Kabongo hasn’t lost sight of his NBA dream
The game long over, his team falling for the fifth time in a row, Myck Kabongo still had a long list of tasks to complete before he left Mississauga on Wednesday.
The Toronto-bred point guard, currently playing for the Erie BayHawks in the NBA’s D-League, had a quiet day against Raptors 905 with two points, four assists and three rebounds to his name. The 106-95 final didn’t matter much to the swell of school-aged fans that had stuck around after the game. The crowd grew as Kabongo posed for pictures with them, shook hands and signed whatever — backpacks, thundersticks, phones, the sneakers off their feet — they put in front of him.
“This is what it’s about, giving back whenever you’re home,” he said after all of the post-game work was done. “Any type of way you can shed a positive light on kids. I was one of them not too long ago.”
He turned 24 on Jan. 12, so it wasn’t that long ago at all. The goal was always to be playing basketball at this age, to be treating those young kids in his hometown well when he came through, to be giving back.
The path to these plans, as grandiose as they seem even at their most attainable — and at one point it seemed that way for Kabongo — is rarely a simple straight line. Kabongo knows that. He’s living it. Erie is his fifth D-League team in three seasons. He landed there this season on a draft-day trade with the Delaware 87ers, who chose him in the second-round — yes, players with previous D-League experience can be drafted; it’s the D-League — of the 2015 draft.
This, of course, follows two years at the University of Texas. His freshman year was a promising one, but his sophomore year was soured by a 23-game suspension from the NCAA for inappropriate contact with NBA agent Rich Paul. With just 11 games under his belt in that second year, he declared for the 2013 NBA draft and watched from the outside as 60 players realized their pro dreams. There was a Summer League run with the Miami Heat that year, then a two-week stay with the San Antonio Spurs. Averaging 6.3 points and 3.8 assists per game with the BayHawks, who are affiliated with the Orlando Magic, Kabongo’s numbers aren’t screaming out to an NBA team to nab him.
Through each stop and each “no” he’s heard along the way, though, Kabongo hasn’t flinched and his dream remains intact.
“It’s just where I’m from . . . I’m an inner-city kid, I have a lot of tough-
“I learned very early in life there are going to be ups and downs. It’s about being resilient and pushing forward.” MYCK KABONGO
ness to me,” he said of his positive approach.
“I learned very early in life there are going to be ups and downs. It’s about being resilient and pushing forward. Everyone at some point in their life is going to have those speed bumps, and as long as you keep trekking away and get over these little hurdles you have, you’ll be fine.”
He sees improvement in his game each year.
“If I was getting worse that’d be a problem,” he said, with a smile in the corner of his mouth. “I’m getting better, and that’s all I can continue to do.”
At six-foot-three and a lean 180 pounds, Kabongo is a capable defender who’s still working on harnessing his speed and fine-tuning his passing game. His coach in Erie, Bill Peterson, loves what Kabongo has brought to the team.
“He’s been through a heck of a lot, and his attitude’s been great,” he said, pointing to a stretch a couple weeks back where he told Kabongo his minutes would be limited because Magic prospects Keith Appling and Tyler Harvey were being sent to Erie.
“He went to dinner with one of our assistants and the next day he was ready to go, he was upbeat, and a few days later Keith Appling got called up,” Peterson said.
“Things change quickly in the DLeague and you’ve got to be ready to adapt and learn. I try to preach that to all of our guys.”
Peterson said he’s up front about what his young players’ chances are and how to take advantage of them.
“They’re not working to get a callup, they’re not at that stage in their career,” he said. “Their next goal is, ‘I’ve got to get on an NBA Summer League team.’ ”
Whatever obstacles await, or however much the road veers for Kabongo, he’s not going to give up on his dreams.
He was on the floor with Raptors’ Lucas Nogueira and Norman Powell on Wednesday. Minnesota Timberwolves forward Adreian Payne was on the Erie roster as well, since Minnesota doesn’t have a D-League affiliate of its own.
“I am (on that level),” Kabongo said before heading back to more people waiting to see him. “I feel like I am, but everyone’s a work in progress. That’s why we’re in the D-League.
“It’s to get better, it’s development, right?”