A Quote by Jahlil Okafor

I've been playing basketball my entire life, so I feel comfortable doing what is asked of me. — © Jahlil Okafor
I've been playing basketball my entire life, so I feel comfortable doing what is asked of me.
I feel like I've been playing, coaching and covering basketball my entire life.
I've always been a basketball player. My earliest memories are of playing basketball. I was born playing it. It's why I'm so comfortable on the floor.
Playing the nickel is something I'm very, very comfortable doing and I enjoy doing, but also, I know what me playing the safety position means to the entire defense.
All I had been doing is playing outside, playing sports my entire life.
When you start playing as young as me, and you've been in front of audiences your entire life, this is literally what I grew up doing.
There have been times in my life where I was asked to do things and I didn't feel comfortable with it.
I can know what Brian Cage is doing before he's doing it because he's doing me. I've been facing the man in the mirror my entire life. That's been my hardest battle is the one where it's me versus me.
I've been doing this playing basketball forever. It's always going to be a part of me. I know that.
The natural thing in Africa is to start playing soccer at 8 or 9. You go outside and you play like kids play basketball here, and you grow a feel for the game. In Africa, the kids start playing basketball at 16 or 17 or 18, and when they get an opportunity to come here, they have been playing for only one or two years.
What am I doing, just playing basketball? It was eating at me. Because basketball, you play, you retire, you're done. I wanted to do something more.
I couldn't imagine not playing basketball. To me, basketball is what life is all about.
I feel very comfortable with my trajectory because I do have a life; I can go on the subway, you know? And I've been able to do that my entire career, and I have friends who are huge movie stars and can't go on the subway, and I feel like that sucks.
But really, I've worked my whole life to become a great basketball player. When I see that jersey go up, I'm sure I'm gonna have flashbacks to when I was 4 and 5 years old playing in my driveway because I loved it. I still love it to this day. It's been one of my first loves in life: basketball.
I played Little League baseball, but I also played basketball. Basketball was my primary sport. When you play basketball seriously, a lot of times, through the summer season, you continue playing. So that replaced me playing baseball.
Whatever pressure I feel all comes from me, from within. I always was that person who was hard on myself and challenged myself no matter what I was doing, whether it was passing third grade or playing basketball.
My father was always pushing me to become a basketball player. In Africa, when you're a kid, every kid loves to play soccer, and I loved playing soccer. But my dad didn't want me playing soccer. He would joke, 'C'mon, man, you're too tall!' Then he promised me, 'If you start playing basketball, I'm going to give you my jersey.'
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