Category: Sports

With the NBA off-season in full swing, Wizards’ Bradley Beal has been busy this summer giving back and paying it forward for the DC community, having teamed up with Hoop For All on the latest revamping of Banneker court.

Founded by Ayo Amoo and KB Thomas, Hoop For All and Beal’s collaboration began in 2021 as Beal was not only preparing to run with the eventual gold-medal-winning Team USA (Beal was unable to play after contracting COVID-19 shortly before they left for Tokyo) but was thinking of how he could also leave a lasting impact in D.C. Hoop For All eventually made a business proposal that Beal was a fan of and after they came together for a meeting and agreed to collaborate on refurbishing and transforming Banneker into a cause-related and “Health Inspired” Court.

The foundation began in 2012 during Amoo and Thomas’ sophomore year at Howard. Amoo noticed that Banneker Court, the basketball court situated right across the street from The Mecca, wasn’t being used to host any organized basketball events. 

The absence of anything going on at the historic basketball court led to Amoo proposing that he and Thomas get together and decide to host something at Banneker. The only requirement Thomas had was that they do something that would “leave a lasting impact in the community.”

That summer, Thomas and Amoo brainstormed and plotted out how they wanted their event to go. Those summer planning sessions eventually birthed the inaugural Hoop for Hope 3v3 tournament dedicated to breast cancer. In 2014, Amoo said he used his senior spring break to officially make Hoop For All, a non-profit organization dedicated to using sports to help provide access to health care resources in Washington D.C.

“Us being in those different groups allowed us to know how to organize and put things together. I felt like it was best for us that we put down on paper because we both had mind in mind different things that we wanted for the tournament,” Thomas says. “But when we took that summer and really started writing everything in those composition notebooks, that’s when it started becoming more real. You notice how little the details were about then to where we are now, all of the things we’ve been able to learn, the different programs we been able to put on, (and) different money we’ve been able to give away.

The best thing about (him) and I is we work together seamlessly. We’re always on one accord, like 10 times outta 10. He and I just having that understanding with each other and having our vision and knowing what we wanted to produce out of it is what allowed us to really get over the road bumps. Most of the road bumps we experienced had to do with the time of something going on, but it’s good for us to know so [that] the next time we know how we can avoid things in the future.”

Since then, Hoop For All has continued to thrive in the sports and health space. This summer marks a decade since Thomas and Amoo first hosted the Hoop For Hoop tournament. When it comes to the level of play at that event, Amoo says that after the fifth annual tournament, they went from having a majority of Howard hoopers coming out to hoopers from all over the city pulling up.

Legendary DMV hoopers like foundation ambassador Randy “White Chocolate” Gill came out and won MVP last summer, And-1 Streetball legend Baby Shaq played last year, too, as well as Goodman League legend Christian “Boo” Jackson. Steve Francis has sponsored the event and coached against another D.C. legend, Greg “G-Wiz Jones. Howard alum James “J-Bird” Daniel, who once led the NCAA in scoring, also showed up and showed out at the tournament.

After setting out to “leave a lasting impact” on the city, Amoo and Thomas made another step in paying it forward by teaming up with Wizards guard Bradley Beal to refurbish the historic Banneker courts.

Two years prior to, Amoo and Thomas were granted a contract by the city to refurbish Banneker Courts, but the foundation had to find funding. So the co-founders came up with a plan to work with an NBA player who had a tie with health or a connection to one of the causes Hoop for All is connected to and collaborate with them to refurbish and transform Banneker Courts into a cause-related court where anybody can hoop in the D.C. community.

“So a cause-related court can be anything that spreads awareness to a specific cause,” Thomas explains. “It can be a court that has some sort of significance around diabetes, police brutality, cancer, abuses, anything that you’re passionate about or has affected you or someone else around you. So we started off with Bradley Beal doing our local court here in D.C. — and mental health, and we’re already in conversations with other professional athletes to do more courts across the world. Not just across the country, we wanna make this thing global. I come from a Nigerian background, and hoops is going crazy in Africa. So we wanna take this international as well.”

Beal, the Wizards, and the players union became a part of the refurbishment after Amoo and Thomas learned he was planning to study biology at Florida before leaving the school as a one-and-done prospect. The Washington Wizard guard can also relate to the foundations’ health-related cause to fight diabetes. The 28-year-old guard’s father suffered from kidney failure before he was given a new kidney last summer.

Beal funding the court makeover wasn’t his only contribution to the project, though. Amoo and Thomas came up with the concept, and Beal provided some other notes before S.P. the Plug took over the hard part and painted the final design of the court. The final product featured the foundation’s logo at the center of the courts, surrounded by the ribbons of the health disadvantages they’re dedicated to bringing awareness to cancer (purple), mental health (green), heart disease (red), and diabetes (blue).

The court also features quotes from Hoop For All and Beal, Chuck Brown, the D.C. legend who created go-go music, and Benjamin Banneker, the namesake of the court and the surrounding community center built around the blacktop. Beal’s brand logo is also displayed on the court.

“Me and K.B. we’re talking, and we said let’s allow these courts to target our top health causes that we focus on through our foundation,” Amoo says. “Which are heart disease, diabetes, mental health, and cancer. We were like, ‘how can we do that? How can we put that together?’ We knew that we were gonna use the awareness colors for each of those causes, but K.B. said, ‘let me just get in my design bag, let me just start putting some sketches together.

So she started putting the sketch together while we were on the phone of the ribbons in the middle of the free-throw line, everything; she put the whole sketch together, I jumped in, and it was my idea to put the ribbons around center court. When we talked to Beal, Brad was like, ‘man; I actually love this. I wouldn’t change a thing, but I wanna add some quotes; let’s throw in some more D.C. significance,’ and he just added to the artwork. He has a love for art, so it’s really cool for him to appreciate our initial sketch and then also add to it.”

When the “Health Inspired” courts were finally revealed on July 18, those in attendance weren’t just the kids and fans excited to be close to an NBA All-Star but residents of the city who used to hoop at Banneker back in the day.

“It’s so humbling; it really hit me all at once at the tournament,” Thomas says. “I think that was the best part about it. It going to a composite sketch, a render we had, to seeing it there in person and seeing how excited the community was, it became a full-circle moment. It’s very, very humbling.”

After completing this project with Beal, the Hoop For All foundation has set the goal of partnering with more players to refurbish 100 courts and dedicating them to health-related causes. They also aim to expand beyond just the D.C. area and go global with their fight against health disadvantages.

The 10th annual Hoop For All event will be held at Banneker Court, with the Hoop For Hoop organization dedicating the tournament to targeting rare forms of cancer.

You can donate to the event here.

The WNBA announced the 10 starters for the 2022 All-Star game in Chicago. The co-captains of this year’s competition will be Sue Bird and A’ja Wilson on one team, while Sylvia Fowles and Breanna Stewart will be co-captains of the other team.

The other six starters include Sabrina Ionescu, Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike, Jonquel Jones, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young. An incredibly talented and fire list for this year’s All-Star game. 

It’s a bitter-sweet moment in WNBA history with four-time WNBA champion Bird retiring after the 2022 season. She was the most selected player for the AT&T All-Star game, earning 13 selections. 

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that Brittney Griner would hold a place as an honorary starter. The Phoenix Mercury center has been selected for the AT&T All-Star game six times before and will be there in spirit for her seventh selection. 

The League’s head coaches will vote for the 12 reserve players. Coaches will vote for three guards, five frontcourt players, and four players from either position. The announcement will be made Tuesday, June 28. 

The captains will pick their All-Star rosters on Saturday, July 2, from the eight starters and the 12 reserves that the coaches voted for.  

Shock the system all the way with flames that burns good. Flamin’ Hot® heat from the barbecue. Charcoal alit, smoke straying, embers jumping, flavor popping. Jayson Tatum grew up with that kind of heat. The straying smoke has long carried whispers that it was the Tatum family who originally brought the barbecue flames to St. Louis, MO. Jayson loves barbecue just as much as he loves side-step jumpshots. 

That heat became Jayson’s comfort zone. He’d go from lighting up the competition all throughout St. Louis to hitting up the BBQ joints all around the city. St. Louis is known for dozens of smokehouses, and folks out in the 314 have become linked to a specific way of making ribs. Rather than being slow cooked over indirect heat, they grill their ribs and douse them in hot sauce. Real talk right here: a report came out in 2015 confirms that St. Louisans consume more barbecue sauce than any other area in the entire country. 

Tatum started to get fired up in high school. His senior year at Chaminade College Preparatory School in Creve Coeur, MO, is highlighted by 10 different 30-plus point outings and six different 40-plus point outings. He was already heating up during his time with the appropriately named Red Devils. He brought his flames with him to Duke, where even on a loaded roster of offensive weapons, he managed to catch fire for seven different 20-plus point games in his lone season with the Blue Devils. It didn’t take long for the flames running through him to show up on the NBA level. As a rookie, he helped to lead the Celtics to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the mighty LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

Now everyone could have the soul-awakening flames that Tatum had passed down to him. Everyone, including Ruffles®. It was only right that Tatum’s official Ruffles flavor would be Flamin’ Hot® BBQ. With a spice worthy of Tatum and St. Louis, his Flamin’ Hot® BBQ flavor packs in all the heat he’s been dominating the competition with. 

Ruffles® wasn’t the only major company to notice all the flames Tatum had been burning with. The illustrious Jordan Brand also took notice of his ability to catch fire. They scooped him up in 2019 and started gifting him with player exclusive colorways of Air Jordans. 

This season, as he and the Celtics marched to the NBA Finals, he played in the Air Jordan 36. The silhouette is a technological basketball performance beast. A new upper made of Leno-Weave got rid of unnecessary weight, a full-length Zoom Strobel unit held the foundation, and a hollowed-out Eclipse Plate provided structure and unique real estate for the Jordan team to test the boundaries of colorways. 

A three-way concert kicked off between Tatum, Ruffles® and Jordan Brand. Together, the trio cooked up an Air Jordan 36 PE that honored the long history of Jayson’s spirit. Featuring Ruffles®’ signature blue, white and red, Tatum’s newest colorway boasts a printed pattern and ridge-like finishes across the tongue, collar and heel pull tab. Direct nods to Ruffles are on the outsole and the insole, where “Own Your Ridges®” is written.

The flames got extra hot when Tatum wore them against the Brooklyn Nets in Game 1 of the 2022 playoffs. He shocked the world with a twirling, game-winning layup that brought his fire all the way from St. Louis to Boston.

Want a chance to score a pair of these exclusive Flamin’ Hot kicks? From now until July 31st, Visit RufflesSneakers.com to learn how you can have a chance to win an autographed pair of Jayson Tatum’s Size 15 Air Jordan 36 “Ruffles” PEs.

They both share the same gleaming smile. They’re both defensive aficionados, begging you to bring the ball anywhere near their paint, let alone attempt to score over their outstretched arms. Both of their games have been hardened and emboldened by the craziness at Cameron Indoor. Both were named ACC Defensive Player of the Year. And in June of 2022, Elizabeth and Mark Williams will become the only current sibling duo wearing their last name across the backs of WNBA and NBA jerseys at the same time.

As the children of Nigerian immigrants who grew up in Virginia Beach, the kids took to hoops at a young age. Elizabeth started at age 9, and by the time she was 11, she’d fallen for the rhythm and beauty of the game while sending the ball out of bounds left and right at AAU tourneys. She started working with current Rutgers assistant Nadine Domond around that same time and by 13, she was putting down dunks with ease.

Years spent in the gym honing her bag with Domond culminated in a life-changing letter from one of the best programs in the country—a scholarship offer to join the Tennessee Lady Vols.

“It was like, Whoa, like, this is legit. Like, this is for real. And everything that we had talked about was kind of coming into fruition,” Elizabeth tells SLAM on a late-April call from Turkey, where she’s playing for Fenerbahce Safiport.

When it came time for her college commitment, Elizabeth wanted 9-year-old Mark to be a part of the process. She knew that she didn’t want to take the traditional route of announcing her pick by selecting a hat, so she instructed her younger brother to wear a Duke shirt underneath his hoodie.

After she said those six magic words, “The school I’m going to is…” Mark would unzip his jacket to reveal the school of her choosing printed across his chest. Both of them flash that signature grin as soon as the memory is refreshed in their minds.

“He was so excited to do it. He was like, Yes, this is perfect! He was so hype,” Elizabeth recalls. “And so, as soon as he stood up, his face lit up. And I was like, Yes. Because I just wanted that moment for him.”

When it was Mark’s time to choose his next destination after finishing up at IMG, where he was ranked as the nation’s sixth-best center, the outside pressure for him to follow his older sister was persistent, but E stayed neutral, pushing her brother to make the decision for him, for his game and his legacy. This was his journey.

“She didn’t do too much persuading,” Mark says. “She really let me try to figure it out on my own.”

The likelihood of playing on the same court that your sister once dominated is slim to none. But Mark earned that reality as ESPN’s No. 32 overall ranked recruit in the Class of 2020 and a McDonald’s All American after years of seeing his older sis display the best ways to contribute to a team’s success. “Whether it’s scoring, whether it’s blocking shots, whether it’s rebounding, whatever it was,” Mark adds.

Hooping under his sister’s retired jersey at Cameron for the past two years (Elizabeth played at Duke from 2011-15 and had her jersey raised in 2016), Mark brought the same defensive flair and dominance to Durham that Elizabeth did.

Behind a conference-best 110 swats, Mark enacted one of the most dominant displays of interior mastery in recent memory, averaging 11.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and a fifth-best in the nation 2.8 blocks per game, while shooting 72 percent from the floor.

Things weren’t always peaches and cream as a Blue Devil, however, as Elizabeth remembers Mark embracing the struggles of fighting for playing time on a stacked roster as a freshman. She was tactical in her advice, trusting the teachings of legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff, but also providing insight into how his vulnerability with the program could yield the results he was looking for.  

“Sometimes it takes a little bit of time and a little bit of getting through the dirt. And I think even having conversations with him, seeing his mindset change his sophomore year, and being more consistent and trusting that his work was paying off, I think that’s what was cool to see,” Elizabeth says.

At 28 (Elizabeth) and 20 (Mark), the eight-year age gap that once separated their interests has since fostered more mature, impactful conversations about the situations the two now find themselves in. “I can ask her about a bunch of stuff that applies to her now that I haven’t really experienced yet,” says Mark.

One constant, however, has never faded: the siblings’ love for snatching the ball out of the air in the blink of an eye.

Considered one of the best post players to ever play in the Bull City, Elizabeth—the 2015 National Defensive Player of the Year—was drafted fourth overall in the WNBA Draft that same year. While the siblings struggled to find their footing in the first year within their respective spaces, the Williams family isn’t one to lull around in any predicament they find themselves in.

Months before her sophomore season, Elizabeth was dealt to the Atlanta Dream, where she began her resurgence—ranking sixth in the W with 41 blocks, averaging a career-best 11.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game and ultimately being named the 2016 Most Improved Player.

Four years later, she’d finally be named to her first All-Defensive team  despite ranking sixth in the W’s history and third among current players with a career average of 1.7 blocks per game.

“Whenever my brother gets a block, too, I get so excited because I’m like, Yes, this is you! This is your pride! It’s such a big part of the game. A block can change the game just as much as a big three, so I love that,” says Elizabeth.

As Elizabeth sits in her hotel room in anticipation for her club’s semi-final matchup

in the KBSL playoffs, how far her team advances will determine the end of year bonus she receives—a vital aspect to the everyday W players’ overseas arc. While she hasn’t been present at her new team’s training camp yet—signing with the Washington Mystics in February—she’s stayed in close contact with coach Mike Thibault and teammates like Alysha Clark on the team’s progress.

A seasoned vet when it comes to balancing the responsibilities of a WNBA hooper, the 2021-22 Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year often found herself staying up till 3 a.m. to catch her brother’s games, matching the energy of the Blue Devil bench when No. 15 sent a shot into the third row.

Two weeks after helping propel Duke to its 13th Final Four appearance under Coach K, Mark announced he’d enter his name into the 2022 NBA Draft. He had  soared up first-round boards thanks to his stellar low-post play throughout March: 13.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and a staggering 3.2 blocks in five tournament contests. Currently residing in Miami during the pre-draft process, he’s sharpening his game while refining his outside shot for the upcoming combine. Elizabeth’s guidance on being present in every moment has helped shape her youngest sibling’s perspective on the journey he’s taken so far.

“I like to really just take a step back,” says Mark, “and realize the position I’ve put myself in and really be appreciative of that.”

While an 11-hour plane ride separates them, their individual maturation apart has yielded undeniable growth, as the bond between the siblings has never been stronger.

“Just seeing how much we’ve grown and connected these past couple years has been just really fun, honestly, and I’m grateful for it,” Elizabeth says. “He knows he could text me whenever, I’ll answer.”

As two siblings who fell in love with the smooth pebble grain of the ball at an early age, Mark says the conversations as of late have been filled with hoops. With Mark’s dream of becoming an NBA player just weeks away, E can’t help but prod her baby bro about how he sees himself indulging in the lifestyle of a professional athlete. From the first whip he’s gonna buy to the fit he’s gonna be wearing on draft night—expect a suave look with some flair from the 7-footer—the fun part of the siblings’ next chapter is starting to be realized.

“Like, how cool is it that my brother is about to be drafted to the NBA? Like, that’s freaking dope,” says Elizabeth. “I watch the NBA, [and] he’s about to be in there. And I’m in the W [and] he’s watching me. Like, what is this? It’s kind of mindblowing.”

“I don’t think it’s gonna hit me ’til draft night but, yeah, it’s crazy,” Mark adds. “Now that I’m a part of that, it’s special. It’s pretty cool to be able to say, Yeah, my sister’s a pro, too.”

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Photo credits to Getty Images

The Chicago Sky sent a resounding message that said they’re defending champs for a reason after mounting the biggest comeback in WNBA history on Tuesday.

Despite a 41-point first quarter from Las Vegas and a 28-point deficit, Chicago proved they would be fighting champion after taking down the League-leading Aces, 104-95. The Sky came back after outscoring Las Vegas 53-33 in the second half. Courtney Vandersloot led Chicago’s historic effort with a 25-point and eight assist performance.

“No matter what’s going on in a game, we believe we have a chance to win,” Vandersloot said. 

The historic game was a fast-paced affair that led to a record-tying nine players finishing the night with at least 15 points.

Vandersloot’s wife and backcourt mate, Allie Quigley (13 points and seven dimes) credited the Aces’ playstyle for the track meet vibe of the game and talked about how it felt as they chipped away at Las Vegas’ lead.

“They’re such a fast-paced team and so are we, there wasn’t time to worry about the next play or even the score. It was just, ‘OK, just keep chipping away, chipping away’” Quigley said. 

Chicago’s all-around teamwork helped them secure the dub. The Sky handed out 34 assists, the third most in WNBA history. Among players like Vandersloot and Quigley, Candace Parker had a 17-point and 10 rebounds double-double, and Azurá Stevens followed up with a season-high of 19 points. 

Bradley Beal has spent the past four seasons on Wizards teams that haven’t made the playoffs leading many to question if he will leave the team. On Tuesday, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported that Beal is expected to decline his $36.4 million player option.

However, Beal’s reaction on Twitter painted a picture of confusion towards the report. It should be noted that last weekend, the two-time All-Star told reporters that he has already made a decision but won’t reveal what that is until a later date yet to be determined.

The possibility of Beal leaving the Wizards has been a critical storyline for some time now, even after he signed his two-year extension in 2019.

Beal has spent his entire 10-year career with Washington, holding career averages of 22.1 points, and spent two of the last three seasons averaging at least 30 points per game. He’s played most of his career with John Wall at point guard, then transitioned to Russell Westbrook before the team traded for Kristaps Porzingis at the deadline next to Beal as his new co-star.

If Beal elects to leave the nation’s capital, the Wizards are more than likely to set up a sign-and-trade so that they retain some value for Beal leaving.

A couple more notes before tomorrow’s draft.

• According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (h/t to Real GM), the Charlotte Hornets are hoping to trade Gordon Hayward along with one of their picks (13th & 15th selections) to clear up salary space to potentially re-sign Miles Bridges. Although from my view, this looks like a hard deal to get done for two main reasons. One being health, (Hayward has only appeared in 93 games in two years with Charlotte) and the other being money (owed $30.1 million next season and $31.5 million in 2023-24).
• Keep an eye on projected 1st round picks Jalen Williams & TyTy Washington tomorrow. NBA Big Board’s Rafael Barlowe was recently told by a scout that he doesn’t see Williams falling past the Atlanta Hawks at #16. The same scout also said that Washington could be the last player remaining in the green room.