Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, coach Tyronn Lue and the rest of the Clippers all have fond memories of the basketball courts where they learned the game.
Years before they stepped onto pristine basketball courts as millionaires practicing a game whose rhythms had long ago become a daily routine, the kids and teenagers who would one day become Clippers stood in the driveway of their childhood home. Or a community center. Or an outdoor park.
Coffey’s sisters, Nia and Sydney, also are accomplished players. The siblings teamed up together at the park.“We were young. This is before organized basketball so it would be all kids, we would be on the same team. It was me, my sisters and two random dudes against five dudes and our sisters werethe whole game, so [the all-male opponents] were all mad. After the game, they gave them their props but they were killing the whole game.
“Playground basketball creates that toughness. It creates especially when you’re young in the league or a young player in general, learning how to get bumped and get hit and get trash-talked. It’s just that environment that creates the confidence to play against bigger people and faster people and being tough. You lose, you won’t see the court for three, four games so that competitive juice gets to flow.
“The high school where I played by [National Junior Basketball], we went to every Sunday or Saturday and played, is probably where I spent most my childhood playing. But I would just say in the front yard; I built the love of the game just playing with friends, that’s how I continued to enjoy the game, hanging out with friends, playing basketball with them and you eventually get older and they all disappear. That’s where I grew my love for it.
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