Really?

Like, [clears throat] 'cause you realize, I never thought it was possible, outside of my, my mom and sister and my pops, right? Like, I never thought it was possible to love somebody as much as I love the game of basketball.

Like, I never thought that was a thing.

So when we came, she came into my life and she became a priority, and now I'm sitting here, like, you know, like, I don't wanna be without this person.

Like, I'm telling my friends, like, you know, "What's going on?" Like, why do I feel this way, right? And that's when I knew, you know, that's when my, my older friends would tell me, like, "Yo, that's how you know, right? Like, you know you found the one that you, you wanna be with." Um, and then from there, once I got past that, it was no, I'm not, I'm not nervous about it at all, because what I realize is this is a game.

You play, I train hard.

Doesn't take away from my, what I do, right? If someone drains you and takes you away from what your main job is, that's a detriment to your career, right?

What do you want them to know?

What was the early years of Utah like? What was you doing, video games and shit?

I ain't gonna lie.

Nah, I just got drafted.

I'm a, I'm a, I'm a millionaire.

I'm not even...

Like, in my brain, when I tell this story all the time, like, I would, I didn't think I was gonna be in the league, right? I didn't think I was gonna be playing basketball in the NBA.

I thought I was gonna be a baseball player, so within four years, my life went from high school baseball to now you an NBA player, like that.

Yeah.

What was the early years of Utah like? What was you doing, video games and shit?

I ain't gonna lie.

Nah, I just got drafted.

I'm a, I'm a, I'm a millionaire.

I'm not even, like in my brain, when I tell this story all the time, like I wa- I didn't think I was gonna be in the league, right? I didn't think I was gonna be playing basketball in the NBA.

I thought I was gonna be a baseball player.

So within four years, my life went from high school baseball to now you an NBA player, like that.

Yeah.

Columbia?

Columbia.

She, she's big time.

Like, everybody looks at me and it's like, what my mom has done for me, but I, uh, she, she's done for the both of us.

Like, the both of them have sacrificed so much for me to even be in this position, you know? And like I said, there was no guarantee of a return on investment, so to speak.

Like, you know what I mean? It was just like, how can we, how can she, you know, help us be the best, whether it's education, you know, being in debt, trying to get the private school, like, you know what I'm saying? Driving everywhere on the weekends.

We go play ba- basketball game at, on Friday in the city, and they have to go through New Jersey to go to Teaneck to play baseball the same afternoon.

How is that process?

What are the things that, that when you assessed yourself after the playoffs ended last year, entering the summer, what were the things that you thought, "Okay, I need to get better at this"? So what did you work on this off-season?

Um, I mean, I talk about it every year, but, like, my efficiency, right? And I don't mean necessarily, "Oh, I gotta shoot 70% from the field, 45 from three." Like, that obviously would be fantastic.

But I think, um, my biggest thing is it's the little things.

Like, this year, we talked about playing fast, but it's not always with the dribble, right? A kick ahead.

You know, letting, letting somebody create, and then I benefit off of that.

Or they may create and be able to go ahead and score, right? Like, being able to find ways to make the game easy.

And I think last year, I took a step in that direction.

... to pace the whole year?

the top eight teams in both conferences.

I think it's good from a viewing standpoint, from like an intensity standpoint, from a...

You know, every game.

Like you look at the last game, the Warriors-Clippers, like all eyes were on that game.

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like...

So I think from that standpoint, it's phenomenal.

Um, as a one and two seed, not so much, 'cause then we gotta wait till Friday to kinda figure out what we doing.

I was about to say, yeah.