When I first laced up my Air Jordan Retro 5 Grape shoes for my high school prom in 2013, I never expected the exclusive kicks to blast me into the NBA like the Nike Blazer ’77s did for Calvin Cambridge in the movie Like Mike. Yet, here we are. The pair of shoes that Michael Jordan sported on a Wheaties box in 1991 were the very sneakers that have since supercharged me to a job with the league.
As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been obsessed with the NBA. This fascination with the association stemmed from watching standout players, collecting trading cards and action figures, rocking hoop shoes, reading about the game’s rich history, appreciating its relationship with the culture, and playing basketball video games, among many other reasons. I’ve mentioned this before, but as a kid I was what you would call a “sports nerd” and revolved my entire existence around athletics. To put it in perspective, I know nothing about Harry Potter, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings, but could tell you everything about the MLB, NFL, and NBA stars of the 2000s.
With the NBA in particular, its movie-like flair has never ceased to amaze me. Watching old, grainy footage of extraordinary players like Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird feels like pure cinema. Not to mention the ’90s, which in my eyes is the coolest era in the history of the league—and maybe of any professional sport. In the concluding decade of the 1900s, the NBA provided us with peak Michael Jordan, the 1992 Dream Team, creatively designed jerseys, Space Jam (plus He Got Game, White Men Can’t Jump, Above the Rim, Blue Chips, and Hoop Dreams), the emergence of hip-hop and basketball, top-of-the-line signature sneakers, and NBA Jam. That list alone demonstrates its wide-ranging influence on the culture, and it didn’t even include the legendary on-court moments like the Bulls’ two three-peats and all that came with them, Reggie Miller vs. Spike Lee, Shaq and Penny, Patrick Ewing’s Knicks always coming up short, Houston winning while MJ was out, and the introduction to electrifying guards like Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, and Kobe Bryant. To a kid like me who was born in 1996, names like Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, Gary Payton, and John Stockton read like mythical figures. If there were a word to describe a tier above “mythical figures,” I would use it to delineate what it’s like to hear the name Michael Jordan.
By the time I was in elementary school in the early 2000s, my appreciation for the sport was in full effect. Shaq and Kobe were unstoppable, Ben Wallace wore a headband around his bicep, Tracy McGrady was a nonstop bucket-getter, A.I. was larger than life, Jason Kidd moved the rock like Magic, and a teenager named LeBron James was getting ready to make his mark. It was a beautiful time on the blacktop, and off of it was even sweeter. Basketball movies like Like Mike and Coach Carter were fan favorites. On the sticks, people still talk about the greatness of NBA Street Vol. 2 and its amazing soundtrack, while titles like NBA Live and NBA 2K arose as pleasurable games to indulge in while further expressing one’s love for the sport. The signature shoes—though maybe not as fresh as the ones that spawned in the ’90s—were fire, and the lyrics referencing all-stars in hip-hop songs were great.
While I was a teenager, the storylines were just as good. A 22-year-old Derrick Rose won MVP, Steph Curry leaped into the greatest shooter of all time while trading rings with LeBron, Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double for an entire season, James Harden was unguardable, and Kobe dropped 60 in his final tilt. By the time we entered the 2020s, names like Shaq, Kobe, Kidd, Iverson, Garnett, Nowitzki, Duncan, Curry, Durant, and LeBron became fairy-like, and the evolution of the athlete has created once-unthinkable highlights on an everyday basis.
So with all of this information spilled, you can imagine what it was like for me to collaborate with Jason Kidd for Trust the Grind, see a coach at a school in CA recommend my book (alongside Kobe Bryant’s) to his players, serve as the on-site researcher for a basketball game involving Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers, and work with Celtics legend Antoine Walker at ESPN.
All of my NBA-related memories have been dreams, and I can’t wait to bring more mirages to life as I embark on this new chapter. Starting on December 15th, I’ll be working on the social content team for the NBA, and I couldn’t be more excited. To show my enthusiasm, I’ve already gone ahead and redecorated my desk with two fancy toys (see below).
My goal is to generate amazing material that showcases my love for the game while also ensuring that my work enhances the relationship between fan and league.
Thank you to the NBA for this fantastic opportunity!
(Gifts!)