00:00People are going to want you to stand for many things.
00:03More than anything, a team stands for each other.
00:08Win or lose, you walk on that court with swagger.
00:11You walk off with swagger.
00:15Nice to meet you. How are you?
00:18I'm good, and you? How you doing?
00:20I'm doing great. Doing great.
00:22Just want to know a little bit about your character on swagger
00:25and what draws you to him and why do you enjoy playing him?
00:30Oh, well, Jace is a 14-year-old phenomenon.
00:34He's expected by his entire hood, entire community to go to the NBA and take it, you know, the furthest.
00:41High expectations like that come, you have to be focused when it's like that.
00:46He has a huge desire to be the one that's counted on in his family.
00:52That's what drew me to him the most.
00:53I think a lot of Black men have the desire to be counted on, the desire to, you know, be the one, you know, the man they can call on in the house.
01:04And I think with that journey, it comes with a lot of focus.
01:11And, you know, Jace kind of unlocks that, and I'm excited to see what that does to our community.
01:20Awesome.
01:20And it's interesting you bring that up because I feel like basketball is something that is seen as one of those ways that men in our community can be relied upon,
01:30in a way they can bring money to their family and their futures.
01:33How do you feel about kind of examining the importance of basketball in the culture through this show?
01:40Were you much of a baller before this yourself as well?
01:43Yes.
01:44Basketball reflects society as well as society reflects back on basketball.
01:49I think this show really talks about what happens off the court and how that leads to how these players play.
01:57And it's a really interesting topic.
02:01I don't think the people talk enough about what these athletes have to face outside of their craft.
02:08And, you know, I'm definitely not one of the first, but one of the ones that can push that envelope through the door.
02:17Makes sense.
02:18Now, did you have to do a lot of training for this role or were you already pretty good at basketball yourself?
02:23All kinds of training.
02:24I mean, I my game was my game was cool, but it was not until I got with Reggie Wallace who kind of unlocked this different beast in me by just promoting confidence and bringing so much energy.
02:41And, you know, one thing that Reggie Bythewood and Reggie Wallace both did simultaneously is just allow me to not think about the little things and really count my blessings.
02:54So they're louder than the outside noise that is in my head, in the streets, in the in the social media.
03:03And I think that's a lesson that we're really talk talking about on this show.
03:08And I'm excited to share.
03:11Awesome.
03:11We're excited to see it now.
03:12How hands on was Kevin Durant during this process?
03:15Did you get a chance to meet him, train with him or did he just talk you through this life story and all?
03:21Yeah.
03:22Kevin Durant was going.
03:23He was on a run with the Warriors when we first started and we saw in the finals in Toronto, he, you know, he tore his Achilles and he was nursing that injury for a while and he had to do physical therapy.
03:38And we were all just so taken back by that part of his journey.
03:44But then he came and he said, look, I'm still here with y'all.
03:50And he had a nice call with us and we we've he really encouraged a lot of knowledge of self, you know, the ability to internalize the control you have on life and just energy and confidence.
04:04Just a lot of confidence by just doing the work, you know, simplifying what you need.
04:11You know, sometimes we think these outside, these other influences go into just doing it.
04:18No, you just got to go get it and just that.
04:21So I think that energy is what we brought to set every day, just, you know, constantly promoting confidence and bringing energy and not focusing on the small things.
04:35Spirit of Kevin Durant was huge.
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