Kings, Mavericks show some interest in Shabazz Muhammad

For the player whose future everyone thought was preordained, there are, 10 years later, no guarantees. The Sacramento Kings have invited him in for a Vegas workout; they’re in need of a wing. The Mavericks, he says, have made some overtures. He hopes they see his commitment to his body (“He looks great,’’ Howland says. “He really got his body right.’’ ), his footwork, his offense. But Muhammad believes his greatest asset isn’t going to show up on a court. It’s his story and his circuitous path. His experiences, and the humility gained by them, have taught him how to be a better teammate and even more, the value of being a good teammate. By just being in a locker room, he can help younger players. Let them see his appreciation for a second chance, how hard he’s worked and how far he’s traveled just to make it back. Maybe then they’ll understand what he didn’t all those years ago, that there is a difference between merely arriving and succeeding, and that there is no such thing as can’t miss.
Source: Dana O’Neil @ The Athletic

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More on this storyline

 

He was self-evident. The “once-in-a-generation talent’’ made varsity as a high school freshman, earned McDonald’s All-America honors, and 10 years ago arrived at UCLA as the top-ranked player (tied with Nerlens Noel) in his class, a sure-thing, can’t-miss NBA prospect. He wound up selected 14th, lower than expected but still a lottery pick, his rights traded on draft night 2013 to Minnesota. “I thought,’’ his college coach, Ben Howland, says, “he’d be a 10-year pro.’’ -via The Athletic / July 14, 2022

Instead Muhammad hasn’t stepped foot on an NBA court since 2018, and last year played for a team called the San Miguel Beermen in the Philipines. It is not, contrary to its name, a beer league team but the Philippines Basketball Association is not the EuroLeague, either. The Beermen bowed out in the quarterfinals. “Humbled,’’ Muhammad said recently, chatting by phone after a workout. “I’ve definitely been humbled.’’ -via The Athletic / July 14, 2022

So how does a can’t-miss player miss? It’s often — and in Muhammad’s case — little things. Not a major transgression, but a combination of immaturity, a total lack of self-awareness and way too much self-entitlement. It’s easy to mush that all together and simply call it arrogance, and no doubt there is some hubris involved. The NBA never dangled in front of Muhammad like some tantalizing carrot, or teased like an impossible dream. It felt preordained, his destiny — even though such a thing can never be preordained or destined. His father, Ronald Holmes, admitted that he practically groomed his middle son for a pro career. A former player at USC, Holmes told the Los Angeles Times in 2013 that when he met his future wife, Faye Paige, a point guard and track athlete at Long Beach State, he told a friend, ‘We’re going to make some All-Americans.’ -via The Athletic / July 14, 2022