clear that we’ve been graced with the former. of roundball beauty. It’s not so much that he can simply Harris is a unifying and calming It’s also shining bright inside the score in bunches, but rather when he does turn it on, Mur- presence both on the floor and in Nuggets’ practice facility, where ray can transform into a flame-throwing bucket machine the locker room. Millsap says Harris the team is fresh off a heated win capable of dropping 20 points in a blink. He can sweat has “been a solid rock for us the at home against the Lakers—the 20. Breathe 20. Lace up, jog out and casually trip over 20. whole year.” Jamal, meanwhile, third of four regular season Step backs, floaters, tomahawks, left side, right side—he has been firmly seated on Gary’s match-ups in what appears to be can serve, dice and prepare the feast however you’d like. bandwagon since Day 1. an increasingly exciting and hostile His game is just flat out fun, even when his mindset isn’t. “He’s always been that vocal

50 SLAMONLINE.COM leader and stepping up in big arguably the squad’s most trusted player. Along with moments, not just with his play, Murray and Jokic, Harris represents a vital core block of but with his voice and how he leads what the franchise is trying to build. And if Denver is to this team,” says Murray. ascend out of the Lottery and into serious postseason Lost in the alluring potential contention moving forward, Harris will be a fundamental of Murray and transcendent-level reason why. promise of Denver’s 6-10 Serbian It also didn’t hurt his case on a national level when show Nikola Jokic, and for good he sent a surging OKC team packing in early February reason, it’s easy to miss just how after drilling a game-winning trey at the buzzer. Where- effective and good Harris has been. as the shot—hit over an impossibly stretched-out fly- BACK IN DENVER’S prac- At just under 18 points per game, ing Russell Westbrook—lit up Twitter for the night, for tice facility, the guys are trading he is both the team’s leading scorer the squad, it was just another case of Gary being Gary. buckets as our cameras record it and its most potent perimeter “That was always Gary,” says Murray. “We needed all. And in the entire time we spent defender. In only his fourth season him to step up and make that shot, and he did that. And with them, you’d be hard-pressed as a pro, Harris not only anchors there’s been other games, too. He’s made big plays to find a five-minute stretch where much of Denver’s attack, but his down the stretch offensively and defensively.” they weren’t cracking up. consistency and ability to affect Two-way terror. 6-4. Confident and efficient. Leader “We have a great relationship off both ends of the court make him on and off. 23. Just Gary being Gary. the court. It makes basketball a lot easier, to be honest,” says Murray. “We can have a friendship and be teammates at the same time. “Just being around each other AS FAR AS BEST BACKCOURTS 24/7 really helps a lot, and really “ , helps our chemistry grow,” Murray continues. “And it’s not just us two, WE’LL GO AGAINST ANYBODY. but the whole team’s close.” ” Harris chimes in, echoing his —HARRIS teammate. “The chemistry’s defi- nitely grown,” says Harris. “We’ve grown as teammates, grown as friends and it’s been fun. Not just with Jamal, but with everyone.” With playoff spots coming down to the smallest of margins, a late-season push for the postsea- son proved just short for Denver. The foundation for a brighter future, however, is clear. Because in the process of the team’s transformation, the pair is helping make Denver a viable destination to win. It’s not a stretch to see how similar blueprints of growing elite talent internally and finding steals in the draft have helped places like OKC and Golden State. Harris and Murray are determined to keep Denver on that path—and even take the franchise to new heights. “Whatever it is, I think we genuinely want to see each other succeed,” says Harris, “because we know when we’re all playing well, the team’s success is a lot greater than when we’re not on. We all genuinely root for each other and just have a good time. It makes it fun.” S

SLAMONLINE.COM 51

ANTHONY DAVIS New Orleans Pelicans

SEAN GARDNER/GETTY IMAGES THE FUTURE ISSUE 2018

Clockwise from left: Garland, Barrett, Williamson, Bol and Reddish

52 SLAMONLINE.COM ALL-AMERICANS

BOYS

NAME HEIGHT WEIGHT POS WHERE THEY WERE WHERE THEY’LL BE RJ Barrett 6-7 200 SF Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL) Duke Cameron Reddish 6-7 200 SF Westtown School (West Chester, PA) Duke Zion Williamson 6-7 270 PF Spartanburg Day School (Spartanburg, SC) Duke Bol Bol 7-2 222 C Findlay Prep (Henderson, NV) Oregon Darius Garland 6-2 175 PG Brentwood Academy (Brentwood, TN) Vanderbilt

RJ CAMERON ZION BOL DARIUS BARRETT REDDISH WILLIAMSON BOL GARLAND

The Mississauga, Reddish is one of Despite missing some Son of the late Manute Darius is the son of Ontario, native made it three Duke commits games at the beginning Bol, a man known in former NBA guard Win- clear by the end of the on this year’s SLAM of the season due to a the history books as ston Garland, who was season that he was the All-American Team foot injury, Williamson the tallest player to actually a teammate definitive top player in and is known as one walked away from his ever set foot on an of Bol Bol’s dad on the the Class of 2018. He of the smoothest high school career NBA court, Bol Bol Golden State Warriors swept through every offensive threats in the with a bang, helping transferred out of in the late ’80s. The major national Player country. He averaged lead Spartanburg Day Mater Dei (Santa point guard, who is off of the Year award 26.6 points and 5.6 School to a third con- Ana, CA) in the fall to Vanderbilt this fall, (Naismith, Woot- rebounds per game secutive state title after to join prep national is highly touted for his ten, Gatorade, USA for Westtown (20-12) averaging 36.4 points, powerhouse Findlay. craftiness, athleticism Today, MaxPreps) after before missing the 11.4 rebounds and 3.5 At the Nevada school and scoring prowess. leading Montverde state semifinals due assists per game. He’ll he helped lead the This past season he led Academy to the GEICO to illness. Reddish’s go down as one of the Pilots to a 32-5 record his squad to a fourth Nationals champion- illustrious prep career most highly profiled and an appearance consecutive Division ship and an undefeated includes winning con- prep athletes ever, be- in the GEICO Nation- II-AA state title while season at 35-0. The secutive Pennsylvania coming a social media als semifinals. He averaging 27.6 points, Canadian stud aver- Independence Schools phenomenon thanks to averaged 20.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.3 as- aged 28.7 points, 8.5 Athletic Association insane dunks that went 8.2 rebounds and 2.4 sists and 1.7 steals per rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2 state titles as a sopho- viral on a seemingly blocks per game. game. In March he was blocks and 1.5 assists more and junior. nightly basis. named Mr. Basketball per game. in Tennessee for a third consecutive year.

SLAMONLINE.COM 53 THE FUTURE ISSUE

Clockwise from top left: DeCosta, Henderson, Collier, Smith and Williams

54 SLAMONLINE.COM 2018 HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICANS

GIRLS

NAME HEIGHT POS WHERE THEY WERE WHERE THEY’LL BE Christyn Williams 5-11 SG Central Arkansas Christian Schools (North Little Rock, AR) UConn Charli Collier 6-5 F Barbers Hill High (Mont Belvieu, TX) Texas Destanni Henderson 5-8 PG Fort Myers High (Fort Myers, FL) South Carolina Aquira DeCosta 6-2 F St. Mary’s High (Stockton, CA) Baylor NaLyssa Smith 6-2 F East Central High (San Antonio, TX) Baylor

CHRISTYN CHARLI DESTANNI AQUIRA NALYSSA WILLIAMS COLLIER HENDERSON DECOSTA SMITH

Williams, a three- Collier tallied 3,539 Henderson helped DeCosta is a walking Smith helped the time Gatorade State points and 1,406 lead the Green Wave double-double and East Central Hornets Player of the Year, rebounds during to a third straight she proved it this make their first helped lead her an amazing prep state title after past season when appearance in the squad to a 36-1 career, averaging claiming the Class she averaged 18.3 regional tournament record and the Class a monster dou- 7A state champi- points, 13.1 re- since 1997 this 4A state title this ble-double this past onship this spring. bounds, 3 steals, past season. She past season. She season while leading She averaged 15.2 2 assists and 2 averaged 23.4 points, averaged 26.8 points, her team to a 38-3 points, 6.1 assists, blocks per game as a 13.7 rebounds and 10.4 rebounds, record and a trip to 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 senior. She’s part of 3.0 blocks per game. 2.9 assists and 1.8 the Class 5A, Region steals per game for a monster recruiting Aside from the steals per game. 3 tournament semi- Fort Myers (14-15), class for Baylor impressive numbers, Recognized by many finals. She averaged who only finished that will feature five the San Antonio area as the top-ranked 30.9 points, 11.5 under .500 because incoming freshmen native is also known prospect in the Class rebounds, 2.3 steals, the team had to all ranked among for having thrown of 2018, the 5-11 2.2 blocks and 2.0 forfeit 11 wins. the top 30 players in down dunks since guard also claimed assists per game. Nonetheless, the the Class of 2018, in- her sophomore year. the Naismith and The 6-5 forward had 5-8 guard heads to cluding fellow 2018 Only a matter of time Morgan Wootten originally committed South Carolina with SLAM All-American before she starts Player of the Year to UConn before multiple titles under NaLyssa Smith. banging on the rim at awards. deciding to take her her belt. Baylor. talents to Texas.

SLAMONLINE.COM 55 THE FUTURE ISSUE NEVER FOLD

feet and I was going insane.” She was shy and wouldn’t smile Playing each possession with with her teeth. She just wanted to WITH ROOKIE A’JA WILSON her heart on her sleeve, Wilson lev- be normal. SERVING AS THE CHARISMATIC eled up into a bona fide superstar. But Hattie knew that A’ja had a South Carolina won the 2017 SEC gift and was anything but normal. STAR OF LAS VEGAS’ NEW Tournament and continued to roll She gave A’ja her pair of pearls WNBA FRANCHISE, THE through the NCAA Tournament. along with a message: “God didn’t ENTERTAINMENT CAPITAL OF Before every game, Crime put you on this earth to be normal. THE WORLD JUST GOT A LIL’ Mob’s “Knuck If You Buck” blasted He gave you a gift and you need to MORE ENTERTAINING. through the locker room. It became use it.” the team’s official anthem. Now when Wilson wears “I wish a hater would get crunk pearls—which is nearly every day— WORDS RYNE NELSON up on this Gamecock crew!” A’ja she’s continuing her grandmother’s PORTRAIT RYAN YOUNG would rap. legacy and reminded of her own With a 67-55 win over Missis- purpose. She lives with an unapol- sippi State, South Carolina was ogetic joie de vivre, and is often crowned NCAA champion for the drawn to tears in the immensity of FTER A LONG FLIGHT to first time. A’ja had solidified herself the moment. Las Vegas, A’ja Wilson and as a South Carolina legend. “I’m filled with so much emotion her parents are sitting inside a The magical run would take on because people have no idea what bar-restaurant at the MGM Grand. extra meaning. Earlier that season, this game has done for me and The three are at a high ta- A’ja’s grandmother, Hattie Rakes, my family,” she says. “To be in ble—A’ja on the left, dad on passed away at the age of 95. As situations that are so great—you A the right, mom in the middle— a kid, she would visit her grand- look back and you’re like, I am so noticeably tired and hungry, but mother every day after school. blessed. still running on the fuel of excitement. Hattie’s home was a place where “When it’s God’s blessing, I don’t Ever since the Las Vegas Aces selected Wilson No. 1 A’ja could be herself. hold back anything. I’m like, This overall in last week’s WNBA draft, calm moments like A loss far greater than anything is destiny. This is something that’s this have been rare. But the family couldn’t appear she’d ever experienced, Wilson seri- been put in my path,” she says. “It happier as they reminisce over A’ja’s journey. ously considered hanging it up. But kind of gets overwhelming, but it’s Time and time again, her path was illuminated as she pushed on, dedicating the sea- a part of me.” everything seemed to be falling apart. During the final son to the woman who told her that Wilson will be calling Las Vegas week of the 2016-17 regular season, South Carolina’s she was destined for greatness. her summer home for the foresee- All-SEC center and emotional leader, Alaina Coates, “After the National Champion- able future. The fans and city will went down with a season-ending ankle injury. ship game, I was crying. I couldn’t be new. The coach will be new. But The Gamecocks, suddenly rudderless, turned to stop crying because I just knew the journey will continue. Wilson—then a junior—to assume the leadership role. she was with me,” A’ja says. “I honestly think it’s a similar With the season in the balance, Wilson took over for Originally a bench player in [situation to college] because all her injured teammate. AAU, Wilson chose the number eyes are on you, and you’re still the “That was when the light kind of went [on],” says 22 because she didn’t think she underdog,” Wilson says. the 6-4 forward. “I remember one play something hap- “matched the caliber” of the stars “I was an underdog at South pened, and I just started screaming and stomping my who have donned No. 23. Carolina my entire four years.” S

56 SLAMONLINE.COM

THE FUTURE ISSUE LIGHTS, CAMERA…

CALI-BRED HS JUNIOR CASSIUS STANLEY LEADS A LOADED TEAM THAT PLAYS IN FRONT OF THE LIKES OF KANYE WEST, DRAKE AND THE WHOLE KARDASHIAN FAM. BUT THE HIGH-FLYING PROSPECT IS FOCUSED ON ONE THING ABOVE ALL: BECOMING A SUPERSTAR AT THE NEXT LEVEL.

S CASSIUS STANLEY poses football players and is recognized for photos on the famous basketball as the first black agent to ever courts of Venice Beach in mid-April, represent the No. 1 pick in the NFL bystanders whisper amongst each draft. His list of clients has includ- other as they watch from a few feet ed Baron Davis, Chad Johnson, away. Pockets of small crowds begin Brian Shaw, Keyshawn Johnson at USC. “It was the first day and A to form on the sidelines as a few Mus- and Dennis Northcutt. there was like five or six of us. cle Beach-goers curiously ask about For Stanley, spending time in And then right next to me was the teenager hanging on the rim while SLAM’s camera the gym with professional athletes Tom Brady. It was just so unreal crew snaps some shots of him. Those who know about has been the norm ever since he because this is one of the greatest the 6-5 junior guard begin to fill others in on his résumé. can remember. The soon-to-be HS football players ever and for a The L.A. area is known as a hotbed for basketball senior, who says he’s been training week straight I was just training talent, and next season Stanley will find himself at with Paul George and Detroit with [him].” the helm of the crop. While local guys like Russell Pistons guard Reggie Jackson the Not only has he been exposed Westbrook, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan and last couple of summers, would to top athletes and their trainers, Paul George enjoy being among the League’s biggest constantly find himself in the same Stanley has also grown an interest names, Stanley will be looked upon as next in line. room with future Hall of Famers. for the business side of sports. His dad, Jerome, has served as a sports agent for “I remember one day early in Watching his dad negotiate deals around three decades, so the Sierra Canyon HS stand- middle school I was training for with teams and brands, the top-15 out has witnessed the ins and outs of what it’s like to baseball with this pitching coach national recruit grew an under- be a star athlete from a very unique perspective. that my dad knew,” Stanley says, standing and appreciation for the Jerome has represented both basketball and thinking back on practice sessions inner-workings of contracts.

WORDS FRANKLYN CALLE PORTRAIT CASSY ATHENA ///////////////////////////////////////////////////

58 SLAMONLINE.COM “A couple of weeks ago I was The five-star recruit has become highly heralded for that he’s more than just a You- just walking to the door and on the his jaw-dropping athleticism. There's a YouTube high- Tube-made high-flyer. And with all counter were five or six players’ light mix of him that describes him as the “best athlete eyes on him next season, the stage sneaker contracts,” says Stanley, in HS since Vince Carter” in its title and has drawn over is set for him to make his point. who adds he would like to become 1.6 million views. He was only a freshman when the “People see my highlights and commissioner of the NBA once his video was posted online. think I’m just a dunker and super playing career is over. “I was really Additionally, playing for Sierra Canyon, which athletic with no skill,” he says. “It just interested to see what it looks neighbors Calabasas and counts Kendall and Kylie used to really bug me earlier in like. I wanted to see what these Jenner and Willow Smith as alums, has provided an high school and I used to really try negotiations look like inside. extra layer of intrigue. The team currently features two to prove to other people that I was “I try to pick my dad’s brain all sons of former NBAers—Scotty Pippen Jr and Kenyon more than just a dunker. But then the time about contracts or sneak- Martin Jr—who, along with Stanley, will be seniors I started to realize that I’m just er [deals], doing ads for when he next season. Kanye West and Drake were reportedly going to play my game. I don’t ever has his players doing commercials. among the celebrity spectators that stopped by to take dunk in games, really. I realized I don’t even think he knows some- in games this past season. The Trailblazers went on to that when people come to see my times that I’m picking his brain. It win the open division state championships this spring. games they might be disappointed, just fascinates me.” Stanley, meanwhile, finds himself looking to prove because I’m all skill.” S

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SLAMONLINE.COM 59 THE FUTURE ISSUE

GAMETIME

THE BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW NBA 2K LEAGUE WILL (WE THINK!) TAKE VIDEO GAMES’ GROWING INFLUENCE ON THE WORLD OF SPORTS AND CULTURE TO THE NEXT LEVEL. HERE, ONE OF THE LEAGUE’S GENERAL MANAGERS (AND A FORMER SLAM EDITOR) EXPLAINS WHAT EXACTLY THIS WHOLE THING IS ABOUT…AND WHY IT’LL MATTER.

USED TO BE THE Executive Editor of tunately, many of those earliest SLAM magazine. Now I work for an NBA records have been lost to time.) team as a General Manager. What a time The 2K League works like any to be alive. other sports league: teams play You’ll notice I did not say I work as “the” against each other, and someone team’s general manager. That’s because wins and someone loses. Five I I’m not the GM of an NBA team. No, I’m the gamers will rep Grizz Gaming, GM of Grizz Gaming, the Memphis Grizzlies’ each playing a position on the team in the NBA 2K League, which tipped off its inau- court, and we’ll square off against gural season this month. five other gamers, in what will How exactly did I get here? We should probably look fundamentally identical to start with the NBA 2K League, which is pretty much any other actual basketball game. exactly what it sounds like: An esports league built Seventeen NBA franchises signed around the video game NBA 2K. And by this point, if up to field entries in the NBA 2K you don’t know what an esports league is, you are League’s inaugural season, includ- probably older than me. The esports industry, which ing the Memphis Grizzlies. is basically competitive leagues built around video Which is where I get involved: son and dog and everything else we games, is expected to see over a billion dollars a year Back in October, the Grizzlies owned, and we moved to Memphis. in revenue by 2019. Companies and sports franchises asked if I’d be interested in moving As it turns out, constructing from all sectors are getting involved, so when the NBA to Memphis to be the General an NBA 2K team from scratch is announced the founding of the NBA 2K League during Manager of their 2K team. I knew a lot like building an actual NBA 2017’s All-Star Weekend, it made sense. pretty much immediately that yes, team, or at least what I assume (It is worth noting here that the original SLAM this was something I wanted to do. it’s like. We built a state-of-the-art Dome was the birthplace of what many experts After spending two decades as a practice facility, filled out the Grizz consider one of the world’s first esports leagues. One journalist who primarily covered Gaming staff, met with potential summer, while struggling to fill the months of mostly the NBA, I was ready for a change. I sponsorship partners, sat through hoops-less content on SLAMonline.com, Sam Ruben- was excited to trade New York City, meetings with architects, created stein and myself launched what we called the Madden where my family and I lived for 17 content to help spread the word Bowl, which was essentially an excuse to allow us to years, for some wide open spaces. about @GrizzGaming, printed up play Madden in the office and write about it. Unfor- So I loaded up a truck with my wife, t-shirts, stickers, tattoos and lapel STEVE FREEMAN/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

WORDS LANG WHITAKER /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

60 SLAMONLINE.COM pins and pretty much created an infrastructure. ago and moved into their new things I brought in was a print I By the middle of March, I was embarking on the apartments. We took them out received for Christmas a few years scouting process, trying to identify the players we for incredible barbecue that first ago. It’s a submarine, cruising wanted to build around. During the inaugural NBA 2K night and have tried to show them underwater, with the caption, “This League Draft Lottery, we drew the 15th pick of the some of what makes Memphis is an adventure,” a quote from Bill first round, but because it was a snake draft, we also so special—from the music to the Murray’s titular character in The got the third pick of the second round. I did my best history to the cuisine to the people. Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, GM-speak and spun it positively by telling people we Mostly, we’ve been bunkered down from one of my favorite directors, landed “two of the top 20 picks.” We ended up using in our practice facility, getting to Wes Anderson. I keep it just within that first-round pick on a point guard named Larell know each other’s virtual games eyesight, a constant reminder that Mitchell, a former truck driver from Richmond, VA, who and getting ready for the season we’re all on this ride together, as plays with the gamertag Winner_Stayz_On. to tip off. a team. As I write this, we are about two weeks out from When I set up my desk in the Now we just need someone to our first game. Our players arrived in Memphis a week Grizzlies’ offices, one of the first press start. S

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SLAMONLINE.COM 61 THE FUTURE ISSUE KINGSCROWN THE

FOR AN NBA PLAYER, NOTHING SYMBOLIZES THE EVOLUTION FROM “NEXT BIG THING” TO “CURRENT SUPERSTAR” QUITE LIKE A SIGNATURE SNEAKER. HERE, WE TAKE A STAB AT 10 GUYS WE THINK COULD—AND SHOULD—MAKE THAT JUMP OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS.

WORDS RUSS BENGTSON

ORTING OUT WHO should—and who shouldn’t—get signature shoes LUKA DONCIC isn’t an exact science. If anything it’s TEENAGE SLOVENIAN prospect Luka Doncic will be a lottery more like alchemy, combining two pick this June, one who will be expected to change the fortune different ingredients, in this case an of whatever team he winds up on. [See page 36 for lots more S athlete and a sneaker brand, and hop- on Luka.—Ed.] The 6-6 guard signed with Real Madrid at 13 and ing magic happens. Sometimes it does has spent the last six years in Spain. So while he’ll be new to the and you get Air Jordan. Sometimes it doesn’t and NBA, he’s already a pro, one who’s a familiar name in an entirely you get, well, other results. different market. And while Eurostars like Manu Ginobili and Dirk The most successful partnerships are some- Nowitzki never got signature shoes of their own, Doncic should. how more than a sum of their parts. Magic. And Because even if he doesn’t reach the Hall of Fame heights of it’s not just a matter of the best brand teaming Manu and Dirk, he’s already reached an even greater number of fans before ever stepping onto an NBA floor. with the best player, either. There’s more to it, especially now, what with social media and international fanbases. There’s also the matter ANTHONY DAVIS of timing—the guy who seems like a can’t-miss today might be a flop by the time the product hits HARD AS IT MAY be to believe, Pelicans center Anthony Davis the market. is still just 25 years old. He’s already played in five All-Star So with all this in mind, we cranked up the games, winning MVP honors last year in front of his home crowd, crystal ball and came up with 10 guys who and done things unseen since the days of Wilt Chamberlain. should be signature athletes immediately if not He’s also played 75 games in each of the past two seasons after struggling with injuries early on. Nike has given him PE versions soon. And if you’re wondering where Giannis of inline shoes, but it’s long past time that Davis became a signa- Antetokounmpo’s name is, his signature model ture athlete. He’s Alonzo Mourning with Vince Carter’s athleti- is reportedly already in the works for 2019. Let’s cism, a 6-10 big who does things that bigs shouldn’t be able to hope the magic happens. do. Let him lead a Shox revival.

62 SLAMONLINE.COM KRISTAPS PORZINGIS

BY ALL RIGHTS, KP should have a signature shoe already. He’s a star in New York, an international star at that, one who combines 7-3 height with guard-like handles and range out to as deep as anyone could want. A torn ACL ended his second season in February, but he doesn’t even turn 23 until August. The Unicorn would give a new dimension to adidas’ basketball line—currently dominated by guards James Harden and Damian Lillard—and New York its first signature athlete since Jordan Brand’s Carmelo Anthony.

BEN SIMMONS

HAD BEN SIMMONS entered the NBA a decade and a half earlier, he likely would have had a signature shoe from the jump. But times have changed, and the likelihood of any rookie, no matter how celebrated, getting a LeBron-like deal is essentially none at all. But maybe that was for the best. Because after a Rookie of the Year season that saw Simmons break the rookie record for triple-dou- bles, lead the 52-win Sixers back to the playoffs and get blessed by the King himself with a Philly-cen- tric nickname (“The Fresh Prince”) the price tag for his next deal is already going up. [See page 42 for lots more on Ben.—Ed.]

DONOVAN MITCHELL

GUYS IN UTAH don’t usually get signature shoes, but then again guys in Utah don’t usually play like Donovan Mitchell. The 13th overall pick out of Louisville, Mitchell broke Darrell Griffith’s single-game Jazz rookie scoring record of 38, and then, having been named to the Dunk Contest as an injury re- placement for Aaron Gordon, went

SLAMONLINE.COM 63 out and won the thing—the first rookie to do so since Kobe Bryant. The man they call Spida has the name, the game, and, like Bryant before him, he deserves an adidas model to call his own.

DENNIS SMITH JR

IT’S FAR TOO early to call Dennis Smith Jr “the next Russell Westbrook,” but in terms of ex- plosiveness, the Mavericks guard definitely has some “why not?” in his game. And it’s that athleti- cism that makes him the perfect yang to Stephen Curry’s Under Armour yin, a more traditional signature athlete whose posteriza- tions come at the rim rather than 28 feet out. If anyone is going to be the face of Under Armour’s HOVR technology, it may as well be a young guy who can fly.

TRAE YOUNG

TRAE YOUNG ISN’T your pro- totypical signature sneaker guy. Then again, it wasn’t long ago that Steph Curry wasn’t either. Young played just one year at Oklahoma, a year in which he led the nation in both scoring and assists. The 6-2 19-year-old projects as a lottery pick, and while he’ll have his work cut out for him in the NBA, he Ewing’s eponymous line had a moment. Why couldn’t JAYLEN BROWN seems ready to take on the load. Joel Embiid follow in their footsteps? Embiid not only And it’s about time for a point has the game, he has the same larger-than-life per- CALL JAYLEN BROWN a throw- guard renaissance in signature sonality as O’Neal, a giant both on and off the court. back at your peril. Sure, he’s got the shoes, too—back to the days of Hell, for The Process, merely selling shoes might be hightop fade and the playoff poise— Gary Payton and Jason Kidd. Bring aiming too low. he became the youngest Celtic back the Fun Police! to drop 30 in a postseason game, breaking a record held by Tommy KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS freakin’ Heinsohn—but he’s a player JOEL EMBIID damn near built for the modern MUCH LIKE SHAQ, Karl-Anthony Towns came into game, a three-and-D guy who can THEY SAY BIG men don’t sell the NBA wearing a size 20, making his shoes literal yam it on you, too. He’s only in his shoes, and to an extent this is billboards. The Timberwolves star has made the second season, so adidas probably correct. There have been few most of it, sporting customs done by Kickstradomis, has some guys ahead of him, but big-man signature lines that tran- including an incredible Jason Voorhees pair where maybe they should think about scended basketball in the way, the Swoosh was flipped into a machete. Customs are jumping him to the head of the line. say, Michael Jordan’s did. But nice and all, but Towns deserves a signature model of Heck, make him a Yeezy hoops guy. maybe it’s simply been a matter his own, even if it’s based off the Hyperdunk. Together (You might recall that in 2016 we of not choosing the right big men. with Embiid, Towns could get a big-man shoe signa- ran a college essay about Kanye’s Shaquille O’Neal’s Reebok line ture war going reminiscent of Shaq and Dikembe back work penned by Brown.) We’re had some bangers, and Patrick in the early ’90s. It’s time. pretty sure ’Ye would go for it. S PREVIOUS PAGE: STACY REVERE/GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE FROM LEFT: RON TURENNE; DAVID SHERMAM/BOTH NBAE/VIA GETTY LEFF/GETTY IMAGES; MITCHELL IMAGES

64 SLAMONLINE.COM WANT SOME MORE

///////////////////////////// WORDS MAX RESETAR PORTRAIT JOSEPH L. SHERMAN /////////////////////////////

most sneakers take up to 18 months to make—to properly build the Kobe AD NXT 360, which marks the AS KOBE’S SIGNATURE LINE next evolution for the Black Mamba’s sneakers. It uses CARRIES ON WITH HIM a comprehensive Flyknit component that starts at the INCREASINGLY REMOVED upper and wraps around the midsole. It’s the pinnacle of innovation at the Swoosh right FROM THE COURT, NEITHER now, but it’s just the beginning of Kobe’s newest silhou- NIKE NOR THE MAMBA HIMSELF ettes. It’s going to be complemented by the continua- ARE THROWING IN THE TOWEL. tion of the Protro line. QUITE THE OPPOSITE, IN FACT. Protro, a combination of “performance” and “retro,” started in February with the introduction of an updated Kobe 1. The 2018 release has the same appearance as the version that dropped in 2006, but it’s been remixed REGON-BOUND bucket-getter Lou King with modern-day technology. The plan is to keep that has a big-time prediction for the future of up with more Protro releases. Kobe Bryant’s signature sneaker line. Grosso also says that a lower-priced Kobe model “Just heat after heat after heat,” the will run “for a while,” meaning there will be at least New Jersey native says. three Kobe sneakers to release each year. O Kevin Porter Jr, who will be lighting up “It’s not very often that an athlete retires and has a scoreboards at USC in the fall, predicts signature model that’s going to continue on,” Grosso that 10 years from now, Kobe’s kicks will share a legacy says. “There’s only been one, and that was MJ. with the GOAT. “Definitely still gonna be one of the top “We didn’t really wanna do it like a Team Kobe,” he shoes in the game, period,” he says. “Just like Jordan.” continues, referencing the first crop of players that And Nike’s fully aware that Bryant’s line has to set signed with Jordan Brand in the late ’90s. “We think the pace for hoops sneakers. that characteristically, there are a couple of guys in “The hardest part for us with Kobe is that there is an the League that exemplify that Mamba Mentality. But expectation on the shoe,” Tony Grosso, Senior Product I wanna change it all the time. Next year we should be Line Manager, says. doing different things with different guys.” Kobe, though he’s been retired for two seasons, is DeMar DeRozan, Isaiah Thomas, Devin Booker and the one driving Nike to make sure his kicks continue to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who have been some of the deliver. go-to guys to unveil Kobes since No. 24 retired, might Grosso says, “If I came to [Kobe] with some cute sto- not be as heavily involved next year. ries, saying, ‘Here’s what we’re gonna do,’ he’d be like, ‘No. “To me, the number one dude is Kyrie,” Grosso says. What’s the innovation platform?’ He’s just like, ‘Uh, this “Kyrie is connected to him so much. But Kyrie has his doesn’t feel like you guys are really making it easier for own line. Like, how do we cross-pollinate those guys?” a kid to play basketball and get buckets on his opponent. So more Kobe and Kyrie collabs are on the way? What’s up? What are you doing to make this better?’” “There’s gonna be ‘Kobe x a bunch of shit’ coming in That’s why it took Grosso and his team two years— the next year,” Grosso says. S

SLAMONLINE.COM 65 THE FUTURE ISSUE

SUN rise

THOUGH TWO TEAMS REMAIN THE UNDENIABLE WNBA FAVORITES, A CONFIDENT CONNECTICUT CREW IS AIMING TO PUT AN END TO THAT SOONER THAN LATER.

HERE IS A duopoly atop the WNBA. pointed out, they did it without Each of the past two seasons, the Los franchise big Chiney Ogwumike, Angeles Sparks and Minnesota Lynx have who missed the season due to an battled in the WNBA Finals after finishing Achilles tendon injury. with the two best records in the league by far. That opened the door to a start- But dynasties, even concurrent ones, ing five that presented opponents don’t last forever, and among several rising with endless matchup problems. T WNBA squads, the Connecticut Sun are first At the 5, Jonquel Jones built on a among those aspiring to overtake the Lynx and Sparks strong rookie season by blossoming some day—perhaps as soon as this season. into an All-Star, finishing fifth in the “I think we’re trending very positively,” Sun head league in player efficiency rating, coach and general manager Curt Miller told SLAM third in win shares and first in when asked about that goal. “And I think we over- rebounding percentage. Next to her achieved last year, so we got to do it without a lot of was Alyssa Thomas, whose work as pressure and a bulls-eye on our back. This year the secondary facilitator at the 4 (her expectations are higher.” assist percentage of 24.3 trailed The numbers bear out Connecticut’s status as only point guard Jasmine Thomas’ the next WNBA title team in waiting. While the Lynx 24.9 among Sun rotation members) finished first and the Sparks second in both offensive and defender earned her an All-Star and defensive rating, respectively, only the Sun also bid as well. Courtney Williams com- managed to grab a top-four spot in both metrics last bined elite athleticism with a knack year. The Sun finished 21-13 last year, and as Miller for the big shot at shooting guard, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: BRIAN BABINEAU (2); ADAM PANTOZZI (2)/ALL NBAE/VIA GETTY IMAGES

WORDS HOWARD MEGDAL ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

66 SLAMONLINE.COM Clockwise from top: lose the spacing and scoring and Jonquel Jones, shooting of Stricklen with her off Shekinna Stricklen, the floor,” Miller said. “But if Al- Jasmine Thomas and yssa’s out of the game and you’re Courtney Williams playing Chiney and JJ together, if you’re down the stretch with a lead you have better foul shooters. You keep a really good foul shooter like Stricklen on the floor, you keep the spacing, but you may not be quite as good defensively.” That doesn’t even take into account a frontcourt stalwart like Morgan Tuck, third overall pick in the 2016 draft, who drained threes in droves playing overseas this past offseason and appears ready to take on the facilitator/perim- eter work that allows a 4 in Curt Miller’s offense to shine. Nor does it mean regular time right away for the Sun’s first-round pick, Lexie Brown, a capable two-way point guard out of Duke who will need to battle Jasmine Thomas, Courtney Williams and super sub (and for- mer All-Star herself) Alex Bentley just to get time on the floor. Miller did not sugarcoat that to Brown. “He told me I might be a role player for a little bit and if I could handle that,” Brown said shortly and the veteran among the group, after getting picked. “Absolutely I’ll small forward Shekinna Stricklen, be able to handle that.” shot 41 percent from three to Ultimately, Miller believes the stretch defenders. Stricklen won’t path to a championship comes turn 28 until July 30. Not one more from how much better his expected rotation member is going top eight can be than the enviable to be as old as 30. depth he has 1-12 and beyond If anything, Miller’s biggest entering training camp. He wants problem coming into 2018 isn’t Jones to supplement her diverse figuring out where he’ll get produc- offensive game and unparalleled tion at both ends of the floor. It’s rebounding with better rim protec- determining what his best lineup tion, and thinks Ogwumike lineups will be, working Ogwumike back will help on that score. into a group that looks like it has Miller had been thinking 2018 ample room to grow. Miller has would be the playoff breakthrough a little time to get it right, saying for the Sun. It came a year ahead Ogwumike has told him, “I want of schedule, before the Sun lost a you to be patient with me,” as one-game playoff to the Phoenix she returns to the league, but a Mercury. Can a championship run healthy, talented Ogwumike is a show up early, too? player no team wants to waste on “Getting back to the playoffs the bench, either. was a start,” Miller said. “We now “There’s no doubt in my mind understand that pressure. So that Alyssa Thomas guarding a 3 I’m not saying we can’t, but we and putting the length of JJ and all know there’s still growth and Chiney on the floor together is there’s still steps that a lot of this exciting to us defensively, but we team hasn’t experienced yet.” S

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SLAMONLINE.COM 67

THE FUTURE ISSUE MOTIV8

SOCIAL MEDIA SENSATION NICO MANNION IS MORE who played pro volleyball in Italy. THAN JUST AN INSTAGRAM INFLUENCER—THE HS POINT But it’s been up to Nico to make the most of his genetic advan- GUARD OUT OF ARIZONA IS A TRUE BUCKET GETTER tages, and as his coach—and his WHO’S ON HIS WAY TO BECOMING A SERIOUS PROBLEM. opponents—can confirm, he’s been JUST KNOW. doing just that. Nico’s sophomore season provides plenty of proof. Mannion missed the first few games of the season while recovering from a T DOESN’T take the 2020 class. Well, for now: the 6-3, 180-pound rising broken hand, but once he came Charlie Wilde long to find junior hasn’t ruled out reclassifying, graduating early back, Pinnacle rolled. He finished the right phrase. Ask the and starting college in the fall of 2019. Until then, he’s the season averaging 24 points, 6 Pinnacle (AZ) High coach got at least one more year at Pinnacle, and one more assists and 5 rebounds per game; how best to describe year to prove he belongs among the best in the nation. more important, in February he led what makes his star play- He’s also the first to admit he had something of a Pinnacle to the school’s first 6A I er, Nico Mannion, so good, head start. His dad, Pace Mannion, played professional- state championship. A week later and Wilde quickly settles ly for nearly two decades, including brief stints with six Mannion was named Arizona’s on what might be the highest NBA teams and a long, impressive run in the top Italian Gatorade Player of the Year. praise a coach can offer. league. “It’s a huge advantage,” Nico says of being the It was fitting recognition for “He’s a pleaser—he wants to son of a longtime pro. “He’s been there since I’ve start- a player who does pretty much make sure he’s always doing the ed playing, and he probably knows my game and what I everything on the floor. Mannion right thing,” Wilde says. “You don’t need to work on better than anyone else. He knows the is quick and athletic with the get pleasers very often, especially ins and outs, on and off the court.” ball and boasts the sort of court when they’re your best player.” Nico says his dad never pushed him to play, in part awareness you’d expect from Mannion is undoubtedly because, “I never really needed it. I’ve always been the son of a 20-year pro. Says that—the best player on a state the one asking him to come to the gym with me and his coach, “You see lot of kids at championship team, possibly the help me with my game.” If he inherited his love of the this level who can only score, but best player in his state, and a game from his pops, he also undeniably got some of he’s at a high level in every part consensus top-five point guard in his athleticism—and toughness—from his mom, Gaia, of his game. He’s OK scoring 35 if

WORDS RYAN JONES PORTRAITS JAROD OPPERMAN //////////////////////////////////////////////////

SLAMONLINE.COM 69 he has to, but he’s also OK giving there are four point guards ahead up the ball. He can change his of me. It’s in the back of my head game whenever he needs to, and I’M JUST when I play. I’ll get to go against whatever part of his game people “ quite a few of those guys this think they can stop, that’s what he summer, and I’m just trying to kill works on.” TRYING TO KILL anybody guarding me.” Mannion very much considers And if it is his final summer of himself a student of the game—“I prep ball? As mentioned, Mannion watch a lot of basketball,” he says— ANYBODY is keeping his options open, includ- so he understands that a com- ing the possibility of finishing high prehensive skill set is vital for any school a year early. He knows he’s 21st-century PG. As such, he says GUARDING ME. got to get bigger and stronger—he he doesn’t model his game on any ” says it’s the one thing scouts have one player but tries to borrow from held against him thus far—but he anyone whose game has something also believes he might be ready. He to offer. And not just active players, turned 17 in March, so physically either. Mannion is happy to tick off he’s ahead of his class. Thanks to the list: “I’d say it’s Kyrie as far as genetics and parental example, ballhandling and the way he moves, he’s there mentally, as well. Wilde, Chris Paul in the pick and roll, and World Cup. But by nature of his lineage—he’s the Ital- his coach, says that whatever Man- just how he sees stuff. In transition, ian-born son of an Italian mom—Mannion was eligible nion decides, he’s well positioned I like to watch John Wall and Rus- to suit up for his mom’s native land, and he did just to succeed. sell Westbrook, all those floaters that last summer in the U16 European Championships. “He’s just tremendous,” Wilde and stuff. And then me and my Playing for Italy in the tournament in Montenegro last says. “He has a really good work trainer watch a lot of film of Steve August, Mannion averaged 19.9 points, 5.7 rebounds ethic, he practices hard, and he’s Nash and Jason Kidd, too.” and 4 assists in seven games—none more impressive a great teammate. It’s kind of That impressive list of influenc- than his 42-point explosion against Russia. amazing, because when kids get es helps remind Mannion how far His focus this summer is stateside, as he looks so well known, they aren’t always he still has to go. He got another to confirm his standing in what might be his final like that. But I think his parents reminder last spring, when he was summer of high school ball. Mannion, who runs with keep him grounded, and then he among the final cuts for the US the loaded West Coast Elite, says he’s “not big on the just works hard at it and has the team preparing for the FIBA U17 rankings, but I know where I’m ranked—and I know right attitude.” S

70 SLAMONLINE.COM NOT ONLY IS THE NBA’S OFFICIAL MINOR LEAGUE BECOMING A SOLID WAY FOR GUYS TO GET A REAL SHOT AT THE BIG TIME, BUT NOW THE L IS FILLED WITH FIRST-RATE PLAYERS WHO’VE SPENT TIME IN THE G LEAGUE.

WORDS YARON WEITZMAN

NE DAY, IN THE summer of 2016, Mike Heineman, the president of the Sioux Falls Skyforce, was helping put together a program when he stumbled on some old team photos. The Skyforce have been in business since O 1989, eluding the graveyard that is minor league basketball, and Heineman has sat shotgun for nearly the entire trip. He remembers the days, the G League is now your best option,” says Craig Robinson, pre-sports drink sponsors and team partnerships, when the Knicks’ vice president of player development and G players and staff would celebrate free Pony shoes. And so, League operations. For years this had been the plan. But looking at the three pictures, he couldn’t help but smile. reaching this level of legitimacy took some time. Each photo was of a Skyforce team. One from 1996 featured “When I played, when a scout or someone came to your 12 players and three coaches. Another, from 2006, the Sky- game, you noticed,” says Kasib Powell, a 37-year-old assistant force’s first year in the D-League, had three coaches bracketing for the Skyforce and former D-League MVP. “We used to feel so the team’s 10 players. Then he looked at the most recent photo, much pressure. Now our guys assume the NBA is watching.” of the Skyforce team that the previous year had captured its The first NBA franchise to purchase a G League team was first ever D-League title. (In 2013, the team partnered with the the L.A. Lakers in 2006. Before that, most either ignored Miami Heat.) Heineman counted 11 staffers and 10 players. minor league development or outsourced the work. “I’ve been around a long time and seen a lot,” he says. “To Today, all but three of the 30 franchises own and operate see where we’ve come to, it’s quite remarkable.” their own affiliate (the Nuggets, Pelicans and Trail Blazers Once seen as basketball purgatory, the G League has mor- are the holdouts). But, in an e-mail, G League commish phed into a springboard to greater basketball heights. Malcolm Turner wrote that he expects those three to join the You can find examples across the league. Trey Burke, fray “within the next 12-to-18 months.” the former lottery pick who, in September, turned down a Of course, there are still areas where the league can contract with OKC so he could play with the Knicks’ G League grow. One is player salaries. In April, it was announced affiliate. Quinn Cook, who, after proving himself with the that G League salaries would bump up to $35,000 over the Warriors’ G League team, is now seeing playoff minutes for five-month season (plus housing and insurance). Previously, the Dubs. Former lottery pick Brandon Jennings, now 28, salaries were either $26,000 or $19,000. This comes just spent a season in China before leveraging an audition with a year after the league instituted the two-way contract—a the G League’s Wisconsin Herd into a multi-year deal with the hybrid deal where players split time between the NBA and Bucks. And then there are the Raptors, whose 59-win season the G League—all of which will now allow G League players was reached with an explosive bench consisting of graduates to earn up to $385,000 a year. from their G League team, the Raptors 905. “I think our sec- But perhaps the greatest testament to the G League’s ris- ond unit is a testament to the work we do with the 905,” says ing prominence was the decision of Darius Bazley, a five-star Dan Tolzman, a Raps exec who also serves as 905 GM. recruit out of Ohio, to renege on his commitment to Syracuse According to data provided by the NBA, 53 percent of so that next year he could play in the G League instead. That, players on NBA rosters at the end of the 2018 season spent Turner says, is a move he expects to see replicated. time in the G League. Every NBA team this year had at least six “The competition in the G League is tough,” he says. “The one-time G League players on their roster. coaching is NBA-caliber and the exposure to life as a profes-

FROM LEFT: LACHLAN CUNNINGHAM/GETTY IMAGES; RANDY BELICE/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES “If you’re a player trying to get into, or back into, the NBA, sional athlete is valuable.” S

SLAMONLINE.COM 71 THE FUTURE ISSUE

RETIRED NBA PLAYER CARLOS BOOZER IS USING HIS SPARE TIME TO WORK WITH THE NEXT GEN.

WORDS YARON WEITZMAN

ENERALLY, THERE ARE two different paths pro athletes take after retiring. Some, after decades of practices and train- ing sessions and film review, are thrilled to cut themselves off from G their previous career. They become soccer dads or small business owners. They cease watching and thinking about the game. They feel free. Game Showcase—a slogan we “Competition in a good Then there are players like Carlos Boozer. “I loved at SLAM can appreciate, word to environment is always healthy,” GES the game so much, I didn’t want to detach,” he says our former podcast—which will go Boozer says when asked wheth- in early April over the phone. Boozer, now 36, retired down this October in Mason, OH. er it’s problematic to be tossing in December 2017 after a 13-year NBA career that “I remember the first big camp middle school kids into this sort included two All-Star Game nods and one season in I went to,” Boozer says. It was the of fishbowl. “Kids get ranked at China. But he immediately felt a void. now-defunct ABCD camp, which younger and younger ages now. I He’s tried picking up other hobbies. He’s traveled a took place every summer in New want these kids to see what they bit. He and his family have gone snowboarding. “Three- Jersey. “Being there by myself, can learn from their peers, but in to-four times for like five days each,” over the past few with no teammates to lean on, it the right context.” years, he says. He’s enjoyed that and says he’s gotten was really hard,” he adds. “It’s all He also plans on exposing the pretty good. But he just couldn’t imagine life without about you.” He’s also taken his showcase participants to various basketball, or without trying to improve the sport. He’s 12-year-old son—the oldest of his voices from in and around the NBA. done some broadcasting but wanted more. three children—to multiple camps Nate Robinson will talk about how “Basketball has taken me around the world—I’m over the past few years and felt he he overcame being considered too a kid who grew up in Juno, Alaska, and look where could add something to that world. short. Soon-to-be HOFer Ray Allen I’ve gone,” he says. “It’s been so good for me. A lot of Off-court, he believes young play- is scheduled to speak. And Boozer people use basketball for the wrong reasons. I want ers would benefit from learning how plans on finding more names from people to respect the game and use it for good.” to cope with these sorts of pres- his rolodex, too. And so recently he came up with an idea: a youth sures at an earlier age. On-court, “I want kids to have these op- showcase to help some of the game’s highly touted he thinks introducing top players portunities as early as possible,” he young players prepare for the high-pressure world to each other can lead to a healthy says. “The goal is to get scholar- they’ll soon enter. Fittingly, he titled it the Respect the exchanging of moves and ideas. ships. I think this can help.” S FROM LEFT: GARRETT ELLWOOD, ANDREW D. BERNSTEIN/BOTH NBAE VIA GETTY IMA

72 SLAMONLINE.COM A TROUBLING BLEND OF PARTYING AND DEPRESSION RUINED BASKETBALL JOURNEYMAN CHEROKEE PARKS’ PLAYING CAREER, BUT THE REFORMED 45-YEAR-OLD NOW WORKS WITH THE LEAGUE IN A NEW CAPACITY, HELPING FORMER NBAERS SMOOTHLY TRANSITION INTO MANAGEMENT POSITIONS.

WORDS YARON WEITZMAN

HEROKEE PARKS His life carried on like this for the remembers the bus rest of his career. He ceased working rides. He’d sit, gazing out, instead spending his days in bed. out the window at the He’d go summers without training. streets of San Antonio He bounced from team to team, or Boston or whatever playing for seven in total, and at the city he happened to be age of 31, washed out of the League. in, and watch as men He tried running a punk rock venue C and women walked in his hometown, but that didn’t home from work at the bring happiness either. It wasn’t until same time his day as a professional one night in May 2006—he remem- basketball player was beginning. bers the month because for years “I wanted to get off the bus and he’s kept meticulous journals—while join them—I’d want to go home,” he sitting in the bar reading a comic, recalls, later explaining why: “I was wondering why yet another band thoroughly depressed.” bailed, that he reached the epiphany Parks, now 45, tells this story one that, he says, changed his life. cold winter afternoon. Tattoos are “Just sort of, to stop overthinking creeping out from under his dress everything,” Parks says. “Saying to shirt and he’s sitting in a conference myself, ‘What If I’m the one, not ev- room overlooking Manhattan’s Fifth eryone else, who doesn’t get life?’” Avenue. He now spends his days Within a few years he was back working in the NBA’s main head- on-court, attempting a comeback in quarters, where, as part of a league France. A heart issue (which led to program called the Basketball open heart surgery, from which he’s Operations Associate Program—a and, finally, to the NBA; he was drafted 12th overall in fully recovered) derailed that plan, program designed to train former 1995 by the Dallas Mavericks, who had been intrigued by but by then Parks was determined NBA and WNBA players for various the combination of his smarts and his athletic 6-11 frame. to make it back to the NBA. He spent management positions—he feels That, though, would be the high point of Parks’ NBA time training at Duke and reconnect- he’s been granted the most precious career. A league lockout from June through September ing with former NBA colleagues. The of opportunities: a second chance. robbed him of a full offseason under the care of his new Clippers, a former team of his, called “I don’t feel like I had a positive bosses. A year later he was traded to the Timberwolves on him to hand out flyers and per- impact on the NBA as a player,” and then, in the summer of ’98, the league once again form other inglorious alumni tasks. Parks says. “This, I feel like, is my locked out its players, this time through mid-January. Soon after, Parks heard about the second chance.” One day that winter, sitting on his living room couch in NBA’s program and last summer Growing up, basketball had Minnesota, Parks felt particularly down. This sadness had signed up. He spent his days wearing always been Parks’ happy place. He been budding over the previous few months and so he out a pair of dress shoes and taking craved the structure it brought to surmised that his problem was his profession. He packed down numbers of anyone he could his life—his family moved four times up some stuff, folded his long frame into his car and drove meet. At one point he wrote down a over a seven-year span early in his west for 22 hours straight back to Huntington Beach, goal—to own an official NBA busi- childhood—and treasured the way where, he says, “my life became complete chaos. Without ness card with his name on it. Asked the game, and being part of a team, being too graphic, the party just never stopped. Whatever if he’s achieved his goal, Parks dips made him feel. Basketball took him you can think, I was there in and around it. But it wasn’t his hand into his pocket, removes a from Huntington Beach, CA (where that I was partying. It was more just about escapism. But I card from his wallet and, smiling, his mom eventually settled) to Duke had no idea what I was trying to escape from.” lies the answer on the table. S

SLAMONLINE.COM 73 74 SLAMONLINE.COM THE FUTURE ISSUE 4:444:44

AN NBA FOUR-POINT LINE DOES NOT EXIST JUST YET. BUT IT SEEMS INEVITABLE, RIGHT? SO WE IMAGINED A BASKETBALL WORLD 30 YEARS FROM NOW—20 YEARS AFTER THE CREATION OF THE FOUR-POINTER. WELCOME TO 2048.

WORDS RUSS BENGTSON ILLUSTRATION MARK WARD /////////////////////////////////////////////

NTOINE WALKER IS 72 years old now, fully half a lifetime removed from his 2012 retirement from basketball and a half-century beyond his selection as the sixth overall pick of the 1996 NBA Draft. But as he picks up the NBA game ball, spinning it in his hands, and toes the four-point line in Boston’s Red Auerbach Garden, you can still see the athlete beneath the veneer of years. He eyes up the basket 28 feet away and lets fly. Walker is part of this story because the story doesn’t exist A without him. Well, maybe it does, but he’s an integral part of it nevertheless. Back in the early 2000s, during one of his three

This is a fictional story written from a fictional future. Please keep that in mind.

SLAMONLINE.COM 75 THE FUTURE ISSUE

All-Star media appearances, Walker was asked why he shot so many threes. “Because there are no fours,” he famously responded. At the time, Walker was attempting somewhere around seven or eight threes a night, and Hall of Famer Steph Curry hadn’t even started high school yet. His words would become prophecy. Four-pointers are normal enough now, all an entire generation knows. They started as a BIG3 (remember the BIG3?) gimmick shot in 2017— kind of like how the three-pointer originated in the ABA before debut- ing in the NBA—and then became a league-recognized shot over a de- cade later in 2028. Curry, then in his final season at age 40, already the all-time three-point leader, found his familiar launching spot now worth an additional point. He not only surpassed Jamal Crawford’s four-point record (Crawford having retired five years earlier at 43), he passed LeBron James to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and won the inaugural Four-Point Shootout at All-Star Weekend, narrowly edging Trae Young and LeBron James Jr. Twenty years later, the four is commonplace. It’s important to remember that, while the introduc- tion of the three-point line in 1979 changed the game so dramatically that it took nearly 40 years for a full-on revolution to happen, the four-point line was embraced quickly. In the first year of the NBA three-point line, Clippers guard Brian Taylor led the league in threes, hitting 90 in 78 games. That paltry number would stand as the floor itself. But the matter of history and records Nirvana. Spreading the floor that the single-season record for three (and expensive courtside seating) made such a change much further and teams regularly seasons, until Darrell Griffith broke difficult. There had to be a better reason. So in the launching from 25 feet out led to it with 91 in 1984. It would be nine process of adding the four-point line, the NBA expand- something else—a big man renais- years before anyone hit 100 in a ed the court for the first time ever—from 94x50 to sance. With more room to operate season. That was Danny Ainge, who 104x55—allowing for not only a full 23’9” three-point and plenty of rebounds to corral, hit 148 in 1988. By 2018, a full 12 arc, but 25-foot corner fours. Keeping the 24-second other records fell instead. Amir players hit 200 threes in a season, and eight-second clocks meant things sped up anyway. Cousins pulled down 50 rebounds led by MVP James Harden’s 265. The four-point line was instituted in college that in a 2030 game for the Kentucky Two seasons earlier, Curry had set year as well—at the 23’9” distance of the NBA three- Wildcats, shattering the post-’73 an NBA record with 402, taking point line—but seeing that the college game was record of 37. And seven-footer more than 11 attempts a game. already primarily a three-or-dunk proposition, it didn’t Shaquille Lewis averaged 45 ppg By that time the floor had affect the gameplay as much as it did the scoring. Re- in his lone season at LSU before spread so much, the players cords, like Troy State’s 258-point game and Pistol Pete being drafted first overall by the become so long and athletic, that Maravich’s 44.2 ppg average, seemed primed to fall. Golden State Warriors in 2031. the next logical step was to spread But a funny thing happened on the way to four-point In the NBA, there was more

76 SLAMONLINE.COM room for bigs to operate too, but the specialist, able to draw contact and still hit from (very) Which more or less brings us four-point shot mostly opened things deep. Double-digit deficits could be made up in two trips to the current day. No one has up for the shooters. After all, they’d down the floor. What was once just a saying became eclipsed Curry’s record of 402 been waiting for this opportunity for absolute truth: No lead was safe. threes in a season, and it’s likely a long time. Stephen Curry and his Bigs got theirs a little later, as teams got used to no one ever will. Not now. Per- Golden State Warriors 25-footered looking for deeper looks. Offenses spread, and vets like haps, though, someone will one their way to six titles through Shareef O’Neal and Bol Bol got busy. Teams with shoot- day top it with combined threes the teens and early ’20s, and the ers looked to team them with agile bigs like Bol and and fours, as players edge ever Philadelphia 76ers even went so far O’Neal who could chase down long rebounds and either closer to the mark. The Houston as to put a four-point line down on reset the offense or finish strong. O’Neal, a free agent Rockets backcourt of Zion Wade their practice court’s floor in 2018, a pickup for Lakers GM Kobe Bryant on a mid-level deal and Chris Paul II came close, as full decade before the line became a of six years, $300 million, nearly doubled his scoring did Timberwolves guard DJ Rose. reality for the rest of the NBA. and rebounding averages to 35 points and 18 boards per At 36, Rose will get another shot When it did, all of a sudden between 2028 and 2030. He turned out to be a bargain. at it. And of course there will be those coaches who complained Bol Bol manned the middle for the Warriors—a new challengers to the throne, that their young charges were just team that had previously employed his 7-7 dad as the like rookies-to-be Trey Iverson and launching deep threes trying to be league’s most unorthodox three-point specialist. They’d Smoothie Antetokounmpo. like Steph decided that this wasn’t Has the four-point shot been such a bad thing after all. The good for basketball? Is that even Rockets and the Warriors led the a valid question to ask? As long as way while some teams—like the THE FOUR-POINT there has been basketball, there mid-range centric Knicks, led by “ have been those who’ve bemoaned their 25th coach of the millenni- each and every innovation, from um—more or less pretended the SHOT OPENED the jump shot to the slam dunk to four-point line wasn’t there at all. the three-pointer. And no amount It also put a premium on shooters. THINGS UP FOR of 3D GIF highlights beamed Word was that the Spurs actually through those haters’ iHomes will called up 52-year-old Hall of Fam- change that. Which, quite honestly, er Ray Allen before the start of the THE SHOOTERS. THEY’D is their problem. The game chang- ’28-29 season to see whether he’d es, but the game lives on. give it one more shot. Allen, well BEEN WAITING FOR There are fans today who don’t on his way to qualifying for the remember a game without a four- senior PGA tour, passed. point line, and that’s fine. There are Zaire Wade, then 26, quickly THIS OPPORTUNITY others—not many, but some—who adapted to the deeper shot, finish- still remember the game before ing second in fours to Curry and FOR A LONG TIME. threes. Michael Jordan, 85 years averaging a career high 34.6 ppg, ” old now, still thinks he was better besting Hall of Fame father Dwya- than anyone who ever played, four- ne’s best single season average of point line or no. Seven-time cham- 30.2. The elder Wade was proud, pion and six-time MVP LeBron yes, but also prideful: “When we James feels the same way at 63. played we didn’t have fours,” Dwya- Then there’s someone like ne said. “If we did, you bet your ass I Walker, who lord knows would have would have averaged 35.” Wade the previously established a dynasty thanks to the three, one jacked up fours by the dozen had younger, knowing his pops averaged that just would have been that much more dominant had they existed when he played. But under 30 percent from 23’9” for his Curry’s deep threes counted as fours. They replicated that was a long time ago, and today career, wisely kept his mouth shut. their success in the ’20s with a balanced attack, fours Walker’s range isn’t what it used to That first year had its moments. from LaMelo Ball—who they’d signed away from the rival be. His shot is more of a heave, and A four-point lead could now be Lakers after hiring father LaVar as a special assistant to his first attempt clangs off the front erased by a single shot, and early GM Bob Myers—and Bol’s flawless inside game. of the rim. He beckons to a ballboy, on coaches failed to realize this—or But just as teams adapted to the Warriors run-and- who feeds him another. He rotates fouled when they didn’t need to. gun (and gun) style of the ’10s, teams adapted to their the ball, centering commissioner Then there was the matter of Donte four-and-the-floor style of the ’20s. Celtics coach An- Joel Embiid’s signature under his DiVincenzo, a first-round pick out toine Walker encouraged his team to launch everything— fingers, and lets fly again. of Villanova in 2018 who bounced damn the shot clock—while the Miami Heat, led by LeB- *Swish* around the league before landing ron James Jr and Zaire Wade, used a more planned-out Walker looks over and ruefully in Minnesota. With the help of style of attack backed with an in-your-shorts defense. shakes his head. He doesn’t say assistant coach Jamal Crawford, he The Chicago Bulls, meanwhile, were still rebuilding. And anything. Which is fine. The mean- became the league’s first five-point the Knicks—nobody knew what the Knicks were doing. ing is clear just the same. S

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SLAMONLINE.COM 79 80 SLAMONLINE.COM f the real debate over LeBron James’ NBA legacy doesn’t truly get to start until his career I is over, we may have some time to wait yet. Because while most mortals would begin to slow after 15 seasons and 50,000-plus minutes, the King appears to be just warming up. His prime goes ever on. In his 15th season, James climbed further up the all-time lists, playing in all 82 games for the first time ever and reminding would-be defenders who exactly they were f*cking with. In recent years, James’ sole concession to aging has been energy conservation, whether it meant taking games off or simply exerting less on a play-by-play basis. Still, those reminders need to be issued from time to time, conservation be damned. Ersan Ilyasova learned his lesson. He wasn’t the first, and he certainly won’t be the last. After all this time, LeBron is still a huge part of the future.—Russ Bengtson

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81 LEBRON JAMES on ERSAN ILYASOVA APRIL 6, 2018

WELLS FARGO CENTER PHILADELPHIA, PA 82 SLAMONLINE.COM LEBRON JAMES AND BEN SIMMONS APRIL 6,2018 APRIL BENSIMMONS AND LEBRON JAMES Idols becomerivals, huh? close friendsoffthefloor, two thisquickly.two Noteven develop these between but on-court rivalry would rivalry on-court Bron andBenremain nobody us. Butwe love it. thoughtan

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