March/April 2020

Slam

Your Source For The Best In Basketball

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The Sixth Man
*deep inhale, long exhale* We’re moving fast these days, so fast that it’s hard to even take a few-minute break to look around at all that we have going on. Fortunately, this issue works as a decent lens through which we can discuss some of it: — One
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Slam
PUBLISHER Dennis S. Page EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER David Schnur HEAD OF CONTENT/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Adam Figman MANAGING EDITOR Susan Price Thomas SENIOR EDITOR Ryne Nelson SENIOR CONTENT PRODUCER Franklyn Calle HEAD OF SOCIAL MEDIA Arvind Pitchai ASSOCIATE ED
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The Opening Tip
FIRST OF ALL, the 1988 All-Star Game took place in the old Chicago Stadium, a raucous little barn on Madison Street that maxed out in attendance at just above 18,000, packed to the gills. The antique place, which was also where the Blackhawks played
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Eric Paschall
On June 20, 2019, while the basketball world’s attention was focused on the Barclays Center, soon-tobe Golden State Warriors rookie Eric Paschall was huddled with family and friends 30 miles north at a local bar and grill in his hometown of Dobbs Fer
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Trash Talk
Jimmy fits so perfectly in Heat Nation. I loved him in Philly and Chicago (not Minnesota) and when we signed him, I was so ready and pumped for the season to start. Plus, our rookies Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn are out here balling. People predicte
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The Underdog
ON THE intersection of 10th and Barber Street in Little Rock, AR, a 10-year-old Bobby Portis was up late playing video games one night when gunshots rang out nearby. He was accustomed to the sound, but this was different. “This time, it was like a ma
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What The Doctor Ordered
IM ONLY 24, so I’ll call myself out now before anybody else does. Disclaimer aside, I just had to stop myself before I took the form of the old man hanging around the playground. You know, the old guy in the bleachers who’s always telling everyone ho
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None Greater
AS THE 2010s came to an end, the worlds of basketball and music found themselves more connected than ever. Collaborations seemed to happen all the time. And in 2019, one place in particular stood as an epicenter of success in music and hoops: Toronto
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Obi One
If you had never seen Zion Williamson, but you had to sketch him based on what people told you about his game and how humiliated he makes everyone else look when he dunks on them, you would accidentally draw Obi Toppin. Obi is not the action-figure-l
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Slamadamonth
DECEMBER 8, 2019 STAPLES CENTER LOS ANGELES, CA The most surprising thing about LeBron James as he reaches the midpoint of his 17th season is the fact that what he’s still doing doesn’t surprise us at all. His Lakers are the best in the West, and at
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Life Is Good
KEMBA WALKER is seated in the Optum Lounge of the Auerbach Center, where the Boston Celtics practice, thinking back on this summer. When he was in China for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, along with Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, the four of
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Heavy In The Game
IT’S A THURSDAY afternoon in January and we’re at the Honey Training Facility, the Clippers’ headquarters in Playa Vista, CA, a city located about 30 minutes southwest of downtown Los Angeles. Montrezl Harrell has just walked through a door that lead
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Run For Cover
THIS PAST December, when SLAM reached out to Paige Bueckers to tell her that she was going to be on the next cover, she responded with just two words: “Why me?” Bueckers, the No. 1 high school girls basketball player in the country and UConn commit,
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Attention To Detail
IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS. There’s a big-ass Raptors logo on the back of this satin bomber jacket, one that reads, “The Best in the World, 2019 Champions.” An OVO Owl sits on the left breast pocket, while another Raptors logo is stitched on the right a
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Professor Drip
JIMMY GOLDSTEIN isn’t hard to find. Chances are if you’ve attended a game at STAPLES or watched on TV, you’ve noticed an older gentleman, the one dripped up in five-figure Balmain jackets, exotic animal skin print hats and a neck scarf, always near t
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That Easy
ON THE NORTH side of The Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, in the shadow of the El train between Franklin Street and Wells Street, there’s a famously delicious, but eminently inconspicuous speakeasy-style steakhouse called Bavette’s. This is one
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You Don’t Want Zero Problems
DURING HIS first meeting with Miami Heat team president Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra, Kendrick Nunn was told that he would get an opportunity. “That’s all that I needed to hear,” he says. He responded by jumping out to one of the hottest s
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BORN & RAISED
FEW PEOPLE have greater insight into the basketball madness set to descend upon Chicago for February’s NBA All-Star Game than Allie Quigley. After all, Quigley is the defining basketball player of this Chicago generation. A Joliet, IL, native, Quigle
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Playing Possessed
AT THEIR height, the DePaul Blue Demons were one of the most influential and visible programs in the country. At their worst, losing had become a formality, coaches came and went, Chicago’s top talent never looked their way, and things seemed stuck i
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Leader Of The Pack
IF YOU’RE GOING to try to understand Adam Miller, you need to understand this whole “wolf” thing. There are levels to it. First, there’s his nickname, “Ace Wolf,” which he explains is a derivation of his father’s nickname. “My dad’s name was ‘Ace,’ s
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’til I Get There
THIS JABARI Parker story begins where so many other Jabari Parker stories have started over the past five years—at a training facility. We’re at Atlanta’s Emory Sports Medicine Complex, a state-of-theart building that includes the Hawks’ practice fac
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All Of The Lights
THAT’S THE BEST way to describe Chicago in February, most years. We’re talking that long-underwear-wearing, seeing-your-breath, can’t-hardly-go-outside type cold that you feel in your bones. But in February of 1988, the last time NBA All-Star Weekend
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The Odyssey
Stephon Marbury and Dennis Page first met back in 1994, during the making of SLAM Issue 1. That first meeting led to Marbury writing the first-ever SLAM High School Diary. Earlier this year, they hopped on the phone to discuss everything—from Steph’s
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History In The Making
AN AMAZING NEW DOCUMENTARY CAPTURES THE INSPIRATIONAL STORY OF STEPHON MARBURY. HOW DID A KID from Coney Island end up with a statue in China? How did he overcome immense pressure to fulfill his dreams? And how did he keep going in the face of advers
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Game Time
iT LOOKS LIKE a normal home from the outside, but it isn’t until Ben Simmons takes you down to the basement of his new crib that you realize you’re entering a pretty special place. As you go down and make a left, you’re greeted by a neon sign that re
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Open Gym, Open Heart
FROM A DISTANCE, the cadence and rhythm sound like any other open gym run. Kanye West’s “Follow God” is pumping over the portable speaker, rubber soles are skidding on the hardwood surface and casual basketball directives—“Get back, get back. I got b
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Real Is On The Rise
A FEW THINGS you should know about Cade Cunningham right up front: For one, he’s from Arlington, not Dallas, and he reps his hometown proudly. “The Cowboys play in Arlington, first of all, let’s get that straight,” he says. “We got the best Six Flags
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Kicks
The latest pair of NIKE PGs signals a switch in the design direction of the line, thanks to a shroud that now covers the upper. PAUL GEORGE first debuted the PG4 on-court in early January en route to a 34-point performance against the Knicks. He unve

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