Gap Year

First I called the guy who recruited me.

He spent all that time trying to get me on board

so I let him know first. Boeheim called me, and then

boeheim's like, Darius, you need to think this through.

Little did he know, I'd been thinking

about this for liketwo, three months now. It isn't just

it isn't just I woke up the next day, I'm like, yeah.

I told him, I don't even know how to put this right now.

I'm, I'm not coming to Syracuse.

We have breakingnews here in Syracuse as Darius

bazley has de-committed from the orange.

I'm standing here with Darius bazley, the first guy to jump

straight from high school to the g league.

Darius bazley, let'stalk about this, the

ninth-rated recruit in the

from Syracuse to play in the g league.

We live in a society now where everybody

abides by the rules.

And people don't even know whatthe rules is,

or where it came from.

They just abide by it.

When garnet and Kobe cameout I think people where still

having a hard time, myself

included, wrapping their headaround the idea of a high school

kid going into the NBA.

I mean, to be honest, I don't even really

remember exactly when the pushback

started. I mean, LeBron James is arguably the best player

of all time, and a couple of years after he goes pro we're

going to ban people from doing that?

Why are we considering holding dudes back from making

an honest living when we don't do that in tennis

we don't do it

in golf, we don't do it when itcomes to serving our country?

Well, I, I think at the time, my own view

was that we didn't want our scouts

in a high school gymnasium.

Just what a good look for the NBA to kind of be chasing

around kind of high school kids.

Frankly, I don't know what the difference is between that and

seeing them in college at gyms.

The NBA is saying, well, this is really something the ncaa

could fix. And we have the

ncaa saying, weare powerless because that's an

NBA rule. A circular argument going on there.

But once that rule came into effect, now it's like, all

right. Now, let me, let me

hone in on the college that fits me.

Yes, athletes are paid in an education, the only

currency more difficult to spend than bitcoin.

With Kevin durant, man, we was talking college

because he committed to Texas

and then I committed to the university of Richmond.

Michael beasley was on theteam. Mike wasn't talking about

college. He went from aau to the, you know what I'm saying?

Just because you're a really good basketball player,

doesn't mean you're ready, uh, physically

emotionally and the like to step into the NBA at age 18.

But there is something slightlytroubling about a billion

dollar sports enterprise where the athletes are not paid a penny,

because they aren't. And as thehead of the ncaa Mark

emmert will tell you, they don't want that to change.

This was another way of us assuring

that your pick wasn't based upon

a grown man beating up on a bunch of kids.

Everybody in the environment was like, I hope

that he fail. People hoped Darius

failed because of the system. People hope

Darius failed because he's represented by rich Paul.

A lot of people when you say, love the game, a lot of

people love what they get from

the game. It's a separating factor.

Look at all the top guys in ourleague right now. All guys

performing well. They love the game. Kevin durant right now,

today, will play basketball in this room right now.

He don't care. He just loves the game.

All right. Take one.

Wait a minute, this kid's 16, he can handle, shoot,

athletic and he loves the game? Oh, you know what?

Come on.

I believe college is necessary for most kids. Right?

And most kids aren't one and done.

It was truly about trying to dowhat's best for Darius. And,

when you take on this responsibility, my mind was,

just kept racing about environment

and what is this kid going to do for, you know, the next

eight months and how can I put him in the best position

to where he's not behind?

Give it to me! Give it to me!

He could never have done that. Oh my god!

In addition to Nike, Adidas and under armour,

we now have puma and new balance coming back in,

having abandoned the industry.

There was a time whennew balance was very much part

of the NBA and on the feet of lots of NBA athletes in the

80's the times change. Goals change. Businesses change.

They were in a decent Lane of performance running.

They started to develop a bit of a kind of

dad shoe reputation.

A handful years ago, there was a desire

for the brand to be seen more

as a global sports brand, not just a running brand.

It's hard to be a huge global footwear brand

if you don't have basketball.

I know what Nike standsfor. I know what Adidas stands

for. There's kind of this blankcanvas with new balance

basketball. What are you going to do next? Pphow are you

going to come to market?

Well, de-committed from Ohio state or de-committed

from Syracuse? Oh, I see. Okay.

Uh, and then he de-committed from the g league.

So he's in the de-commitment stage.

In my head I'm like, new balance?

Guys his age don't even get this and I'll

speak to him about how he feelsabout it.

Then that'll help us understandwhat's the next step.

Darius bazley is now participating in what

could add up to a million dollar internship with

new balance.

He's going to be an intern. He starts in

January. It's for three months.

He'll live in Boston.

New balance? Oh, they signed Darius bazley. Oh, that's

pretty dope. He's doing something different.

There aren't that many internships that, where guys

are offered a million dollars tobe anppintern.

He done finessed the whole situation.

I like him. I don't know him, but

I like him. Damn, I should've tried that shit.

As far as just thinking, like, dang you know.

A million dollar intern.

I mean, it's great. But it's like for me, my life didn't

change. You know, I, I'mwearing new balances now, that's

the only thing.

For him deciding not to play in the g league and saying, I'm

going to take a year to train, I thought was the

most fascinating and disruptivething I've ever

seen in basketball.

I do think it's possible to bust your ass for eight

months without being on a team and not hurt your pro

potential, but I'm sure it takes a lot of discipline.

People pay attention toespn. People pay attention to

all these different news sites. They hear

what pundits say. They hear what we talk about.

If you're playing behind closeddoors, you don't have to go

through that. Now that's a giftin a way, but it's also a curse

because we're not talking about you. Now you're an enigma.

The best high school basketball players have

had a level of fame

going back to lew alcindor. What has changed

dramatically is how they get toinfluence it. You know.

It used to be just newspapers

shaped how they were viewed. Thanks to social media,

if a fan is interested they canget it right from the kid now.

Kids are building brands at a lot earlier

stages than we ever thought.

LeBron is a brand, and then Steph curry and Kevin durant

and you name it. The players have moved right in with their

social media, et cetera.

Very good. Breath.

Perfect!

No, I've definitely dealt with young kids like this before

just Darius was significantly different coming straight out

of high school.

There's no question but that 18 is young. 18

is very young. I recall when I was 18

how much I thought I knew, and I now know how little I knew.

At 18, me personally, going straight from high school

to a office environment would, uhh, would be a shock.

You know what I mean? I feel like it would be a

definite culture shock for me.

I can personally attest to the months

and the weeks before

he moved in, people asking me almost every single day

where's he going to sit? Who's he reporting to?

Is he actually going to do work? Is this for real?

We promised him, we promised his family,

we promised rich that it was.

This was going to be a real deal thing. You're

coming to work every day.

Of course you're nervous, you're concerned.

And you get butterflies.

When I became commissioner

we came back to the office, I was an adult,

and I turned around to the guysand said, what are we ...,

and the girls. I said, what do we do now?

"Oh my god, what did we get ourselves into?"

It will be overwhelming for some kids to be, okay,

hi, you've graduated high school. Now you're an intern.

Coming from high school, I'm used to going to school

in a class filled around my peers.

Hi. I'm Jamie. Nice to meet you. I'm really short.

I'm Linda. Great to meet you.

You know, I'm able to like clown around in the

classroom, crack jokes, be on my phone, you know, like,

blurt out certain stuff here and then, so you go to

work, and it's just kind of like...

You just want to be professional, but you don't