Every NBA player, every athlete, I think once you get to this level in life, whether you have kids or you're about to have kids, understands that this is so much bigger than this sport.
Before we have children, we think most of the parents sitting in sacrament meeting ought to “do something about their kids.” Once we have kids, we think everyone ought to be a lot more understanding about what we’re trying to survive during the meeting. And once our kids are grown, we think, “I never let my kids get away with that.” We really all need to chill out.
Sport for me is about inspiring kids. Here's the rules, here's the play area, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This is all about teaching kids how to approach life. If we're not playing sport to benefit kids, I'm not really sure why we play sport.
I enjoy every second I get in the ring. But there's a bigger picture now and a much bigger purpose to everything, and it's to take care of my kids and my wife and make sure they have a good future.
I think once an athlete always an athlete and once you have a competitive nature about you, in general, it's hard to let go. Whether you're going to take it into medicine or take it into sport, the competitive drive never really leaves.
I think we have to get more kids into the sport in order to grow American champions. And the way to do that is that kids 10-and-under have to keep tennis as their first sport.
Just before I said I wanted to be an astronomer I said I wanted to be a baseball player. I was quite athletic at the time, probably because I was bigger than other kids, and if you're bigger than other kids and you're 11 you win everything.
I think every young man's goal is to be a professional athlete, whether it's the NBA, MLB, or the NFL.
My favorite was always whichever sport was in season. I think these days it's almost saddening to see kids who are 10 or 11 and are forced to choose one sport and specialize in that sport and play that sport year-round. By playing different sports... you become a better all-around athlete.
Look at the NBA players back when Magic and Kareem played in the early 80's with the short shorts, look at what Michael looked like when he first came in the league compared to when he left. Every sport evolves. Every sport gets bigger and more athletic, and you have to keep up.
There's no bigger stage than this, so each and every night, every opportunity I get, I'm gonna try to prove and show the world that I'm the best perimeter defender in the NBA.
I pretty much live about 10 minutes from my office. I have two kids, and I have about 8 projects that I'm working on, so I basically just get up and go to work, and go home every night and play with my kids, so I don't really know.
I don't know about the world, but I know kids. And I feel like sometimes kids don't get involved because they think, what can I do? I'm just a kid. And really kids can do so much.
Every time I see documentaries or infomercials about little kids with cancer, I just freak out. It affects me on the highest emotional level... Anytime I think about it, it makes me sadder than anything I can think of.
What we do with the Magic, it's not just for a picture or an Instagram post; it's about helping kids' lives and having them tell their parents that an NBA player told him something that will stick with them. It's all about the impact that we can make with these kids' lives.
Before you have kids, you just have much less to worry about. It doesn't feel that way, but it's true. Once you have kids, your focus has to change, I think, at least to raise kids right. You can't just focus on yourself; it's too hard.
I've never trained anyone that I haven't known as a child. I knew Kirkland when he was 12. Every one of them I started training when they were kids. This is not about just the fight game for me. It is a sport for troubled children that are drawn to violence and that type of life. Boxing has that violence part in it, but it also has structure and dedication and the whole nine yards. You get that little bit of violence that you were drawn towards, but it can save a lot of kids.