January/February 2020

Slam

Your Source For The Best In Basketball

Slam2 min read
The Sixth Man
The NBA season is rolling along, the college season is a few weeks in, and the high school season will be tipping off over the course of the next few days. So with no specific form of inspiration bringing to life our newest issue beyond a whole bunch
Slam2 min read
Trash Talk
Ayo! Y’all gotta come and check out the basketball program for Bexley, Ohio!!! The varsity team is legit and even tho we’re only in 5th grade, me and my boys got real talent. We the future superstars in the NBA!!! So, please try and make some mixtape
Slam2 min readPsychology
Higher Learning
THERE WAS A 12-by-12 blacktop square and a basketball hoop in David Hollander’s backyard growing up. It was his sanctuary. As he became older and pursued careers in various industries—from law, to marketing, to media, and ultimately, to teaching—Holl
Slam2 min read
Live From The Jungle
“I’M THE BEST HOOPER [who raps],” says Yungeen Ace, with no trace of doubt in his tone. “I’m into it with Lil Durk right now. He’s probably the second best. I don’t know too much about the other rappers. Polo G can play, too. We were on tour together
Slam2 min readFashion
Coast To Coast
FOR LUKE TADASHI, the pages of SLAM are where his love for basketball grew beyond just the sport itself. “[SLAM] was the first place where I connected the dots between basketball having a greater impact beyond just being a sport, but affecting cultur
Slam2 min read
The Opening Tip
THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS had their moment in the bright lights. Actually, they had more than a moment, since they went to the NBA Finals five years in a row and won the championship twice. The Warriors have won at least 50 games every year since 201
Slam1 min read
Since Day One
LONDON Perrantes’ game has a different kind of flavor. There's grit—the kind he gained from playing up with the “big kids” at the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club. There’s an element of smoothness mixed in, an attribute he developed playing under the S
Slam10 min read
Mh Hot
WE THOUGHT we were ready to start shooting. The strobe lights and C-stands were set in their proper positions. The seamless background paper had been unfurled, stabilized and secured to the ground so that when the three Heat players were to arrive in
Slam3 min readBasketball
Shine Like This
SHARIFE COOPER is nowhere to be found. It’s a Saturday afternoon in mid-August, a day before the SLAM Summer Classic at Dyckman Park, and the players are cruising through NYC on a double-decker bus. But Cooper isn’t there. He’s slipped away from the
Slam3 min read
Ready
VER 7,000 miles away from his hometown of Fresno, CA, Jalen Green is looking to start his morning by grabbing something to eat at one of the only shops he recognizes in Manila—Starbucks. Spending a week in March in the capital of the Philippines for
Slam3 min read
Live For This
JOSH CHRISTOPHER is being followed by a group of kids who’ve flooded the court at Dyckman Park. He’s from L.A., but NYC is showing him love like he grew up in the city. They want selfies and shout outs and they want to link up with one of the biggest
Slam7 min read
Ty Iced Up
SECTION 119. ROW R. SEATS 3 AND 4. IT’S 2008 and the Seattle SuperSonics have just relocated to Oklahoma City and rebranded as the Thunder. Rayford Young—a former Texas Tech basketball standout who has now settled in the neighboring suburban town of
Slam7 min readBasketball
Cs With A Purpose
DARNELL SEXTON used to take his son’s car keys. He worried that Collin was training too hard and didn’t want him going to the gym. “He was never a kid that you needed to push,” Darnell explains. “He was always the kid that you would say, Hey dude, ca
Slam5 min read
Og Taking It Out
PEOPLE ASK DEVONTE’ GRAHAM ALL THE TIME: DID HE EXPECT TO BE PLAYING LIKE THIS? AS OF THIS writing, he’s the Hornets’ leader in points (18.3) and assists (7.0) per game. He ranks second in the entire NBA in three-pointers made, trailing just James Ha
Slam3 min read
Eye Of The Tiger
ON PAPER, the potential of Princeton senior Bella Alarie is obvious. The 6-5 Alarie is just as capable of bringing the ball up the floor and facilitating as she is dominating in the post. Her fundamentals around the basket are as sound as her shot fr
Slam6 min read
Court Vision
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I always try to see myself as a student of the game. It sounds silly, but never think that you’ve made it. Somebody else is working out in the gym. Always try to get better. Listen and learn. Watch your veterans. And just always,
Slam3 min read
Bout It
ASK PEOPLE who know about Paige Bueckers’ game, and they will provide long, specific lists of all the things she needs to do better. Tara Starks, her AAU coach with the Minnesota Metro Stars, says Bueckers can improve her on-court communication, get
Slam3 min read
Seeing Is Believing
BY THE TIME Jabri Abdur-Rahim was born in 2002, his dad, Shareef, had already graced the cover of SLAM not once, but twice. The first time came in 1996 as part of the iconic rookie class cover that featured Shareef standing next to Kobe Bryant, Ray A
Slam3 min read
Above All
YEARS AGO, back when they were both still in grade school, Angel Reese and her little brother Julian played together on a rec league basketball team. “We both wore goggles,” Angel remembers, “so they called us the twins.” All these years later, Julia
Slam3 min read
Big Stepper
FIRST IMPRESSIONS aren’t necessarily Chet Holmgren’s strong suit. He was in third grade when he first came out for Grassroots Sizzle, the AAU program that would eventually become his home squad. Everything about that day was forgettable. If only Holm
Slam2 min read
Ju Heard?
THIS ISN’T about rankings. This isn’t about stats. This isn’t about no type of analytics or advanced scouting. Just watch Jaylen “JuJu” Murray play ball and it’s clear that JuJu Murray plays ball. It’s crystal-damn-clear that he’s the definition of a
Slam3 min read
Time I’m On
THE SWIRLING, weaving, pirouetting way that Kyrie Irving dominates the basketball court is, in reality, a visual representation of how his mind works. It’s in nonstop motion, forever gliding through thought and movement, through images and words, thr
Slam2 min read
Switch Sides
“OUR NEW brand positioning for basketball is free to create,” Rashad Williams, Senior Director of adidas Basketball Footwear, says. “And Dame represents that holistically. Not only from being a great basketball player. We know his creative side is hu
Slam1 min readFashion
The First IV
“WHITE CEMENT.” “Bred.” “Fire Red.” “Military Blue.” The first four colorways of the Air Jordan IV dropped 30 years ago. The IV’s legacy is bulletproof. The silhouette was immortalized in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. The “Breds” were on-foot for M
Slam1 min read
@slamarchives
BEFORE THIS SEASON’S Clippers excitement, there was Lob City. Before Lob City there was that time when Mark Jackson dunked off a bounce pass to himself…and shimmied. Apart from that, the team’s (more recent) history had mostly consisted of jokes abou

Slam

More Issues From Slam