The two have built a big brother, little brother type of bond ever since Simon invited Shai to his nightly dinners with Tristan out in the Philippines. “We immediately connected over laughter,” Simon says. Fast forward nearly 10 years, and Simon and Shai still share that same brotherhood, only now in a more official capacity, as ISLA MANAGEMENT represents the All-Star.

“When Shai got drafted to the NBA, we had already started ISLA on the music side. As both of our careers progressed, we organically found an amazing way for our businesses to intersect,” Simon says. “And the rest is history.”

Alongside his partner EK, Simon founded ISLA MANAGEMENT in 2018. It is one of the few companies that operates in the music and basketball industries simultaneously. ISLA doesn’t recruit its clients. The relationships, both working and personal, materialize naturally, from discovering R&B artist Giveon to representing Boi-1da, OZ, Jahaan Sweet and more. Shai brings yet another multidimensional layer to the company’s roster of hitmakers. And Simon knows this is just the beginning.

“What excites me most is knowing this is the tip of the iceberg for Shai. He is honestly just getting started,” Simon says. “I don’t see a boundary or limit to where Shai can take it. Maybe I’m being biased, but I believe he can be one of the greatest ever, on and off the court.”

Photo credit Jim Poorten.

The post After Managing Music Heavyweights, Founder of ISLA MANAGEMENT Simon Gebrelul is Making Waves in Sports appeared first on SLAM.

Over the past few years, many brands have tried their hand at collaborations with the HBCU community, but oftentimes, these partnerships fall flat, feeling forced and opportunistic at a time where HBCUs have begun to garner more recognition. While AND1 isn’t Black-owned, they’ve maintained their stake as an integral player in hoop culture and Black culture since first taking the world by storm in 1993. That’s what separates AND1 from the pack and has led to this “passion partnership” with Wilberforce, as AND1 brand director Dexter Gordon likes to call it.

“Wilberforce is an NAIA school, but we wanted them to feel like a DI,” says Gordon, referring to the abundance of apparel and product they supplied the teams with, in addition to a high-major-
esque preseason media day. And this is only the beginning of AND1’s commitment to their expanding HBCU footprint. 

“We’re looking at other schools [to partner with],” Gordon says. “If opportunities from bigger schools come, then cool. But our mindset is that we want to start with the smaller HBCUs and shine a light on them.”

The post Wilberforce University and AND1 Partnership is History in the Making appeared first on SLAM.

The 6-7, 235-pound forward knows about top-10 national rankings—Peat has been a fixture in that spot in the 2025 class for years now. At press time, he was arguably the top remaining undecided senior in the country, with Baylor, Houston and Texas vying with in-state rivals Arizona and Arizona State on his list of finalists. “I’m still figuring it out, so I don’t have a timeline,” he said. “I’m just taking it day by day.”

It’s a healthy approach, and it speaks to the confidence with which Peat operates on and off the court. Growing up surrounded by high-level athletes probably has something to do with it. The son of former NFL lineman Todd Peat, he came up the youngest of seven and watched his older brothers star in football—among them Andrus, a 10-year NFL vet who spent last season with the Las Vegas Raiders, and Keona, currently at Arizona State—while his sisters Leilani and Maya both hooped in college. All of that had an effect.

“Obviously my parents supported me in whatever I did,” Koa says, “but as a competitor, watching my brothers and sisters since I was little inspired me.”

Football’s in his blood, of course—he played with Keona and their cousins, and his size made him a promising tight end prospect—but hoops became his focus in middle school, and the timing of the pandemic coincided with his decision to fully dial in. “Over Covid, I started training really hard, getting a lot better, and I could see those strides,” he says. 

“I just fell in love with the work—that’s all it takes, hard work. That’s when I knew I could go far with this.” A growth spurt got him to 6-6 by the end of ninth grade, further solidifying his path on the court.

He pairs size and athleticism with a skill set that is looking increasingly complete. Asked about his strengths, Peat says, “I’d say I’m a winner first.” And then? “I’m versatile—I feel like I can play 1 through 5, I can guard 1 through 5. I’m a leader—I’m gonna make sure my team’s locked in. I’m unselfish, and I’m a team player.” His college choice will come down to the right fit of coaching staff and style of play, a program that can appreciate all he brings and hone those strengths. 

“I’m definitely looking for coaches who are going to play me in a position where I can do everything on the court, let me play free, develop me as a player that has no flaws,” he says.

If that sounds overconfident, Peat’s résumé backs it up. In addition to those three state titles and the last two Arizona Gatorade POY awards, Peat also owns three USA Basketball gold medals, winning multiple U17 FIBA World Cups and the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in 2023. For his efforts in that tournament—he averaged a team-high 17.2 points and 8.3 boards en route to gold—Peat was named the 2023 USA Basketball Male Player of the Year.

“You dream of stuff like that,” he says now. “The numbers I had, winning the tournament, being a leader on that team, I didn’t feel like I didn’t deserve it. To have your name by all those greats that won the award just shows that if you work hard and keep focusing on your craft and work, you can do anything.” 

Portrait by Thomas Ingersoll

The post Koa Peat is Writing His Own Legacy as a Top-Ranked Star at Perry HS appeared first on SLAM.

“My mom just signed me up in kindergarten,” she tells us after practice in January. “She was like, You’re tall. Let’s try this. So, she signed me up for rec basketball in kindergarten and I met some of my best friends through basketball.” 

It’s a good thing Jazzy stuck with it, because she’s transcending high school hoops right now as the No. 3 ranked player in the nation. The three-time Gatorade Oregon Player of the Year averaged 26.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.8 steals and 2.6 assists per game through 25 games last season at Clackamas, and she knows that what truly separates her from the competition is her versatility on both ends of the floor. That’s exactly the word she uses when describing her game. “I play really well off my teammates without the ball in my hands, so that’s something that I feel kind of separates me a little bit from other top players,” she says. “Also just playing both sides of the ball. Defense is a huge thing for me, and I feel like I get a lot of my offense off of defensive rebounds and pushing it in transition.”

The USC commit will look to refine her game once she gets out to Cali and suits up for head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. What stood out to her most during the recruitment process was how close-knit and “family-oriented” the Trojans, currently ranked fourth in the AP poll, are. She has her sights set on elevating her game in college and winning “a few national championships” at USC, but she knows that in order to get there, she has to put in the work first. And her main focus will be on consistency.

“I know I have a lot of work to do to get there,” she says. “Personally, I feel like I kind of do a little bit of everything, but I can always be more consistent and get better at all the little things that I already do. So, just consistency offensively. And then defensively, just making sure I’m locked in every possession, whether I’m on the ball or off the ball. [I just need to keep] fine tuning things and getting them to be more consistent.”  

Portraits by NASHCO Photography

The post Jazzy Davidson, the No. 3-Ranked Player in the Class of 2025, is Ready to Ascend Her Game at USC appeared first on SLAM.

It’s in everything he’s done so far in his career: from being the Celtics’ No. 26 pick in the 2020 draft to, in just five seasons in Boston, inking his name in the record books by hitting multiple buzzer beaters in the Finals, winning a championship and now leading the Sixth Man of the Year race. Whenever the guard has the ball in his hands, he’s like a magician in his bag of tricks. The court vision and dazzling dimes. His ability to create plays off the dribble. The efficiency at which he shoots the ball, unafraid to let it fly whenever, over whomever, from wherever. Doesn’t matter if it’s 50 feet. 

Pritchard’s impact on the Celtics is evident in his ability to perform and deliver, especially when they need it most. But to do all of that while coming off the bench? That takes sheer confidence. 

“I definitely wanted to be considered in the conversation for one of the best players off the bench,” he tells us after shootaround one day. “I mean, obviously, with our team [and] the way we’re built, we are very talented. And our starting five, obviously it’s a lot of big names. So I felt like for myself to make a jump and be considered one of the best bench players in the League, that would only help our team. And I thought I was very capable of that.”

As of mid-January, Pritchard is leading the NBA in total points off the bench (895), which puts him above last year’s Sixth Man of the Year, Minnesota’s Naz Reid. Look up and down the stat sheet and you’ll see career-high numbers in almost every category: minutes played (28.2), field-goal attempts (10.6), an ability to shoot at a more efficient clip than in years’ past. He’s averaging 14.4 ppg—double what he averaged as a rookie (7.7)—on a career-high 47.9 percent shooting from the field and 42.4 percent from behind the arc. 

During the offseason, Pritchard dialed in on refining those very aspects of his game. What we’re all witnessing now is everything coming into motion. “Just being able to shoot off the move and shoot off the dribble from three more, that’s definitely added levels to my game,” he describes. “I thought my mid-range and finishing was always really good and just continued to be good, but [I try to] just continue to be a complete ballplayer. Defensively, being more active.” 

At just 6-1, Pritchard is crashing the boards and averaging 3.8 trb and 1.4 offensive boards.

“It really just comes down to confidence, honestly,” Pritchard says, when asked what’s been the difference maker for him this season. “I’ve just been confident every time I step on the floor. That’s what I’m capable of doing, and I’m capable of helping [us] win at the highest of levels.” 

You know it’s real when you are who you think you are, and no one can deny Pritchard’s innate ability to be a spark for the Cs whenever he’s out there. In a win against the Pistons, Pritchard’s impact was everywhere en-route to a 27-point, 10-assist performance, from 27-foot pullup threes to assists to Queta to easy layups and big rebounds. “I thought he made big-time plays whether it was the offensive rebound, whether it was the play at the end of the game or just pushing the pace. You know, he kinda just has the ability to impact the game in different ways,” said head coach Joe Mazzulla after the game. 

Just last night against Portland, he dropped a career-high 43 points and knocked down a best 10 threes. Alongside teammate Derrick White’s 41-point performance, they’re the first Celtics duo ever to score 40 or more points in the same game.

The type of energy that he brings is what White called the “Payton Effect” on The Young Man and the Three podcast.

“I think it has something to do with the energy that it gives people,” Pritchard tells us, when asked about White’s comments. “The excitement, just the momentum swings and just me coming off the bench to come in with a spark and this new life of energy and the pace of play. The crowd gets behind it, too.”

In other words: he is just on a different wavelength. It’s when he’s playing freely and creatively that Pritchard does things that leave the crowd in total awe. Take for instance what happened in the fourth quarter against the Orlando Magic. With the Cs already up 112-89 in the fourth, Pritchard didn’t hold back when matched up against Wendell Carter Jr, who played solid defense but was no match for P’s artistic dribbling combos and elite footwork. Plus the step-back jumper he drained immediately after. 

“It’s definitely an art form,” he says about his approach to shooting. “I feel like there’s such a rhythm piece to it. It’s just allowing your body to be all in one motion when you shoot. That definitely helps.” 

His mindset is simple: Don’t think, just shoot. Whatever happens on the floor—including some of the craziest half-court buzzer beaters we’ve ever seen, which, might we add, he doesn’t practice but has obviously perfected—is all the result of just how much time and dedication he’s put into every aspect of his craft. What we’re witnessing now is someone just straight up hoopin’. “I’ve practiced and I’ve worked so many hours at it that I feel like when I shoot, the worst is when I start to think about my form, start to think about certain things, rather than just letting all the work I put in just come naturally,” he adds. “I try to harp on, Just let it fly. Don’t think. Be in the flow of shooting.”

Keep in mind, he’s doing all of this while on a championship squad that’s currently leading the NBA in threes. Not only is Payton shooting the lights out, but the Celtics are leading a three-point resurgence across the League, one that’s drawn a bit of criticism. But, in his opinion, if this is just one of the many things that makes them so lethal, why switch up now? “We have eight dudes on our team that could go off and hit five threes in the game very easily,” P explains. “We have eight dudes that are high-level shooters that make us very difficult, so you have to worry about every one of us. Now, a lot of teams don’t have that, and I think that’s what makes us different from most teams. You just have to worry about all of us when we’re on the court.” 

As a reigning champion, Pritchard knows there’s something bigger they’re all playing for, too: going back-to-back in the Finals and raising Banner 19. But when he looks back at how he’s gotten here and solidified himself as a key piece in their rotation, it all comes down to his ability to find balance. In the good and the bad. In the clutch performances and big-time plays. This is what he would tell a young Payton just coming into the League:

“[Don’t] ride the waves of the lows and the highs. Try to be balanced through it all,” he says. “I’ve learned that now, and I’m still learning that at times, but I’ve definitely gotten a lot better at it. But I feel like the thing that’s hardest for young players, especially in the League, is just the ups and downs. There could be a lot of nights where things just don’t go your way, or a lot of things are out of your control, but not letting it mentally affect you. But then obviously you’re gonna have a lot of good nights, but not riding that high too high either. Just maintaining that balance.”

To have his name be part of the Sixth Man conversation is an “honor,” he says. While it might come as a surprise to many, what it means to him is that all of those hours are paying off. Now it’s about keeping that same energy and more, every night.

“It means I’ve elevated to another level, which is from the work and stuff like that,” he says. “But we’re almost halfway through the year, so I got another halfway to go and show what I’m capable of. I’m just worried about game by game now [and] showing [that] every day.” 

The post The Payton Pritchard Effect appeared first on SLAM.

Trae Young knows how to deliver a perfect assist. In fact, for all Chris Paul’s razzle and Nikola Jokic’s dazzle, it’s Young who’s having an exceptional season in this regard, so definitively topping the NBA’s assist chart he should probably have his own page. He’s crossed the 20-assist mark multiple times and spent most of the year hovering around 12 per game. For reference, Magic Johnson spent his career averaging around 11. John Stockton averaged 10-and-a-half.

Not many expected this from Young, not now. Things had been getting more and more sticky in Atlanta over each of the past three years, the Hawks finishing lower and lower in the Eastern Conference standings.

But the truth is, Young started prepping for this nearly two decades ago. 

“When I was a kid, I would wrap a ball in a garbage bag, walk into the garage and turn the lights off,” he says, describing how he’d try to hit targets he couldn’t see, with a basketball he could barely feel. He knew then the odds of becoming an NBA player were long, but he also never really doubted he would, not when right from the beginning it all felt so…real. Young grew up just 30 miles north of Oklahoma City. His family had Thunder season tickets and connections to some of the coaches and players through his dad, a former college player himself.

You’ve likely seen the famous photo of Young and Kevin Durant together—Young was 13 years old but doesn’t look a day over 10. But you might not have realized that Young would go on to play for the AAU team Durant sponsored. Or that as Young got older, he was occasionally invited to Durant’s house to watch college basketball games with KD and his friends. Young also became friendly with Russell Westbrook’s little brother Ray, and then in turn with Russ.

And then there were the DVDs of Steve Nash that Young watched relentlessly before running to the local YMCA to copy the moves. The truth is that even though Young would become more known for his three-point shot by the time he got to college—“the next Stephen Curry,” bleated game broadcast after game broadcast—it was Nash whom he always wanted to be, and still thinks he can become.

“I still have a lot of room to go. I’m going to be one of the best point guards to ever play, and imagine if I do it in Atlanta,” he says, noting it’s been a long time since the Hawks won anything. (Their lone championship came 67 years ago, in 1958.) “That’s my focus. I know we’re not in a position to be doing that right now, but I’ll do whatever it takes to get there.”

As Young talks, he is standing outside the visitor’s locker room in downtown Los Angeles, and it is not lost on anyone that at several points over the past couple seasons, it seemed Young might be headed to this hallway but on the home team side. Those were seasons when the words “faith” and “trust” or even “teammates” were not always associated with Young and the rest of the Hawks roster. Instead, NBA circles were chock full of Young-to-the-Lakers trade rumors, hitting overdrive this past June when Young tweeted an hourglass emoji right after JJ Redick was officially named L.A.’s new coach.

It was no secret at the time that Young was frustrated that the two-year experiment pairing him with Dejounte Murray hadn’t worked. All parties involved have been clear: Young never asked the team for a trade. But it also seems clear he wouldn’t have argued with a deal either, especially one sending him to Southern California, where he already has an off-season home.

Except it didn’t happen. Eight days after Young’s tweet, the Hawks sent Murray to New Orleans in exchange for two first-rounders, Larry Nance Jr, 21-year-old Australian Dyson Daniels and more.

The trade has only aged better and better for Atlanta in the time since. Nance has become a key stabilizing vet presence, and Daniels has more than lived up to his “Great Barrier Thief” nickname, giving the Hawks a much-needed defensive menace while doubling his scoring output from last season.

But most of all, the deal created clarity for and around Young.

“Trae and Dejounte really were both trying to make it work, but it was more of, like, Should I do this or should you do this? and then, You do it and I will stay out of it, which meant neither could really be their full best self,” says Kyle Korver, one of the most prolific three-point shooters in NBA history and now the assistant general manager in Atlanta. “I think they were both trying to sacrifice and, ultimately, well, I was once given great marriage advice from my father-in-law. He said, If both of you are only compromising, you’re going to have a compromised marriage. There’s something to that with basketball, too.”

So trading Murray helped. But it would take more, with effort on both sides. During Summer League, Young flew to Las Vegas to spend time with the Hawks’ newest players. Afterward, the team brass took Young out to dinner, making sure it was a two-way conversation, asking Young about his frustrations and promising to improve communication with their franchise star. 

Young’s relationship with Hawks head coach Quin Snyder also made a difference. Young has had some, um, head coach issues before (see: McMillan, Nate), but he and Snyder have long been kindred spirits and will often text deep into the early morning hours about small moments of a particular game or something Snyder has noticed on film.

This summer, Snyder asked Young to buy in to what would be yet another fresh start for the organization he’s played for since 2018. Young said yes.

“We use the word evolution a lot, and I think sometimes people are just at the right time in their lives to take a step,” Snyder says, noting how Young is still, well, young despite having been an NBA fixture for so long. At just 26, he’s at an age where a number of the kids he went to college with are still living with their parents. Yet Young himself is now a married father of two, playing in his eighth season and he is plainly now trying to do things a different way.

He’s let his scoring numbers dip so his teammates’ could rise. He’s elevated forward Jalen Johnson, empowered sixth man De’Andre Hunter (editor’s note: this story was published prior to the trade to Cleveland). Plus, as one Hawks exec put it, he’s now “looking to compete on defense, which was not always the case.” 

This does not, of course, mean Young has shifted radically. He still knows how to draw a foul, is still one of the craftiest players on the perimeter, still has nights where he tosses off deep bombs like he’s swatting flies. But this year, those moments feel less like a main course and more like a garnish. The flash hasn’t disappeared; it’s just been tempered by purpose. And while the Hawks are still a young team just trying to stay in playoff contention in the East, the changes have paid off in all sorts of small ways.

Making the NBA Cup semifinals in December was a particularly nice moment for the franchise, and it didn’t hurt that they got there by beating the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. It also didn’t go unnoticed that after Young ended the night pretending to roll dice at center court, his teammates crowded around him. “He’s earned the trust of his players,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said a few days later. “This team likes playing with him; that’s obvious. I couldn’t say that in the past, but now they love playing with him.”

Milwaukee would go on to beat Atlanta, but Young saw tremendous value in the whole experience. “It showed us we’re a good team, and all it takes is getting on a run,” he says. “I’ve been on a run before—when you’re on one, and you play well, that’s all that matters.”

Since then, the Hawks have been both up and down, but Young has maintained his grip on the League’s assist mark. The truth is, of all the statistics that clutter a box score, it’s the assist number that tells you the most about what is really going on with a player. It’s an intentional choice, night after night, to create the web of connective tissue at the core of any winning team.

Trae Young can deliver a perfect assist. And this season, it’s not just a pass. It’s a promise. 

The post Trae Young Talks the Art of the Assist and Future in Atlanta appeared first on SLAM.

The breakout forward touting a 7-5 wingspan has taken over the A-10 with a quickness. As of this writing, he’s the only DI player this season to record 20 dunks and 20 threes, netting more than 40 percent of his shots from downtown. He collected back-to-back 26-pieces in December and posted 16 points, 20 rebounds and 3 steals in a single-digit loss to the Texas Longhorns. On any given night, he’s putting up 16.1 points, 9.1 boards, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks. 

The development has been on full display since Rasheer was battling for playing time on a stacked Camden roster and with the New Jersey Scholars on the EYBL circuit, where he picked up his Saint Joe’s offer during warm-ups for a Philly Live tournament. He’s been churning out double-doubles ever since.

“They always saw the potential in me, so they’ve always talked about developing me into the greatest player that I could be,” Rasheer says. “The vision for the team as well, winning a national championship for sure. That was the main vision going into the program, and they’ve always talked about that with me. And I can see it now.”

Photos via Getty Images.

The post The Emergence of Rasheer Fleming into a Double-Double Standout at St. Joseph’s appeared first on SLAM.

Their SLAM 254 cover story details how they’ve ascended in the West, first impressions of each other, becoming a defensive powerhouse and more.

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But the Good Book also says God’s plans are to give you hope and a future. And safe to say, the future is looking brighter than ever for the perennial All-Star, who has taken his game to an otherworldly level and is in the middle of arguably his best season as a professional.

As we go to press, the sharpshooting big man is averaging a 25.4 points and 13.9 rebounds a game, with exceptional shooting splits of 55%/45%/84%. And just in case you’re wondering, the Knicks are sitting comfortably as a top-3 seed in the East. And what’s even more noteworthy than these gaudy numbers is the humility and gratitude that KAT continues to walk with on his path to basketball immortality. The Knicks gained much more than a franchise cornerstone when he came to town.

The gentle killer pulled up to SLAM HQ on a blistering cold winter evening to chop it up about how he’s managed the transition back home, representing for his fellow Dominicans in the city and abroad, celebrating his 10th year in the League, what it’s gonna take for these Knicks to make a deep postseason run, what he expects of himself when he puts on that blue and orange and much more.   

SLAM: You grew up not too far from here, right across the river in New Jersey. It’s now been a few months since the trade, and you’ve had some time to process this move. How’s the transition been?

Karl-Anthony Towns: It’s crazy you say it’s been a few months; it feels like yesterday. It’s awesome to be back home, to be with my family, see my grandmother and my aunts—a lot of my Dominican family still resides here in New York, so it’s really cool to be able to see them more often than I was able to when I was in Minnesota.

SLAM: You’ve always been vocal about how much your Dominican background means to you. New York has a large Dominican population; how has that full-circle moment been, being able to represent for your culture front and center in a place where the Dominican population is so concentrated?

KAT: It means a lot. My mother immigrated from the Dominican Republic to New York. And like you said, it’s a full-circle moment to go from playing basketball with my cousins in the backyard in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and just hoping to be an NBA player one day, to now being here in Madison Square Garden. Playing for and representing my heritage means a lot to my family, especially my Dominican side, and I’m just proud that I get to go out there every night and represent for them.

SLAM: I read that you had been working on building a youth facility down in the Dominican Republic. 

KAT: Oh yeah, I was able to work with Go! Sports, GO Ministries and World Youth Clubs, and we will be making a whole sports facility out in Santiago, in the Dominican Republic. It’ll have four basketball courts, a full soccer turf field, three baseball fields—about to be a fourth—we’re building a track and field and we also have two volleyball courts. Being able to give this to the kids in the Dominican Republic has been an awesome opportunity.

SLAM: Another full-circle moment you experienced coming back to New York is reuniting with Coach Tom Thibodeau. Can you speak to how it’s been getting back together with him and your relationship with Thibs in general?

KAT: Like you said, me and Thibs are at different points in our lives, especially as men. I have more years of life under my belt and more experience in this game and business. I have a different outlook on life and a different outlook on my profession. I’ve always had tremendous respect for Thibs, even back in Minnesota, and my respect for him has only grown more as I got older and played more games in the NBA. You see the determination he has to win and the sacrifice he makes every single day to prepare his team with the best opportunity to win. That’s something that you don’t take lightly in my position. And for him to be that kind of guy to really sacrifice so much of his life so that we can have the best opportunity to take care of our families—I got nothing but respect for that.

SLAM: Not to say you weren’t already proving your greatness in Minnesota, but as an observer, it seems there’s just a different spark you’ve been playing with since the trade. What about playing for New York has allowed you to shine the way you have?

KAT: I mean, it’s just a different role. And I always talk about being a superstar in my role, and my role here is different than it was in Minnesota. I just wanted to be the best I could be for my teammates, and New York presented a new role for me to fulfill.

SLAM: What about this year’s Knicks squad is different from other teams you’ve been a part of?

KAT: I’ve been very fortunate to be part of some amazingly talented teams, and this team is just…different. I think we’re as talented a team I’ve ever played for, but it’s just a different team. We’re not the tallest team, and I’m used to being around a bunch of 7-footers. That’s probably the biggest physical difference. But the talent is here, and it’s abundant. I love the professionalism the team brings every day. I love the humor Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson bring fasho’, and especially when you add Mikal Bridges, too. I still think OG [Anunoby] is the funniest on the team, though. I love our grit—that New York grit. The culture is about leaving it all on the floor for the fans and respecting their time. And I just love that.

SLAM: From an aerial perspective, how would you assess the season so far as we head to the midway mark?

KAT: I think we’ve done a great job putting ourselves in position to win, even the games we’ve lost—to be in position to win is the most important thing, and we’ve done a great job of finding different ways to win. I see ourselves growing every single day as a team. I also think it’s great that we’re learning hard lessons early on in the season rather than later when you can’t afford them. I’m really proud of our team. The way we came together, the way that we find ways to win and the way we continue to fight regardless of the outcome speaks volumes to the characters in our locker room.

SLAM: What do you think it’s gonna take to make a deep run this postseason?

KAT: When I think of my Minnesota team last year, God was good to us with health. So it’s gonna come down to just staying healthy and playing our best basketball at the right time, and just executing. From my experience, we just have to be the best versions of ourselves when we need to be the best version of ourselves. We’re gonna use this time to continue to learn, continue to build our team and continuity and continue to find ways to impact the game in many different aspects.

I always talk about being a superstar in my role, and my role here is different than it was in Minnesota.

SLAM: Speaking of experience, you’re celebrating your 10th year in the League. How do you reflect on this when you’re thinking about the ups and downs and lessons you’ve learned on this journey?

KAT: I look back at the 19-year-old boy I was coming into the NBA, and how life has made me a man. It grew me up, whether that was the losses on the court or the losses off the court. It’s changed me, and it’s made me a stronger, more resilient, better version of myself. And some of those hardest lessons came with the steepest price, and I’ve paid them. I’m 10 years in, still standing strong, still got a great support system, still blessed to have my father, my sister and have my mother’s [presence] still with me every day. I’ve been blessed to still be inspiring the next generation of basketball players, to continue to find success in this League and, more importantly, to continue to impact change and positivity into my communities. I’m very happy with my first 10 years in the NBA, and I know my next 10 are going to be some of the most impactful years of my life, and I’m excited. I’m blessed with whatever I get. I’m happy to be in this situation, because not a lot of people can say they are. 

SLAM: You speak of inspiring the next generation, but what’s inspiring you to keep chasing greatness?

KAT: Again, it starts with my support system and family…It really does mean a lot to me when I see little kids—and I’m not just talking about them being fans of me—respecting the game at a higher level just by watching me play. That drives me to be a positive reinforcement of why the game of basketball is so great. Those little things in life wake me up in the morning and put a smile on my face. And I really appreciate the fans and my family for making this experience so enjoyable, so rewarding and, most importantly, so humbling.

SLAM: You’re already in the conversation as one of the most talented big men to ever play the game. But building on that, what are your expectations for yourself, especially coming back east to New York?

KAT: Take nine years of amazing experience I had in Minnesota, take the year in college and all those years I had in high school here in Jersey and cash in all that experience and that time and work put into the gym, and just hope to bring wins here to New York. That’s all I’m thinking about every single day. I just want to utilize all that experience and find ways to bring wins to Madison Square Garden and to the fans here. That’s what keeps me up at night—finding different ways to help this team, help my teammates be the best version of themselves and working on myself so I can be the best version of myself for my team. 

THE SLAM 254 KAT COVER COLLECTION

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.

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