J-Speaks: Newest Additions to the Father/Son Fraternity In NBA

 

Each year of the NBA Draft, 60 young men have their longtime childhood dreams are realized. Only a select few though have had the opportunity to join the exclusive fraternity of playing the same game professionally like their father. In the proud history of “The Association,” over 70 father/son duos, who have either carried on their dad’s name; carried on their legacy with their play on the hardwood. On Wednesday night, three more young men got that chance to make their own mark like their fathers did in the pros.

With the No. 15 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, which was held virtually because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, the Orlando Magic selected point guard Cole Anthony out of the University of North Carolina. He is the son of current NBATV analyst and NBA on TNT color analyst Greg Anthony, who played lead guard in the NBA for 12 years for first for the New York Knicks, who took him No. 12 overall out of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, the then Vancouver (now Memphis) Grizzlies, Seattle Supersonics, Portland Trail Blazers, Chicago Bulls, and Milwaukee Bucks.

With the No. 48 pick in the 2020 draft, the Golden State Warriors selected point guard Nico Mannion out of the University of Arizona, the son of Pace Mannion, who played a decade in the NBA from 1983-1993 for the Golden State Warriors, Utah Jazz, then New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets, Bucks, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, and the final four years overseas for his native Italy for the Italian pro basketball league club Pallacanestro Cantu based in Cantu, Lombardy.

The Houston Rockets with the No. 52 overall in the 2020 draft selected Kenyon “KJ” Martin, Jr., the son of the No. 1 overall pick out of the University of Cincinnati 20 years ago Kenyon Martin, who played in the league for 15 years with the then New Jersey, now Brooklyn Nets, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, and Milwaukee Bucks.  

The younger, Anthony, Mannion, and Martin, Jr. hope to reach the level that a select few current sons of dads who have played in the NBA have.

That younger version crop of NBA players whose fathers played include Larry Nance, Jr. of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the son of Larry Nance, Sr. who played 13 NBA seasons for the Phoenix Suns and the Cavaliers after being selected by the Suns No. 20 overall out of the Clemson University in 1981 has played five seasons after being drafted by the Lakers No. 27 overall out of the University of Wyoming.

Dallas Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway, Jr., who was drafted No. 24 overall by the Knicks in 2013 out of the University of Michigan, having also played for the Hawks and the Knicks for the previous two seasons is the father of the crossover king of the previous era in five-time All-Star lead guard Tim Hardaway, Sr., who played 14 seasons with the Warriors, Miami Heat, Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers after being drafted No. 14 overall by the Warriors out of the University of Texas at El Paso in 1989.

The most well-known sons of the NBA is two-time Kia MVP and three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry, who was drafted No. 7 overall in 2009 out of the Davidson College by the Warriors and the most recent addition of the 76ers in his brother guard Seth Curry, whose dad is NBA legend sharp-shooter Wardell Stephen “Dell” Curry, Sr. The elder Curry played 16 seasons with the Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Toronto Raptors after being drafted No. 15 overall by the Jazz out of Virginia Tech.    

While he did not get drafted on Wednesday night, Brendan Bailey out of Marquette, the son of Thurl Bailey, who played the majority of his nine of his 16 years of professional basketball for the Jazz, who took him No. 7 overall in the 1983 draft out of North Carolina State. The current television analyst for the Jazz on AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain also played for the Minnesota Timberwolves (from 1991-94) as well as overseas for a Greek pro basketball team Panionios B.C.; the aforementioned Pallacanestro Cantu; and Lega Basket Serie A pro basketball team Pallacenestro Olimpia Milano based in Milan, Italy.  

“To see your oldest child’s dreams come true, you can’t beat that,” Martin, Sr. said to ESPN’s senior NBA writer of “The Undefeated” Marc J. Spears as the 2020 draft was near. “He’s been wanting to play in the NBA since he’s been a kid. And for us to be on the doorstep of that, gives me chills.

Ever since he was a young child and watching his father play in the NBA environment, it was something that “KJ” always wanted to do, especially after he saw his dad play against the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in the 2009 Western Conference Finals against the late great Hall of Famer to be Kobe Bryant, “KJ’s” all-time favorite player.

“I knew when they played each other, they both were going to put their hearts on the floor,” “KJ,” who averaged 19.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals for IMG Academy in 2019-20 said. “It was really nice seeing him play those couple of years when they played against each other.”  

While the younger Anthony did not get a chance to see dad play growing up since he retired while he was still a toddler, he was shown a few clips of his journey when he was in college playing for the Runnin’ Rebels, which included him scoring on a breakaway dunk off a steal of an inbounds pass.

Brendan said that he does not remember a whole of his dad’s playing career as well because he was so young. But because he was surrounded by the game growing up playing as a pro, the young Bailey picked up the game because of his dad.

Bailey, the father of six children said that his kids did not really know how good their dad was until he showed up on NBA2K.

One time, Bailey heard his youngest son Bryson yell to him to come upstairs because he saw Thurl on NBA2K saying, “Dad, come up here you’re on 2K! You were pretty good, huh?”

Growing up playing the game or doing something your father did well for a long time can be a lot to take on.

For “KJ,” who also played in the famed Drew League, when he hears hecklers in the crowd saying things like “You ain’t your daddy,” he saw it as a fun challenge. He said he likes when people talk or do crazy stuff in the stands to throw his concentration off. It is the “energy” he feeds off to play even better.

“So, for me it’s something I got used to growing up and once I started competing at a high level, I knew that’s what’s going to come with it,” the younger Martin said to Spears. “If a team don’t pick me and I go into camp, I know I’m going to have to go prove myself and show them what I can do, and that’s how its always been. So, I don’t got a problem doing that.”

“KJ” did get drafted, but being a Second-Round pick means he will have to enter Rockets training camp locked in to get a guaranteed contract because that is not guaranteed when you are selected late in the Second-Round like he was. That is also the case for the young Bailey who did not hear his name called on Wednesday night.

His father said that he knows how good of a basketball player he is, keeping the bias out because he has seen thousands of players.

It is a real risk, especially when you are not drafted that your dreams of playing professionally could end just like that before it even begins, especially when you know you can compete against some guys that are not in your class in terms of skill and mindset.

“To be honest, I’m just trying to get an opportunity,” younger Bailey said. “This is what I wanted to do my whole life because of him [his dad]. He introduced me to the game. So, it would be a dream come true to have the opportunity to do what he did and carry on the legacy.”

One player who will have a head start to carry on their father’s legacy is the younger Anthony who got drafted in the First-Round as previously mentioned by the Magic, especially because he fills their need of starting point guard, which has been hard to come by in recent years.

While many have come to know Cole Anthony from his lone year playing for the Tar Heels and head coach Roy Williams, he and some of his friends were part of a 2013 film called “Little Ballers,” an idea that came from his mother Crystal McCrary that followed her son and bunch of his friends that displayed a passion for basketball.

In the film when Anthony, who averaged 18.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and four assists for the Tar Heels in 2019-20 said of the improvements that he made in his game were his “ball handling, my shooting, my rebounding, and my speed.”

He also said that he planned on playing basketball his “whole” life in the NBA “as soon as possible for as long as possible.”

“Too look back a decade ago to see that Cole is on the eve having this dream of playing in the NBA come to life is surreal,” McCrary said to ESPN.

That life long dream of the young Anthony’s though took a major hit during last season at Chapel Hill when in the middle of December after needing surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus in his right knee that took him two months to come back from.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, which threw a monkey wrench into the plans and preparations for all the players working towards their dreams of playing in the NBA, Cole said he watched a lot of film, which gave him a different perspective on how he plays the game in his mind.  

For the younger Mannion, he tried to see the positive of the COVID-19 Pandemic where it is something the entire world is experiencing and he is just looking forward to getting drafted into the NBA, and is trying to be as “prepared” as possible to take on the highs and lows that will come at the next level.

Anthony told ESPN’s Malika Andrews in a virtual interview from his home in NYC shedding tears that this whole process was something he struggled with mainly because he was going through the first serious injury in his basketball journey. But thanks to the support from his dad Greg, his mom in the aforementioned Crystal McCrary, other family members and friends, which included Academy Award film director and famous Knicks fan Spike Lee, who attended Cole’s draft party in the “Big Apple,” Anthony is ready and eager to play for the Magic.  

“I’m healthy now and I can’t wait to just get out there and play,” the young Anthony said to Andrews after getting drafted by the Magic. “I’m so passionate about the sport, the game. This is the best moment of my life right here. There’s nothing compared to this moment right here…This is absolutely the best moment of my life.”

It is one thing to get drafted into the NBA or go into something that a family member of yours did and was really good at it for a long time.

Greg Anthony, Pace Mannion, Thurl Bailey, and Kenyon Martin, Sr. got a chance to live out their basketball dreams first playing in college, got drafted into the best basketball league in the world, the NBA, and played over a decade at a high level.

Their sons in Cole Anthony, Nico Mannion, and Kenyon “KJ” Martin, Jr. put in the work to make their dreams come true by being a part of some of the best basketball programs in the University of North Carolina, the University of Arizona, Marquette University, the Drew League, and IMG Academy respectively. Anthony, Mannion, and Martin, Jr. got drafted, with Anthony being first at No. 15 overall.

While Anthony will have the truest shot to have a long NBA career, three of the four sons heard their names called on draft night and know they had a team that wanted them. It is now up to them to see how far they can go on this NBA journey, with the hope that Brendan Bailey can get invited to a team’s training camp to earn his way into “The Association.”

If he needed any inspiration, he does not have to look no further than Gary Payton II, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton, who played for 17 NBA seasons for the then Seattle Supersonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder), Bucks, Lakers, Boston Celtics, and Miami Heat, who he helped to win a title in 2006. The younger Payton, who went undrafted in 2016 out of Oregon State University has spent time in the G League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers three times, Wisconsin Herd, South Bay Lakers, and Capital City Go-Go and NBA stints with the Bucks, Lakers, and two separate stints with the Wizards, including this past season.

Then there the example of Jaren Jackson, Sr., the son of the No. 4 overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson, Jr. Jackson, Sr. played in the league for 13 professional for the Nets, Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Philadelphia 76ers, Rockets, then Washington Bullets (now Wizards), San Antonio Spurs, who he help win their first of four NBA titles in 1999 and the Magic in 2002. He also played in the former CBA (Continental Basketball Association) for the La Crosse Catbirds, Wichita Falls Texans, Pittsburgh Piranhas, and Fort Wayne Fury. Jackson, Sr. also played overseas for the ASVEL Basket Lyon-Villeurbanne.

Information and quotations courtesy of 11/16/2020 7 p.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” with Ro Parrish, Greg Anthony, Tom Penn, Sam Mitchell, Chris Miles, and Andy Katz; 11/18/2020 3 p.m. “NBA: The Jump,” presented by Dell XPS with Rachel Nichols, Matt Barnes, Vince Carter, and Kendrick Perkins; 11/18/2020 7:30 p.m. “2020 NBA Draft, presented by State Farm,” on ESPN with Rece Davis, Jay Williams, Jay Bilas, Mike Schmitz, Adrian Wojnarowski, Bobby Marks, and Malika Andrews; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Payton;  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Payton_II; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaren_Jackson; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaren_Jackson_Sr.; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Curry; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Curry; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Curry; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hardaway; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hardaway_Jr.; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Nance; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Nance_Jr.; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurl_Bailey; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pace_Mannion; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenyon_Martin; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Anthony; and  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cole_Anthony.