So all of this has been more than me. We've had people tell us to not keep the baby, frankly.". If it happens, he'll count that moment, along with the one he experienced Friday, as two big wins for his hometown. More:Why do the Pacers keep losing close games? In Wardle's eyes -- and having spoken to many coaches on this, many expressed similar sentiment -- here was a kid who was playing for something. Sykes mother called Keifer to tell him what happened, and when she couldnt reach him, she called his college coach Brian Wardle. Keifer Sykes is 29 years old. Johnson has two teammates, Markel Crawford and Trahson Burrell, who are fathers. "So Im very fortunate to have that opportunity. Like Sykes, he opted not to turn pro early despite having a child to feed. So all I wanted to do is take care of her. [17], On November 13, Sykes made his professional debut in a 10482 win over the Texas Legends, recording eight points, one rebound, six assists and three steals in 17 minutes off the bench. Sykes averaged a G-League-high 8.0 assists with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, and Pacers coach Rick Carlisle is confident he can be successful in the NBA, too, on offense and defense. "Those of us that know his story, (it's) very compelling, and this is a culmination of a lot of work and a big dream.". We were all riding every possession and rooting for him, high-fiving each other whenever he dropped in another 3, Mitchell said. I cant do that. "He so reminds me of his dad. "It's crazy, I told my son I'll never play 2K until I get on it, so that was kind of motivation for me. His father, his best friend, was dead. Back home in Chicago, one of Sykes former high school coaches, Shawn Shake Harrington, watched it all unfold in tears. So it's just amazing. "I wasn't trying to map out a strategy to go pro. At the conclusion of the regular season, Sykes was again named first team all-conference, he was named an honorable mention AP All-American, and was named Horizon Player of the Year. What he didn't know was that he wouldn't be a part of it. For his senior season, Sykes had high expectations as he was placed on the Bob Cousy Award Watch List (later becoming a Cousy Award Finalist), the Wooden Award Watch List, and the Naismith Award Watch List during the preseason. He'll do it if it becomes absolutely mandatory, but for now, he refuses to leave KJ. Sykes was the undersized and underprivileged kid who was supposed to be swallowed up by the inner city, broken after his fathers death and discouraged by the countless doubters who told him reaching the NBA was a pipe dream. I didn't have goals to go further. Sykes was waived by the Pacers on Wednesday, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports. Lisa was there with her cancer-stricken mother; James was there tending to his niece after she'd been assaulted in a domestic dispute. The biggest help to me is my wife. Rhode Island and Nevada. 'I told you don't let him go to that school.'". Its a remarkable story, and his story obviously goes back way before the NBA with his rise through Chicago.. Keifer Sykes is 6-0 (183 cm) tall. The 5-foot-11 guard signed a training camp deal with the Pacers but was waived before the start of the 2021-22 campaign. We treat him as one of us. When I first committed, I didn't know where basketball would take me. The two-time Horizon League Player of the Year scores a career-best 36 against UIC, helping the Phoenix win 72-67. And in addition to that, you've got a demographic of kids without fathers, maybe more irresponsible, who don't understand things at a young age and make mistakes earlier.". Without her, I wouldn't have been as successful as I have been this year.". Adding to the growing list of Netflix series about young, rogue FBI agents, this latest one features Gabriel Basso as a man whose specific area of work is the White House. She deserves this more than anybody. I can't wait to see her and hug her.". In the 2017-18 season, Sykes played for Ankara DS S.K. I can't wait to talk to her. Keifer Sykes was born on 30 December, 1993 in Chicago, Illinois, United States, is an American basketball player. Like Bell at Gonzaga, Delaware's Kyle Anderson is a four-year starter. Reach him via email: jboyd1@gannett.com. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Stephen A.: Lakers won't advance beyond play-in without LeBron. They say, 'You don't know what it's like to be on food stamps,' and I say, 'I've been through it.'". His daughter Zarah has just turned six years old on 22 September 2021. The only thing thats changed lately is his platform. So when you see a kid and he graduated (high school) in 2021 on back, and he comes up and he makes it to the league, youll be like, Man, hes so tough. I remember we used to play in the alley, McKinnie said. Sykes signed with Scandone Avellino of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A on August 7, 2018.[21]. We've had them come in as a group and have my wife talking about child-rearing. He's brand new to this game. We put in all that work, and they didn't pay us. The former University of Wisconsin-Green Bay star . We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. It's nothing else but about KJ.". As Sykes sat in the Pacers' practice facility after shootaround Tuesday, he laughed as he reflected on his Italian team, Scandone Avellino, going bankrupt after the 2018-19 season and failing to pay its players their full salaries. His dad is alive, but he's not around and never has been. According to dad, My'Shawn's "not the typical kid who wants to come home and watch cartoons." Most of the deals being completed around the NBA right now are 10-day hardship contracts, but it doesn't appear that'll be the case here, since the Pacers don't have any players in the health and safety protocols and will be waiving a . So whatever dreams they had, she backed them, which is why when Keifer Sykes fathered his son, Keifer Jr., at 16 and daughter, Kennedi, at 21, she volunteered to help take care of them while Sykes went to college at Wisconsin-Green Bay and continued his career overseas always chasing his ultimate goal of playing in the NBA. In thesix years of his professional career, Sykes has played for various leagues worldwide, including the NBA and NBA G League. Assistant coach Jenny Boucek brokethe news. "He's earned it really starting in the summer just with his approach, his work ethic, his level of improvement, which has been gradual and consistent. Basketballer Keifer Sykes is Marshall High' star point guard, Chi-Town follows his ambitions to make it in the NBA while loss, injury, and violence back home in Chicago punctuate his journey. "He just needed somewhere to show everybody what he was capable of. He's the boss.". You can practically hear the smile through the phone as Gathers, who was wearing scrubs that didn't fit his 6-8, 275-pound frame, tells the story. Once my brother left, I went to school by myself. "One time I asked him, and he didn't know. Upon returning to Marshall whose alumni includes "Hoop Dreams" documentary star Arthur Agee, Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverly and two-time WNBA champion Cappie Pondexter Sykes gifted his former coaches and teachers a Pacers jersey as a thank you for believing in him and laying the foundation for his path to the NBA. [7] Sykes and 7ft 1in (2.16m) standout player Alec Brown led the Phoenix to a 245 regular season record and finished first in the Horizon League. And life off the court has been pock-marked with losses and tragedies tied to the gun violence that has riddled the streets of Chicago for a century. He has not revealed his current relationship or marital status. Afterward, he takes dozens of pictures and shakes the hands of nearly 200 people, plenty of whom he does not know. He posted a picture carrying her and wrote a beautiful heartfelt message. Theres a lot of different rules over there. And these (five games) that he's played, he's played tremendously. Breakups, forced relationships, long-distance relationships, fractures between families, money -- these are stresses that, comparatively, make basketball seem so simple. So, he packed his bags and headed overseas, not to the more popular foreign leagues in Europe or China, but to South Korea. I told him, 'Boost me up to 99 right now, and put me against Steph Curry! He played college basketball for the University of WisconsinGreen Bay and his professional career has included stints at Anyang KGC of the Korean Basketball League, Ankara DSI of the Basketball Super League, S.S. Felice Scandone of the Lega Basket Serie A and South East Melbourne Phoenix of the National Basketball League. I remember looking up in the clouds like, My dad is in heaven already? Ill never forget that I was holding myself together until we got to the corner and turned down my block, thats when I was just like, Damn and broke down like crazy. [14] On September 28, 2015, he signed with the San Antonio Spurs,[15] only to be waived by the team on October 21 after appearing in three preseason games. When the family moved into a three-bedroom place on the west side, "We'd have a bedroom, three boys on one side, three girls on one side," Keifer said, "and sometimes the boys would share the couch.". So she was downstairs cooking, and their room was upstairs, so when she went upstairs, that's when she saw that he was passed out. Sykes, who these days has NBA scouts frequently traveling to gelid Green Bay, has previously bypassed chances to turn pro early in Europe. He later joined the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay on a basketball scholarship. So many missed calls from his girlfriend. The journeyman said it was disheartening to come within arm's reach of his NBA dream again, but he didnt stay down for long. These are the guys helping Dawson, watching the little one when he's away, driving My'Shawn to and from pre-K school sessions. The two began dating and created a family out of wedlock. Sykes signed a non-guaranteed two-year deal with a team option for the second season with Indiana on Dec. 27, and the 5-11 guardfound out he'd been retained for his first seasonwhile at the team's practice facility Friday. His performance warranted praise from Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who has repeatedly noted how remarkable Sykes career has been. He graduates in two months. If anything, Sykes being a dad was a positive. Keifer Sykes was clutch in the fourth quarter for Boeheim's Army. It made my heart weep in joy, not weep in sorrow but in joy that, Wow, he really feels that way about me.. However,Sykeswas quickly thrust into the spotlight because of a COVID-19 outbreak within the team that sent Brogdon and Caris LeVert, who had been filling inas the team's starting point guard, into the league's health and safety protocols. 'You don't know who this is?'". I was really on my own and traveling in Chicago for an hour each way each day. Though each situation is different, if there was one player whose circumstances most resembled Sykes', it's Dawson's. In fact, Sykes is technically on a two-year deal, but the second year of his contract is non-guaranteed. This June will mark a decade since Keifer Sykes father died, 10 years of carrying on without his biggest fan. He does, however, remember the last time he saw his father, when James Sykes dropped him off at either a train or bus station to go back to Wisconsin Green-Bay to continue summer classes and workouts. There's too many [coaches] calling me. Sykes, a 5ft 11in (1.80m) point guard, was born in Chicago, Illinois, to the late James Sykes as the second oldest of seven children. The 21-year-old Bears power forward, a second cousin to the late Hank Gathers (who died 25 years to the day of this story's publishing), married his longtime girlfriend on June 10, 2013. I was freaking out. I didnt go somewhere that eased me into it. It was tough, but I knew that might be a part of my journey with me being at a mid-major, Sykes said. NBA News. Some schools turned down interview requests. James Sykes, a former vice president of the Broadway Armory Park association, is buried at Memorial Gardens in Homewood, Illinois. [27], On December 8, 2020, Sykes signed a one-year contract with the South East Melbourne Phoenix of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). "That was the hardest part, telling her, and the first thing she said was, 'She's going to be cute.'". Keifer Sykes would have used his share of the $2 million championship prize to help his Free 10 Foundation and his church. She's going through the same thing these young ladies are going through. I asked a tearful Keifer Sykes (@ksykesyb), whose contract was guaranteed by the #Pacers, how he thinks his mom, Lisa (@Supermom00767), will react when he talks to her.She deserve this more than anybody. I just wanted to run away [from it]. Following his senior year at Marshall Metro in Chicago, Sykes wasn't even considered a top-25 senior in Illinois. SMU sophomore Keith Frazier, who's been suspended for the season, is a dad to a boy who's nearly 3 years old. It's been an emotional journey for Freeman, who went out and bought a few pregnancy tests last summer, and then cried and hugged Kylee as they discovered they'd be parents. Discover Keifer Sykes's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. They last shared space together in 2012 -- at Keifer's father's funeral. "People don't even know the half of it," Sykes said. So I want to be thatvoice for them, and I'm happy to be in this position.". "I wouldn't say that it was planned but I definitely wouldn't say it was an accident," Gathers said of Bria's pregnancy, the climax of which included Rico taking four trips in one day to a Danny & Clyde's po'boy joint while Bria was in labor. Keifer says his first pro basketball check will go toward buying and engraving a tombstone for his father. They're cautionary stories but uplifting ones, too. When was Keifer Sykes born? I see my daughter come out to the world.". Keifer Jerail Sykes (born December 30, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Motor City Cruise of the NBA G League. Im doing what I do as a mom and thats to provide for my children and back them in everything they do, Lisa Sykes said. We had guys on our team trying to feed their kids fast food. INDIANAPOLIS Keifer Sykes remembers every doubter. A lot people were just calling me a scorer, so when they presented me the opportunity to run the team, be a point guard and show that I could help run the organization and prove that I could win, I was excited. For some, this is a touchy subject. Hows your team doing? he asked another. My own agents telling me that I'm not gonna play in the NBA. Sykes studied at Marshall High School, where he started playing basketball. when he's on the foul line. The sport is now, has long been, and will continue to be populated by men who are fathers well before they are emotionally and financially ready for the task. Pictured below, there he is in the hospital with his girlfriend, Kylee, and his baby girl, Maddox, born three weeks ago -- smack dab in the middle of the season. I'm still frustrated we lost, but now I'm like, that's over with. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. of the Basketball Super League. He left a big mark on his teammates. His daughter Zarah has just turned six years old on 22 September 2021. Dawson grew up with a mother who loved him dearly and worked at a local hospital -- the same one My'Shawn was born at -- but there was a wall of fear he couldn't mount. 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