That’s what Agot Makeer would think to herself wherever she watched South Carolina play. The five-star recruit and the No. 4-ranked player in the class of 2025 recently committed to the Gamecocks in March, but even before that, she’d always felt drawn to the program. “Seeing the crowd, seeing the energy, seeing the joy they all have playing with each other, it’s just like, I want to be part of that,” Makeer tells us over the phone a few weeks after the news became official. 

As the latest signee, along with Cypress Springs forward Ayla McDowell, who committed in November, the Gamecocks now have a top-25 recruiting class (according to ESPN). At 6-1, Makeer is a versatile wing who can knock down shots, cross up opponents and get buckets against anyone who tries to guard her. When it came time for the Montverde senior to make her college decision, she narrowed it down to three very important factors: Who do I want to be surrounded by? What school will give me the best chance to win a national championship? What school will help me become a better woman in every aspect of my life?  

For her, South Carolina was that answer. 

With an undeniable talent and the ability to play multiple positions, Makeer, who is originally from Canada and attended Crestwood Prep before transferring to Montverde for her senior season, has averaged 10 ppg and 5.7 rpg for the program. While she’s been battling a hip injury and most recently tore her PCL in January, Makeer says she’s hoping to bounce back in time so she can still play in the McDonald’s All-American Game and compete in the Chipotle High School Nationals. 

Her faith and her family keep her going. Her two older brothers inspired her to play sports in the first place; as the younger sis, she just wanted to do what they were doing. First it was soccer, and then by second grade, she started playing basketball.

Now the game is about to take her from Florida to South Carolina. When asked how she envisions her game evolving under a visionary like Dawn Staley, Makeer speaks with a sense of confidence that’s sure to get Gamecock fans hyped. 

“I think right now, I’m kind of a two-way player who can have an impact both on offense and defense,” she says. “I can also score the basketball at all three levels. So I think that makes me even harder to guard because you have to respect me at all parts of the court. Towards the end of my senior year at South Carolina, I feel like my body will be a lot different. You might not be able to see it, but I feel like I’ll be stronger, even mentally and emotionally.” 

Portraits by Trenton Junior. Follow him on IG, @mindofjr.

The post Agot Makeer is Ready to Bring Her Versatile Game to South Carolina appeared first on SLAM.

Since 2003, the father of Darius’ uncle Rashad has taken care of that very gym. Known across the community as Coach V, Virgil Phillips serves as the director of youth programs for America’s Community Council Youth Center on Seven Mile. And along with Darius’ father and his uncle, Coach V is one of the main reasons why Darius still calls that particular hardwood home. Even after becoming the nation’s top-ranked point guard, winning EYBL Scholastic Player of the Year with IMG Academy and committing to Arkansas as John Calipari’s next great PG. 

“I was just in there every day working out. Literally since I was around that age up to now, I’ve been working out there. It’s never changed. I’ve been working with my dad, uncle, all types of stuff. Even our AAU team when we were little, that’s where we practiced at. All the memories are definitely in that gym,” Darius says. 

After securing the 2023 MHSAA Division 1 title as a sophomore at Cass Tech in Detroit, Darius set his sights on an even larger challenge: a nationally-ranked schedule of opponents. IMG was a perfect fit, and in his junior year with the Ascenders, he took home the EYBL Scholastic scoring title with 21.4 points per game. By late July 2024, he’d officially declared his allegiance to the Razorbacks. 

The 6-2 guard who plays at an incalculable pace has been itching to test his duffel against the gauntlet of the SEC. Coach Cal has already been pushing the future head honcho of his program to be more active with his voice and on the defensive end before he arrives in Fayetteville later this summer.

“He knows my game. He just wants me to be more of a leader and everything will come with itself,” Darius says. But as the No. 5 player in the class of 2025 (according to 247 Sports) sits down with us in mid-March during IMG’s spring break, he tells us his focus has been poured into the gym in preparation for Chipotle Nationals in April, where IMG received the No. 8 seed. 

Darius entered his senior year with even more confidence than the season prior. The assist output grew from 3.7 to 5.4 a game, ranking second in the EYBL Scholastic. His 24 points a night secured another scoring title. Leading IMG to a 7-4 record in league play helped cement Player of the Year honors. It wasn’t just confidence that fueled his 34-piece against Link Academy or the 26 he posted against Montverde.

It was the thousands of hours spent in the gym just down the road from his home.  

Portraits by Trenton Junior. Follow him on IG, @mindofjr.

The post Top-ranked point guard Darius Acuff Jr Looks Ahead of Arkansas and Cal’s Vision For His Game  appeared first on SLAM.

We talk about vengeance, vengeance on the men who have tried to dishonor Luka Doncic.

Under the bright lights, through the shadows of doubt, the Don is gearing up to get his get back.

The post SLAM Presents Luka Doncic: Revenge of the Don appeared first on SLAM.

In a world where talking sneakers embark on adventures, SNEAKS follows a pair of high-end sneaker siblings, Ty and Maxine, voiced by Anthony Mackie and Chloe Bailey. When Maxine is stolen before Edson’s (Swae Lee) high school game by the nefarious Collector (Laurence Fishburne), Ty journeys throughout New York City to find her.

Deadstock kicks collectors, hoopers wanting the latest heat and even replica endorsers are all represented. You’ve got original music by Mustard, Ella Mai, Roddy Ricch and more. You’ve got Chris Paul. Keith David plays a pair of Chuck Taylors, Martin Lawrence voices a scuffed-up sneaker named JB and Olympic skateboard phenoms Rayssa Leal and Sky Brown conduct the Borough Board Express as a pair of Nikes.

With a flick that follows sneakers running around the streets of Harlem and playing pick up at the park, writer-director Rob Edwards and the producers behind SNEAKS—including SLAM’s sister studio, RTG Features—brought in Bobbito Garcia, the legendary outdoor hoops historian (and baller), DJ, radio Hall of Famer, filmmaker and sneaker culture icon, to put that authentic stamp on it all.

For decades, Bobbito has contributed and chronicled NYC’s cultural rhythm and heartbeat, even rocking out with us in these pages since our inception in ’94. And with his memoir, Bobbito’s Book of B-Ball Bong Bong!, arriving in July as a historical documentation of NYC’s outdoor hoops scene from the 1960s to now, the multifaceted aficionado sat down with SLAM to discuss how his years of experience in various lanes aligned to serve as the film’s Sneaker Culture Ambassador.

SLAM: Over the years, you’ve had a hand in nearly every cultural avenue that stems from the game. How did you get involved with SNEAKS?

Bobbito Garcia: SNEAKS became, like, this culmination of almost everything that I’ve contributed to the culture in one project. Because they reached out to me basically based on, You’re an icon, sneakers, you’ve done designs for Nike, adidas, Pumas, Pro-Keds. You wrote the book [Where’d You Get Those? New York City’s Sneaker Culture: 1960–1987]. You hosted the first TV series in media history, It’s the Shoes, with ESPN. They knew what I had done. They wanted that authentic name attached to the project. I don’t think they knew how much they were getting when they brought me on board, though.

SLAM: When did you start consulting on the project?

BG: This whole process has been five years in the making. They first hit me up in 2020. I did most of my script consulting in 2021, 2022. I did the voice-overs in 2023. You know, animated features, it’s a big project. But ultimately, I don’t need to be on a basketball court uptown to be able to evoke the electricity that seeps out of the asphalt. Case in point, when I did NBA Street Vol. 2, I was in Vancouver, bro. I was in a studio in Vancouver, 3,000 miles away from Manhattan. But I brought that flavor within the chain link. When I was reading the script and working with Rob, anytime they stepped on the court, it was like, Oh yeah, that’s my life. That city shit is still inside me. It’s a part of all my organs; it’s a part of my brain, a part of my heart, a part of my liver, a part of my blood. I just tried to kind of let my ideas flow, and I’m grateful to their team for [lending the] ear.

SLAM: What kind of notes did you provide on the script?

BG: They kind of did really well with the sneaker stuff. Truth be told, I didn’t have to change too much in that world. But what I did do was, the film is based in New York, up in Harlem, and in certain scenes, [I was like,] This word is not really used. This slang would be better. And then I started tinkering, particularly with the basketball scenes, too. And here I am, this f**king indie filmmaker who’s done docs. I’ve got no representation. I’ve got no agent. I’m not a CAA. I’m not Hollywood. Rob Edwards has done Disney movies, sold millions at the box office. I’m in a Zoom with, like, five producers and yo, they are listening to everything I say! It was trippy. Here’s this Puerto Rican from 97th Street telling these big box office people, like, Nah you should do it like this. And they’re giving me no pushback. They’re like, OK, yeah, OK, cool, cool, cool. And I see the next script revision. And bro, everything I told them to do, they did. So that was empowering. It was like this culmination of, all right, cool, I’m not just a sneaker dude. I’m a ballplayer, first and foremost. And I’m a DJ. And I’m a filmmaker. And I’m a storyteller. And I’m an author. So I’m looking at the script, and I’m not looking at it like, Well, you know, this sneaker didn’t come out until ’77. It’s like, no, I’m looking at it from a storytelling aspect.

SLAM: You also voice yourself in the film. How was your character created?

BG: They were so happy with me during those sessions that they were like, Yo, we want you to be a character in the film, to voice-over one of the characters. I was like, Cool. I don’t think they knew what they were getting themselves into, because I don’t think any of them have played NBA Street Vol. 2 or Vol. 3. But even before that, I did 12 years on the radio in New York, and in 2023 I got inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Not only that, I did like 40 commercials for Nike. So, I’ve got, like,  30 years of voice-over experience that they’re unaware of. They’re just thinking like, Yo, this dude is sneakers. He’s authentic. He’s credible. He’s going to add energy to the cast. So we start recording. It wasn’t an audition. It was like a test. And I remember [producer] Robyn [Klein] hitting me up: I knew you were going to be good. I didn’t know you were going to be that good. I kind of tore that shit up. And then she came back and she was like, We want to make the character you. We want the character to be Bobbito. You’re going to play yourself. And then it was like, the guardrails were off.

SLAM: How did your past voice-over experiences compare to voicing your character in SNEAKS?

BG: When I did NBA Street Vol. 2, it’s not a knock on EA or a knock on the NBA, the League, but there were guardrails. The League represents a lot to a lot of people, and they have checks and balances. So even though I went nuts in the studio and was going off script, the NBA came back and was like, Well, we can’t say this, we can’t say this. But with SNEAKS, because I was already consulting the script, I could handcraft what I was going to say. And because I’m portraying myself, you’re getting full unabashed me straight from the court. That’s me on the court. That’s me at the Goat, aka Rock Steady Park on 99th and Amsterdam. That’s the character that you’re getting with crazy flavor.

SLAM: There’s so much inspiration to pull from with the movie based in NYC. Where does that authenticity shine?

BG: I told [Rob], You’re going to have a smash film. But there’s going to be a small community of people who enjoy this film on another layer that’s going to go over the heads of the mainstream public. And that is what’s going to make this project have longevity. And they clearly understood that. It’s something that I really didn’t have to explain to them. And it wasn’t something that they were apologetic about either. They knew. They were like, Yo, if we’re going to do this, we’ve got to do it right. Let’s get Bob. Let’s get Chris Paul. Let’s get Mustard. Let’s get people who are loved [across] different generations, different subsets and everything.

SLAM: Your memoir chronicling your journey on outdoor courts across the globe comes out this July. How much of an impact have these two recent projects had on you?

BG: In my memoir, I’m talking about [how] I was a scrub, going to the Goat, looking up to Mario Elie, the legend Earl Manigault, and how I’m inspired by these people and trying to work on my game. I’m still that 14-year-old who’s mystified by all of this. I worked so hard for decades and decades, committing myself to become a better ballplayer and helping out others and providing platforms for unknown up-and-coming MCs, players, poets, writers, you name it. I’ve done so much to give back. And then for this to happen. Time will tell, but this could very well be the biggest shit I’ve ever been a part of. And for it to happen at this stage of my career, yo man, that’s crazy. That’s crazy.

SNEAKS hits theaters April 18th. Get your tickets here.

Photos via Briarcliff Entertainment.

The post Behind the Scenes of SNEAKS With the Film’s Sneaker Culture Ambassador Bobbito Garcia appeared first on SLAM.

“It was hard losing so many games. Always seeing myself as a winner growing up, always having won, basically in all sports, to have a streak like last year and to have a year that was as tough as it was, I definitely learned a lot about myself and my mental fortitude,” Cade says. “Also, just staying in the grind, not leaving it. Trusting the work, trusting the path that I always believed I was on. I think that was the biggest thing that helped me get through it.”  

Cunningham didn’t just get through it—he’s evolved in the midst of it. He’s averaging the most points (25.6) by a Piston since the 2000-01 season. He’s averaging a career-high 9.3 dimes a night, which ranks third in the L, on top of pulling down 6.0 boards a game. He’s on pace to become the seventh player in League history to average at least 25/9/6, and his eight triple-doubles this season are the third-most by a Piston since Grant Hill’s 13 in ’96-97 and 10 in ’95-96. Oh yeah, and he’s got the Pistons sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference standings with their sights set on moving up. 

You’re looking at the Motor City’s first All-Star since 2019. The former No. 1 overall pick who built out the foundation that has Detroit back to sitting above .500 for the foreseeable future. At 38-31 as we go to press, the on-court architect of the Pistons’ resurgence has done more than get them back into the mix; they’re turning into the team that the rest of the League doesn’t want to see. And it began with first-year head coach J.B. Bickerstaff asking his star orchestrator what he wanted out of this season. 

A clean slate. 

“I wanted to take the step forward towards playoff basketball, not knowing if that was going to mean we were going to make the playoffs or if we were just going to see growth and be a more competitive team,” Cunningham says. “Team-wise, more than anything, just winning. Competing in games, being in all games that we play. We’ve been there. We’re doing that now. We’ve definitely lived up to everything that we were talking about [doing] for sure.” 

This season’s turnaround wasn’t a leap of faith. In reality, the Arlington, TX, native has been brimming with confidence since spending all of this past offseason training at 100 percent. He knew the phrase “taking things day by day” intimately, from missing training camp as a rookie with an ankle injury to sitting out for a majority of his second season after undergoing surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left leg. He knew the process back to the League’s competitive ranks would be a mirror to his journey thus far—a test of will. But four straight Ls to start the season didn’t shake what the previous four months in the gym had envisioned. If anything, it just made Cade and the Pistons lock in even more. 

If you were to ask No. 2 when he started to feel the vibes of the season shift, he’d point to the Pistons’ first West Coast trip that ignited more than a few win streaks. From Phoenix to L.A. and Sacramento, Cade and the Pistons rattled off several wins in late December. By early January, they had strung together a five-game win streak and won eight of their last nine. Little Caesars Arena has been lit ever since. 

“That West Coast trip, like I said, was a huge trip for us. I think that really helped get our momentum going in the right direction,” Cunningham says. “Beating some really good teams in a row, I think that was a huge confidence booster for us. I think that was one of the big differences where we all saw change. Like, Aight, we’re in the mix now. We’re playing in big games. We’re playing for wins every night. We hadn’t been doing that before.” 

The before times featured shouldering the blame and expectations of an entire organization. Losses used to be tough, demoralizing. They aren’t as much anymore. Instead of blowouts, today’s losses are determined by single digits. The present sees a retooled confidence and deeper connections with teammates and coaches. Cade’s no longer doing it alone. As the head honcho of a squad with equal amounts of youngins and veteran wings, they all look to him as much as he does to them. 

The past two draft classes have brought both Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland II to the squad. And first-year president Trajan Langdon has infused a hunger throughout the front office that resulted in the acquisitions of Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr and Malik Beasley this offseason. In the background, Cade and third-year center Jalen Duren have constructed the NBA’s latest lob duo threat. And Jaden Ivey’s making his way back from injury for next season. 

All those dimes, dots and assists are just as much a result of Cade snaking around screens and biding his time as they are Beas or Tobias knocking down a corner drift three or Duren trailing
down the lane, anticipating the mid-air connection. Whether he’s looking off defenders with his eyes or hesitating ever so slightly to open up a gap, Cade’s got a counter at all times.

With a newly constructed, bolstered roster that places him squarely as the face of the franchise, Cade is excelling. Everyone is. 

“That made my life so much easier—having guys, one, as professional as they are. The way that they approach every night, coming to play, coming to compete,” he says. “And then having all those guys that we just named come in and bring their own confidence and their own swag to the table has really helped us put a product together with a lot of the right ingredients.” 

His new vets have been committed to pouring their experience back into the roster. They’ve shared with Cade the ins and outs of different coverages. How he can attack them. Beat them. Outsmart them. “Things that you don’t necessarily see on the stat sheet, but make the game a lot easier whenever you understand them,” Cunningham explains. “All three of those guys have a different understanding of those things. They’ve taught me a lot since they’ve been here, along with the fact that they put the ball in the rim, which we all need. I’ve been lucky to have them here. We all have been. It’s been fun playing with them, for sure.” 

As he sits inside the practice facility in mid-March for his second SLAM cover shoot, Cade says there’s a collective chip across the roster, from those who have lived through the franchise’s struggles to those inheriting the responsibility of the change as it unfolds. And like he’s always done dating back to his days at Bowie HS and then Montverde, Cade is analyzing moment by moment what type of leader he needs to be. In games. In the locker room. In practice. During film sessions. Learning what pushes his guys and what makes them fall back. What are those triggers? Is it sounding off vocally or quietly being the first in the gym? On top of methodically breaking down defenses and pulling defenders out to the three-point line with an improved range this season, Cade is constantly searching for ways to empower everyone.  

“And then in that, making sure that the knowledge that I do have, I’m sharing it as much as I can. When I feel like I know something, I put it out there,” Cunningham says. “And then being able to be led as well. I was always told great leaders have to be great followers. And to be able to lead, you have to know how to follow as well. So I think making sure that I’m being as great of a follower as I can for Coach J.B. I think that helps the rest of the team set the tone as far as ways to receive his coaching. And then I try to do the same as far as, like I said, just being forward with what I think I see and what I think I know.” 

The chemistry has been on full display this season. Pull up the team’s socials for an inside look, from Duren and Beas crashing Cade’s postgame interview with All-Star praise to the team’s pre-game handshakes in the tunnel, which reflect the antics and camaraderie of a close-knit group. There’s a scrappiness on defense that hasn’t been felt for decades and the offense hums to the beat of everyone getting touches. Cade’s confidence in himself—and the group—has only grown as he continues to lean on others. 

“Seeing the turnaround from where we’ve come from to where we are now, having the fresh start that we had this year with all the new people coming in, everything like that [brought confidence]. The work that I had put in up to that point had given me all the confidence already, as far as what I can bring to the table individually,” Cunningham says. “But then being able to lean on guys like Tobias, Malik, Tim, Coach. All those guys that have that experience, that brings a lot of confidence as well.” 

The 2024-25 season is just the beginning of Detroit’s new identity. There are more goals to reach. More accomplishments to share. More wins to be had. And yeah, Cade admits that this season has been a great start. Competitive hoops is back in the 313. And as he maps out the next phase of the Pistons’ persistent rise, he can’t help but take in the change in the air. There’s a different level of satisfaction that has come with truly putting in the work. And he’s finding it each time he glances into the home crowd at Little Caesars Arena. 

“I’ve enjoyed watching the fans enjoy watching us play more than anything,” Cunningham says. “I can remember last season so many times, we’d mess up, you look in the crowd and everybody’s shaking their head. It was just sick. Now we have a big play or something, I look around and there’s so much laughter. You can really see people having a good time. And that was one of the main things that I wanted to do coming to Detroit: start us getting back to winning.” 

Portraits by Matthew Coughlin.

The post Cade Cunningham Has His FOOT ON THE GAS: SLAM 255 Cover Story appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM got the chance to attend and photograph the very first session, which was held at Wadleigh Secondary School in Harlem and featured a round-robin scrimmage and the unveiling of DYCD- branded league jerseys.

What’s the purpose of this new league? According to literature provided by the DYCD, which has been around since 1996 and helps a broad cross section of New York City youth with its diverse programming, this initiative creates “the opportunity to participate in structured league play, promoting teamwork, sportsmanship and community engagement…With a continued commitment to equity and inclusivity, DYCD is placing a strong emphasis on expanding structured opportunities for girl-inclusive sports programming. Each sport within the league will feature specific initiatives to engage young female athletes, including the creation of all-girl leagues or co-ed participation with inclusive rules to ensure fair and equitable play.”

Since 2022, the DYCD has been led by Commissioner Keith Howard, a longtime employee of the city who grew up in the Bronx and knows his hoops. To say he’s excited for this latest initiative is an understatement. “Reflecting on growing up in the Bronx, and in a family who loved and played sports, I was lucky to be able to get involved with a community basketball league and play in tournaments all around the five boroughs before playing in college,” the John Jay College product told us over email. “During this time, New York City was ranked high on the list of male and female ballers who went off to make names for themselves in the NBA and WNBA. The phrase ‘I Got Next’ came from the pickup basketball games happening in community courts all around the city. The influence of New York City ball culture mixed with the critical life skills that basketball taught me, such as discipline, teamwork, leadership, health and fitness, had a positive influence on my life.”

Howard and his team now strive to impart those same life skills to a new generation of women, starting with basketball but also, according to Howard, other women’s sports such as “track & field, soccer, volleyball, fencing and more.”

One of the attendees at the February event was Lynne Louis, a 13-year-old from Haiti who now lives in Brooklyn. An excellent student at PS 181, Lynne has also shown a lot of promise on the basketball court as the team captain of the PYE Beacon Lady Thunder (Beacons are community programs throughout the city run by DYCD.) Lynne shared with us her enthusiasm about joining a new league that will expose her to a lot more basketball. “I enjoyed it a lot. It was my first time playing in a basketball league, so I was very excited to experience it,” Lynne said. “I’m used to seeing mostly boys play. It feels great to see other girls like myself coming together to play a very popular and famous sport.”

Hats off to the leaders of the DYCD, hands-on coaches and directors such as Alexandria Haughton and Paul Shorter, and everyone who will be part of this program. Given the positive impact basketball has proven to have on young people, we expect lives to be changed as the DYCD Basketball League grows.

As they say, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

The post New DYCD Basketball League is Bringing the Game and Impactful Programming to Youth Girls in NYC appeared first on SLAM.

“Too small.” 

Just another day in Cleveland. It’s a Saturday afternoon inside the Cavaliers’ practice facility, and Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are addressing the elephant in the room we’re now sitting in. Moments before, members of the team had been on the practice courts, running through individual skill workouts and shooting sessions as reggae music blasted through the speakers. The only thing that can be heard now is the Cavs’ backcourt keeping it real about the public’s perception of the NBA and what’s been the difference-maker for them this season. Then the question gets brought up.

What is the craziest or most absurd thing that people have said about you?

“The ‘not being able to play together’ I think was definitely the toughest one, because they don’t give it a chance, you know?” Don says. “Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are another duo in this League, it took them eight years to win a championship. It takes time. Not saying we’re them, not saying they are us…Jamal Murray and Jokic. AD and Bron. It takes time.” 

None of those guys won titles overnight, and they all had to deal with their own fair share of criticism and sky-high expectations to make it there. Since LeBron James led Cleveland to their first-ever title in 2016, the franchise has been on the rebuild. And over the years, there haven’t been many who believed the Cavs could be as good as they are right now. Not when Garland arrived as a first-round pick in 2019, or when they acquired Jarrett Allen from the Nets via a four-team trade in 2021, or when they drafted Evan Mobley that summer with the third overall pick. When Mitchell arrived prior to the start of the 2022-23 season via a trade from the Jazz, there were doubts about whether he and Garland, two ball-dominant guards, could even be successful together. Despite all of this, the Cavs finished with a 51-31 record, the franchise’s highest win total since the 2016-17 season. 

This year, that same core four has managed to lead the Cavs to an even better record, which is 55-10 as we go to press. It takes time to build the type of rhythm they’re playing with. “I think people fail to realize that,” says Mitchell, who is averaging 24.2 ppg. “They think that you’re supposed to just click and vibe, but obviously, we haven’t got a chip yet. We got some work to do, but we’re headed in the right direction, and that’s all you can ask for—just continue to take the proper step forward.” 

And with their same core, the Cavs are now two-stepping their way to the playoffs under new head coach Kenny Atkinson. When Atkinson arrived to replace J.B. Bickerstaff, he reimagined the Cavs’ motion offense with an emphasis on free-flowing movement, quick reads, cutting and creativity. DG and Spida set the tempo in the backcourt. Garland is a shifty point guard who moves, in his own words, “like a dancer,” with fancy footwork, spin moves and speed, while Mitchell is explosive and groovy with the way he weaves down the lane for a bucket. 

“I just like to dance with the ball,” says DG. “I’m a dancer…I just use my shiftiness, my quickness, and then I like to give [Mitchell] the ball, because he’s just so explosive.”

Then there’s the rest of the Cavs’ ensemble, which includes seven-footers Allen and Mobley who cause havoc in the paint. Allen is constantly moving and leaves defenders dizzy and distracted as he sets screens and rolls to the basket, while Mobley is an All-Star who crashes the boards with a fury and, as we’ve seen this year, Euro steps his way to the rim like a guard. With Isaac Okoro, Max Strus and newly-acquired De’Andre Hunter (a trade that happened just the day before our cover shoot) to balance out the scoring, the Cavs have so much range as the No. 1 offense in the NBA. 

For the first time in a long time, what’s being said about them isn’t, well, bad. But don’t think they forgot. 

“We got a lot of hate last year,” Garland says, to which Mitchell adds: “From the same people that’s [saying] really nice things about us. Appreciate it.” It goes without saying that public perception controls the narrative in the NBA. In today’s world, this is all happening online, where people only pay attention to what’s being curated on their feeds, from game highlights to hot takes from media personalities and podcast hosts. The casuals are so lost in the scroll, they only pay attention to who is still standing in June, rather than actually watching a team rise to the occasion throughout an 82-game season. 

“We really look at the NBA game as, like, it’s 2K for real,” Mitchell says. “He’s never played with a ball-dominant guard, and I haven’t either, so that takes time for us to continue doing what [we do]. [Fifty-one] games the first year. That’s success, and people don’t look at us as that, but that’s success in itself. OK, we failed in the playoffs. Cool, next year, boom. Everybody gets hurt, different things, but we finally win a playoff series, first time. That’s another step. Now we’re at the top of the League, but at the end of the day, this really don’t mean nothing until we do something in the playoffs.” 

Seeing is believing, and when the Cavs played the reigning champs on Feb. 28, everyone watched to see what they were about. Despite Boston’s 25-3 lead to start the game, the Cavs went on a 41-22 run and dominated the fourth quarter. They never got flustered, and Mitchell especially turned things up. With two minutes left, he literally soared to the basket past Sam Hauser and above Al Horford to draw a foul. By the time he landed back on the ground, his teammates on the sideline were already making their way toward him to dap him up in excitement. Mitchell finished the game with 41 points in the Cavs’ 123-116 win over the Celtics. According to StatMuse, he tied LeBron James for the most games (12) in Cavaliers history with at least 40 points and 5 threes. 

“When he turns up, starts flexing and starts clapping dumb hard, starts talking to the crowd, I love that Don,” says Garland. “That’s the Spida we all need, for sure.” 

The story of the Cavs’ backcourt duo actually started long before they teamed up in The Land. Mitchell hosted Garland as a recruit at Louisville back in the day (DG ended up going one-and-done at Vanderbilt). Years later, they worked out together during the summer prior to the 2022-23 season; Mitchell happened to be in Miami with his trainer, Ronnie Taylor, who asked if the Cavs’ PG could join them. The meet-up was pure coincidence, as neither of them knew what was going on behind the scenes in the Jazz and Cavs’ front offices. “[Donovan] was just so locked in the entire workout, like, if he missed a shot, he wanted to just do the whole set over again,” Garland says. “If he missed two in a row, he was doing a sprint back and forth and coming right back to the set. So, it was like, just his work ethic, his mindset, he wants to be great, the best version of himself and one of the best players to play this game.” 

Mitchell was impressed by Garland, too. “I’ve never had to go shot for shot with somebody like that in a workout, like really try to beat the person that you’re working out with. That was my first real moment where I was like, He’s like that.” 

Over the years, Garland has emerged as a poised point guard who’s been able to battle through adversity, the loss of his grandmother and injury, including a fractured jaw that forced him to miss 19 games last season and go through a grueling recovery process that included a liquid diet, causing him to lose 12 pounds. DG has since then bounced back and is currently averaging 21 ppg this year. 

“I was away from the guys last year for almost two months, and that’s when I was really at my lowest,” he says of the injury. “I couldn’t talk to them, they’d FaceTime me after a big win, and I’m just sitting there, like, Yay, can’t talk. That was tough for me, but right now, just being around the guys, it’s some real brotherhood over here. It’s like a grown man AAU team. We’re always around each other. We’re always laughing, making jokes, going out to eat with each other. We had sweet potato pie on the plane yesterday. It’s a real family.”

They hype each other up like one, too. When I bring up Garland’s epic buzzer- beater from the Pistons logo on Feb. 5, Mitchell interrupts DG before he can say a word.

“I was trying to [be] PG all interview. Man, that was a f–k you to everybody. That’s what that was. That pose, all that was on—I’m sorry. I know, I know I shouldn’t swear. I’m trying my best, but like, that’s exactly what that was. I felt that, too. That’s why I went nuts [after]. Somebody was talking smack—I won’t curse again—the whole game and I just felt like, [he had] a lot of pent up, [like], This is what I really do, and y’all really playing with me. And I should have ended the game about 10 minutes prior, but we ain’t gonna talk about that. But like, you know what? Since we’re here, I’m gonna go ahead and do this. Forget the play that we drew up, Coach. I got it. So that’s what that was. He ain’t gonna say it like that, but I’m gonna say it.”

“I’ll talk a little bit of shit,” DG, who was named an All-Star this year, says of the game-winner. “It was against our former coach, too, which made it like 1000 times better…That was something that was totally different.” 

“That was basically, like, everybody that was talking noise, just sit here and watch us,” Don chimes in.

The playoffs are just around the corner, too, which means everything they’re doing now is in preparation for their ultimate goal of winning a championship. It was Mitchell who once told me in Utah that “winning takes care of everything in this League,” but it’s clear now that it’s a sentiment he shares with his backcourt mate. 

“Until we have this parade in Cleveland, [and I’m] on the floats and [have] a ring on my finger,” Garland says, “we haven’t done anything.” 

Portraits by Matthew Coughlin.

The post Believe in the Land: Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell on Cavaliers’ Dominance, Doubters and Championship Mindset appeared first on SLAM.

Some players rocket to the NBA, fully formed as megastars. Some become valued role players. And some never make it. In his seventh season with the Memphis Grizzlies, Jaren Jackson Jr. has leveled up. 

Drafted fourth overall by the Grizzlies in 2018, Jackson Jr. has patiently and confidently expanded his game. As the team added Ja Morant and Desmond Bane around Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies have become a perennial top-tier team in the Western Conference. 

In the meantime, Jackson Jr. has become a constant. In 2022-23, he was unlocked as a dominant help defender who won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award. This season, he’s unleashed a flurry of mid-range and driving moves to complement an already solid perimeter shot. While averaging a career-high 22.7 ppg and making his second All-Star Game, Jackson Jr. appears en route to another DPOY nod, or at least to be named to an All-NBA team. (Should either of those options come through, Jackson Jr. would qualify for a supermax contract extension worth about $345 million over the next five seasons.)

Here in Memphis, we’ve watched the kid everyone calls Trip grow up. He started off alongside Marc Gasol and Mike Conley as the Grit and Grind era transitioned. He’s planted community roots through youth camps and women in sports initiatives. (His mother, Terri, is the Executive Director of the Womens National Basketball Player’s Association; his father, Jaren Sr., played 13 seasons in the NBA, winning a championship with the Spurs in 1999.) Jaren has also displayed his love of fashion and music, and just being creative in general.

While he’s grown into his frame, at seven-feet tall, Trip has become a literal cornerstone for Memphis. As the Grizzlies look to leap into that final tier of contending teams, they’ll need the only player in the NBA with at least 5 steals and 5 blocks in crunch time to continue his consistency. 

Everyone moves on different schedules. It just turns out Jaren Jackson Jr.’s time is now. 

SLAM: When you were drafted by the Grizzlies in 2018 out of Michigan State, what kind of impact did you think you could have in the League? 

JAREN JACKSON JR.: I kind of came into it with a fresh mind, for sure. I knew what I could do defensively, in terms of blocking shots, and stretching the floor with shooting. But I knew that I had a long way to go in terms of shot creation, off the dribble, isolation scoring, something
I do a lot of now.

SLAM: Has defense always been your calling card? 

JJJ: Yeah, I think so in AAU, and I was always playing with really good players in high school, too, so I needed to find a way to be effective, and I was just blocking shots. And guards were not as good back then, so you could really time it up pretty easily. It was just fun making people feel bad. 

SLAM: You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who, like, talks a lot of trash, though. 

JJJ: Not too much. I mean, it just depends on what we’re doing. There’s a lot of subtext in there. I feel like there are some unwritten things, you know. I feel like if you celebrate, it should be organic. I’m not about to celebrate a block until I know we have the ball. Because if you get a block and they lay it in, it ain’t going to work. 

SLAM: In ’22-23, you won Defensive Player of the Year. From your rookie season to that year, how did you evolve defensively?

JJJ: I stopped prioritizing shot blocking as much and just made it about changing shots, making it harder on the offense and making it harder on the top players. And at the time, Dillon Brooks was on our team, and he was taking a lot of attention away just by guarding probably the best wing scorer every night. And then if you’re worrying about him, and I come out of nowhere, I’m getting a lot of blocks. And keeping the ball in bounds, too. That’s something my dad told me: Don’t just block it and try to hit it as hard as you can, because then it’s just their ball. Try to keep it in bounds and start a break.

SLAM: You’re the only guy from your rookie season who is still here in Memphis. What do you think when you look at the way this whole thing’s evolved in the last seven years?

JJJ: I don’t think there was a long low period or developmental period. I mean, outside of my rookie year, we have been making the playoffs—outside of last year when we were all injured. When Ja came here, it just kind of unlocked a lot of things for everybody. Then you just start seeing people’s games evolve. You start seeing Des, you start seeing BC [Brandon Clarke,] then we get Zach [Edey.] So, I mean, it was a lot, man.

SLAM: This season, you’re really putting it on the floor, spinning, converting hook shots, working in the mid-range, all these different things. How did all that kind of get unleashed? 

JJJ: Well, in all my summer workouts, I have live bodies. I never work out with cones or props. I like to have people in front of me. I like to make it challenging. It helps me work on my one-on-one game. A floater, a hook, is really a middie to me, or a layup—I’m very confident in that shot. It’s really just about working on ways to get to your spots. That’s what the greats do. That’s what a lot of my favorite players do that I look at and watch on film. I take a lot of things away from them, add it to my game. Also, it just feels like the court feels a little more open now, you know? When you get the ball, it’s like, just go. There’s space, for sure. I can feel that. Especially with the way we’re coached, that has a lot to do with it, too—the way we’re positioned right now, it gives everybody the ability to make plays and playmake. So now I’m working on my playmaking. That’s the next step. When we really get into it—like passing, those no-look passes—I need to have that. I need to have all that.

SLAM: You just mentioned, and we’ve seen it the last couple weeks, teams are starting to double you and bring guys from the weak side.

JJJ: It’s playmaking and being able to read defenses just at an A-plus level. I think I can read defenses pretty well right now. But I have to be even better for what they’re throwing at me. That’s the next step, along with a bunch of things that I’m just not even going to say. 

SLAM: It looks like you’re going to win another Defensive Player of the Year award, and it looks like you’re going to make All-NBA this season. Has that been a goal?

JJJ: Of course. It comes with the territory when you’re winning games. If your team’s successful, things will come for you. I just wanted to put myself in a position where our team’s in the playoff hunt. Everything else is just falling into place. If you really hunt for awards—I don’t feel like the great players do that. I don’t feel like any of the people who get those types of awards do that. I definitely didn’t the first time I won. I’m out there playing free. Right now, when we’re taping this, we have a month left. I haven’t felt freer up to now.

SLAM: Do you feel like you deserve to be All-NBA? 

JJJ: Of course. I think I played to that level. And I think my team has. I think that’s what it is: All-NBA is an award that goes to the best players on the best teams doing the best stuff. It’s similar to an All-Star bid, but it includes the whole year. I think just being able to be available is a huge thing. That’s what I’m doing.

SLAM: I’m going to push back a little bit because I feel like All-Star goes to the best players on the best teams. All-NBA goes to the best players, period.

JJJ: That’s dope. Hey, look, I think it works either way.

SLAM: Do you ever think about why your fit in Memphis has been so good? 

JJJ: Probably because we just keep it real here. There’s no facade. I don’t even know what you call it—you would only know if you’re here. I’m authentic. I think in the community over the years, we’ve made a huge impact on a lot of people—women in sports, youth hoops. And when I did the speech at the Freedom Awards at the National Civil Rights Museum, it just tied everything together. I couldn’t get a word off without them cheering. My family was there, too. And it just made me feel very warm, very at home.

SLAM: You’ve become a LeagueFits star. When did you get into fashion? 

JJJ: I’ve always been creative, and I always liked clothes. In terms of wearing clothes at this level and telling stories with what I wear, doing that came about when I think I met Toni [Posh.] Toni’s my creative director, and she’s teaching me what it means to really storytell through clothes. We’ve been all around the world because of it. I eventually want to be a creative director myself. The end goal is to always keep pushing the limits of everything. But right now, being the present, yeah, we’re putting that on. We’re putting it on right now. 

SLAM: Making music has also been a big passion of yours over the years, and vlogging has become important. How are those things connected?

JJJ: Yeah, the goal is for everything to be tied together. Nothing should be moving without the other. If you look at a vlog, the music’s on the vlog, the clothes are on the vlog. If you look at the music, the clothes, you know, everything is just kind of balanced off each other. And, yeah, you look up and we’re a season of a vlog series in, we’re six albums in, we’re however many outfits in, like three years going to Fashion Week. But that doesn’t even matter. The point is that we tied it all together every single time.

SLAM: You’ve also been a spokesman for everyone from 2K to Fanatics to Nike. Did you ever see yourself having these sorts of corporate relationships and being a person companies would come to for these things? 

JJJ: I think I did. I mean, I’m a corporate kid. I grew up in this environment, having to speak for myself at events. A lot of people who work in the NBA, I’ve known them for a long time. When I was a younger kid, I used to see them. Now they have the big-time jobs, and I’m seeing them walk around. But everything is relationships. You have to be able to hold your own and have your own voice and be confident. I was just kind of thrown into that as a kid, and now I can swim. 

Portraits by Johnnie Izquierdo.

The post IN THAT MODE: Jaren Jackson Jr is Having a MONSTER Season in Memphis appeared first on SLAM.

I had an infection on my foot that started spreading through my blood due to not paying attention to my diabetes. I ended up having to get my leg amputated. First, they cut off a couple of toes. Then they cut off my foot. Then they said, We gotta go almost knee high for another surgery. Three surgeries. And then there were also the blood transfusions. Not one, not two, not three, four different times.

All those surgeries and blood transfusions, it made me question whether it was worth going through it sometimes. It made me think, Man, just kill me and let me go about my business. It made me think that maybe it’s time for me to shut it down.

But then seeing what my boys are doing out there, they’re like, Dad you’re the toughest dude I know. That made me keep going. Even though I’m a bad man—I don’t need much—it was good to have that backing from my boys. One of the things that makes me go is when they are all together. When they are all together, I feel strong.

When I was in the hospital and “Tweaker” was starting to become a global hit, I had a couple of FaceTime conversations with Gelo, but I was kind of slurring because I was all drugged up with all the medication they were putting in me. It was hard for me to really dial in on what I was trying to say. Even though I was kind of slurring with my speech, Gelo understood what I was trying to say. I remember just telling him, Keep doing your thing. And make sure you take care of your brothers. Just make sure all of y’all are together. Cause the more you guys are together, the better I feel. That’s all I kept thinking about when I was in the hospital—my boys being together. 

What I want people to understand is that anytime you’re dealing with an illness or something serious like that, one thing you better have is family to get you through that stuff.

I’m the Big Baller. I’m hard to kill. But I must admit that my boys kept me rolling. Cause a couple of times, I was like, I can’t do no more blood transfusions. I can’t do no more operations. I’m just ready to shut it down. It’s enough for me. But I’m here for a bigger purpose.

Watching my boys play and watching Gelo perform and do his thing—he’s been singing and rapping all his life, so it’s good to see the success that he’s having now—that made me feel better. So, then I was like, Let me go ahead and just do these other surgeries and blood transfusions.

From my experience the last couple months, I want to get in people’s heads the importance of taking care of your health—especially Black people, because sometimes we’re not trying to go to the hospital, we will try to sleep it off or say, Yeah, we’ll get to it later. And sometimes it’s a little more serious than what you think.

I look at my situation like this: I’ve talked to some of my people that’s my age that’s been calling me that have cancer. And they say, We thought we got it all, but we didn’t, and so the organs are getting tore up in the inside. Now these folks are dying. And these are my friends that are around my age, in the 50s and dying of cancer. Just for me to have my foot cut off, I got another one. I’m good to have my foot cut off as opposed to being dead. But if I don’t go at the end of last year during Christmas to get that infection looked at, [an infection] that’s been around for maybe a month or two on the bottom of my foot, this would be a different type of story. 

The doctors said, Big Baller, you were very close to having to shut it down. But they were quick enough to give me the blood transfusions and keep that poison from going throughout my body. So, now I’m telling folks, if you got diabetes, don’t just be like, Oh, that’s just diabetes. I still eat my sugar, but I pay attention to it and do it in moderation. Get your checkups, do what you’re supposed to do. If you don’t have insurance, go to urgent care. Because I’m going to tell you this, a little amputation and a little of this, it could all have been prevented.

I realized through this process that if you stop trying to waste time feeling sorry for yourself and figure out what the next step is, then you’d be able to better deal with any life challenge. I look at it like this, OK, my foot is gone, but my brain is still here. So, I might not be able to move as fast as I did and do other things like that, but what’s the next step? Do I keep talking about the brand? Still keep talking about shoes? Still go out to meet people?

It makes me feel way better in looking at the outcome to go forward because I still want to be on this journey. And I look at it like this, too: I got a lot of limbs to come off. I’m hard to kill. I got some bigger stuff that the Big Baller still gotta do. And that guy upstairs put me here for a reason. And I’m gonna get it done.

As long as I can smile and see my boys, I’m good. But this whole experience made me realize, [you’re] lucky that you have family to get you through some stuff. But don’t feel sorry for me. You could be missing something, too. You better be careful. But that’s how you gotta respond to that. I still got folks around me that work hard and understand my drive to build a brand, to make shoes and to make other folks have the confidence in what they’re doing. 

Please understand that being successful is in your own mind. It’s not how much money you make. You could be successful if you can stay on your own two feet and got your own money coming in. Or if you come from a different situation that’s a little more dire and you come out of that? That’s success for you. Success doesn’t have to be, Does he have a Rolex? 

I noticed one of the photos SLAM took during this cover shoot. And most of the young guys, they’re not going to get this. Gelo had diamonds on his neck, diamonds on his wrist. Pull up with a diamond chain. This is usually how people show that they got it. Especially young people. They point to the jewelry. But I point to the Triple Bs on my chest. This brand, it’s worth more than your diamonds on your neck. To me, a brand is one of the biggest things you can own. So, I don’t wear any watches and chains. I don’t need to. For me, it’s all about Triple B’s, the brand.

To all the loyal fans, those who have stuck with us through thick and thin, I love all y’all. Keep doing your thing, because it ain’t gonna stop me—it ain’t gonna make me go or stop. But only be true to yourself. If you don’t like us, get to the side. If you do like us, roll with us. It’s all good. But I’m gonna keep smiling and grinning while I’m going, until the day Big Baller shuts it down. But I tell you what, when I do shut it down, you’re gonna remember who I was. I ain’t gonna change nobody, but I’m gonna change this culture. Ownership is everything.

I was telling Gelo over the phone the other day, I always said you was going to be a monster with whatever you did—whether it be basketball, rapping, singing! It’s all the same—it’s entertainment. And my boys can entertain. I also remember the boys feeling so good for Gelo in January. Anything that’s happening that’s good for Gelo, it’s good for them.

The fact that they are all together as a unit, it made me feel great. Everybody’s always saying now, Oh, LaVar went three for three. No—I’ve been three for three since the moment they came out the womb. So, I’m not going to wait until now to say, Finally! I was two for three, but now I’m three for three. I’ve always been three for three! I got three of the coldest monsters in the world. That’s what I’ve told everybody for years. But they used to call me crazy. But my boys are really like that, as the kids say. No matter what they’re doing, they’re going to be successful at it. As long as I’m seeing my boys smiling and doing what they do, then nothing else matters. 

Everybody wants to comment on us now. So, you got people now being, like, LaVar is father of the year—greatest father of all time. There are a lot of people that could be father of the year, but you want to put me on the pedestal because I got the platform now. What other sons are doing all of this right now? I mean, before you had me on another pedestal—Oh, LaVar is crazy like Ja Morant’s dad and all these other folks’ dads, they said. 

Now they changed the narrative—Oh shoot, Gelo is successful. Oh, well, LaVar’s good now. Yeah, because everybody’s worried about that money. That money changes a lot of folks. People that I haven’t heard from in a long time now want to reach out to me. 

With Gelo, whether you like him or don’t like him, it’s fine with us. It doesn’t stop us from doing what we’re doing. See, a lot of people be, like, Oh, Gelo just got his so-called newfound fame. No, he was famous when he came out the womb. Whether it be basketball or singing or rapping, he’s always been good. So, I’m not going to feel a different way about it now and be like, Oh, I’m so happy for Gelo. I’ve been happy for Gelo since he been my son. This is nothing new for me, it was a matter of time. 

The marketability of Gelo is on a whole different level. And I know the people that’s backing him, they see that. That boy got a look, got a sound. He got something you can count on that [can] go further in the business, as far as endorsements and all things that come with this entertainment.

To me, fatherhood, at the end of the day, as a parent, you just want to make sure that when you leave this earth, your kids are well taken care of. Whether you give them some money, or you give them a trade where they can take care of themselves. There’s a lot of people trying to be fathers, but at least from what I do on this platform, is to show people, Hey, stick around for your kids, regardless of what goes on with that woman. Stick around for your kids and do the best you can for something that you brought into this world. If your kid ain’t gonna be 6-5 or 6-8, you better put them in an education. If they’re going to be big, stay with them. If they’re going to be in sports, get them the right way. Fatherhood to me is something that’s mine, and I’m going to care about it ’til I die. And seeing all my boys’ success is what keeps me going. 

I just hate that they put all the numbers of what the boys are making in the paper. Everybody now is like, Gelo made it! What’s $13 million compared to what Lonzo made? $80-something million. And what’s $80-something million compared to what Melo is making? $200-something million. Then they wanna add it all up and be like, They made it—they don’t have to do nothing else in life!

So, we’re just going to sit around with a bunch of money and don’t do nothing impactful and help people with it? At the end of the day, you have to help somebody do something. Whether it be one person, two people, 10 people, a thousand people—you have to help somebody do something. That’s the bottom line. Because after you done bought everything—what’s really left?

The post LaVar Ball Talks Near-Death Health Scare in First Interview Since Amputation appeared first on SLAM.