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Articles by Adam Figman
THE 30 PLAYERS WHO DEFINED SLAM'S 30 YEARS: Zion Williamson
For three decades we’ve covered many amazing basketball characters, but some stand above the rest—not only because of their on-court skills (though those are always relevant), but because of how they influenced and continue to influence basketball culture, and thus influenced SLAM. Meanwhile, SLAM has also changed those players’ lives in various ways, as we’ve documented their careers with classic covers, legendary photos, amazing stories, compelling videos and more.
THE 30 PLAYERS WHO DEFINED SLAM'S 30 YEARS: Chris Paul
For three decades we’ve covered many amazing basketball characters, but some stand above the rest—not only because of their on-court skills (though those are always relevant), but because of how they influenced and continue to influence basketball culture, and thus influenced SLAM. Meanwhile, SLAM has also changed those players’ lives in various ways, as we’ve documented their careers with classic covers, legendary photos, amazing stories, compelling videos and more.
Portrait of a Leader: Chris Paul on Guiding the Way
In late September, I watched a presidential debate in which two men stood in front of a moderator and brazenly yelled at each other on national television for a couple hours. The lack of civility clearly came more from one side of the stage than the other, but it was still hard to watch the night unfold and not think one thing: This can’t be what actual leadership looks like. It just…nah. It can’t be. I thought a lot about the concept of leadership over the next week or so. You can’t really teach it.
ARE YOU READY FOR ZION WILLIAMSON?: The SLAM 210 Cover Story
Welcome to SLAM CLASSICS. To celebrate #TBT, SLAM will be posting an old, iconic cover story on the website every Thursday. SLAM 210, featuring Zion Williamson, was published in June 2017. — There’s a mural on a wall in the downtown area of Spartanburg, SC. On top of a royal blue background, the words “THERE’S ONLY ONE.
Jazz Rookie Donovan Mitchell is a Ready-Made Superstar
Tap! Tap! Tap! All day long, a young Donovan Mitchell would jump up towards the archway that separated his family’s living room from their dining room at their house in Elmsford, NY, slapping the wall at the highest point he could reach. Tap! Tap! Tap! “You’re dirtying up my walls!” Nicole Mitchell, Donovan’s mother, would yell at him. A decade-plus later, Nicole sat courtside as Donovan flew through the air time and time again en route to a 2018 Slam Dunk Contest victory in Los Angeles.
Q+A: Slim Thug
Some facts: LeBron James is set to officially become an unrestricted free agent on Tuesday, July 1 at 12:01 a.m. EST. The Houston Rockets are among the few teams that will be attempting to sign James and who are said to have a legitimate chance to do so, pitching him a spot on a roster alongside superstars James Harden and Dwight Howard (or one of those two, with the possibility of the other being moved for a third big-name free agent).
#LillardTime
It starts with the breathing. During tight games, immediately following the third quarter or in the midst of a timeout early in the fourth, Damian Lillard takes a seat on the Portland Trail Blazers’ bench. His routine has begun. Ten or so deep breaths, in and out. Then the second-year point guard closes his eyes, concentrating all of his energy on his inner center—either down at his navel, or within his forehead, right between the eyes.
Cavs PG Kyrie Irving Covers SLAM's 2017 All-Star Issue
It’s almost time for All-Star Weekend, your yearly mid-season break from the usual NBA programming, during which the entire basketball (and entertainment, for that matter) industry descends upon one lucky city for a few days of relatively controlled chaos. I can’t speak for…well, anyone, but I love All-Star Weekend.
Russell Westbrook, Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams Cover SLAM 204
Referring to an individual or group as an underdog in the world of basketball is kind of tricky. How can an NBA player ever be an underdog as a tall, athletic millionaire with the fame and adoration that comes with being in the League? But properly fitted into context—and often even without it—there are underdogs all over the hoops community.
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant Cover SLAM 203
MVP Stephen Curry and the Warriors set the League on fire last season, but lost in the NBA Finals. Now, Golden State's revenge tour has a new co-star: Kevin Durant. by Adam Figman October 17, 2016 July 8, 2010. I rode the LIRR into Manhattan and squeezed into a crowded midtown bar filled with bridge and tunnel loudmouths wearing oversized Knicks jerseys and fitted Yankee hats.
HS Phenom Zion Williamson Covers SLAM 210
Here’s a safe bet: If you have an Instagram or Twitter account, you’ve seen 16-year-old high school phenom Zion Williamson play basketball. Maybe not for a very long period of time, but for at least a minute or so, and probably for a bit longer than that. His highlight mixtapes are already the stuff of legend—it’s impossible to look away as he casually dribbles through helpless defenders and dunks all over their souls. He just destroys people. It’s so great.
Q+A: Jadakiss
Assuming you were of a certain age in the early 2000s—between about 10 and, I don’t know, 35?—New York rapper Jadakiss will forever bring to mind a pair of iconic Reebok/Allen Iverson commercials. “They even put a zone in the League to try to stop him,” Kiss rapped in the first of the two, cementing AI’s status as the most unguardable young scorer in the NBA.
Jazz Rookie Donovan Mitchell is a Ready-Made Superstar
All day long, a young Donovan Mitchell would jump up towards the archway that separated his family’s living room from their dining room at their house in Elmsford, NY, slapping the wall at the highest point he could reach. “You’re dirtying up my walls!” Nicole Mitchell, Donovan’s mother, would yell at him. A decade-plus later, Nicole sat courtside as Donovan flew through the air time and time again en route to a 2018 Slam Dunk Contest victory in Los Angeles.
Phoenix Suns Star Devin Booker Is Your Favorite Player's Favorite Player
“If it’s someone that’s under the radar right now that I believe is really, really, really going to be an All-Star in this league, it’s Devin Booker from the Phoenix Suns.” —LeBron James on the Open Run podcast “I love Devin Booker, man … He’ll talk shit, he’ll rough you up. You better watch out for that boy, because he’s nice. He next. I’m telling you.” —Kevin Durant on The Bill Simmons Podcast “I think people just respect the competitive nature,” Devin Booker says.
Exclusive: LeBron James Talks Career, Legacy, and Influence
“Not really that experienced holding this thing—it isn’t too familiar.” It’s Cavs Media Day in late September of 2017, and LeBron James, gripping a basketball, has jokes. Seated on an apple box in a massage room-turned-SLAM photo studio, Bron fiddles with a rock as he poses for the portraits you see above and below, palming the ball the way you or I might control a softball.
2017 SLAM Top 50: Russell Westbrook, No. 3
Here’s a crazy thing that I think about Russell Westbrook: These days, at this exact moment, he is vastly underrated. I realize that might read a little absurd. The MVP of the NBA is underrated?
Duke Big Man Marvin Bagley III Is On His Way To Superstardom
On Marvin Bagley III’s first day of first grade, his father, Marvin Bagley Jr, was dropping his eldest son off at school when he came to a realization: His boy was taller than all the other kids. A lot taller. “Head and shoulders above everyone else,” Bagley Jr says.
Grayson Allen Named Captain of Duke Basketball After Losing Title Last Season
Grayson Allen is a captain of the Duke Blue Devils basketball team once again. Team spokesman Cory Walton confirmed the news Monday with the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com) after Seth Davis of The Athletic reported it. The selection of Allen, who is entering his senior season with the ACC powerhouse, is notable because he was originally one of three captains during the 2016-17 campaign before he lost the honor after tripping an opponent in Duke's Dec. 21 tilt against Elon.
2017 SLAM Top 50: Lonzo Ball, No. 45
The world has been excited to watch Lonzo Ball play NBA basketball for a hot minute. In our case, that began sometime around a year and change ago, when Chino Hills HS went undefeated and the whispers of three impossibly dominant brothers started creeping across America. Since then, the eagerness has only grown—we’ve all happily monitored and/or covered the college highlights, the sneakers, the dad, the brothers, the trash talk, the reality show, the musical opinions, all of it.
Mike Scott Conducts Interview Using Nothing But Emojis
Back when he was on the he Atlanta Hawks, we asked the forward some questions, and he answered them...using only emojis. by Adam Figman April 29, 2015 Atlanta Hawks forward Mike Scott likes emojis. Like, a lot. A lot. He’s got dozens of them tattooed on his body, and they tend to dominate both his Instagram and Twitter feeds.
Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball Cover SLAM 211
It’s probably the weirdest trend on the internet. (Wait—there’s no way that’s true.) But it is very strange. Initially it took place in message boards and website comment sections, and now you see it on Instagram and Facebook—anytime a major account posts literally anything, the race to drop a “first!” in the comments is on. Often just a 1 will suffice. Because it’s quicker, you know? Easier to be first.
16-Year-Old Zion Williamson is Ready to Take Over the Basketball World
There’s a mural on a wall in the downtown area of Spartanburg, SC. On top of a royal blue background, the words “THERE’S ONLY ONE. SPARTANBURG.” are painted in white alongside an outline of the state of South Carolina, with various lines cutting through and connecting at the point in the state’s northern region where Spartanburg lies. It’s a classic small-city welcome, some nice public art that locals and visitors can take pictures in front of to post on Facebook or Instagram or wherever.
HS Phenom Zion Williams Covers SLAM 210
Here’s a safe bet: If you have an Instagram or Twitter account, you’ve seen 16-year-old high school phenom Zion Williamson play basketball. Maybe not for a very long period of time, but for at least a minute or so, and probably for a bit longer than that. His highlight mixtapes are already the stuff of legend—it’s impossible to look away as he casually dribbles through helpless defenders and dunks all over their souls. He just destroys people. It’s so great.
LeBron James and Stephen Curry Cover SLAM 209
I’m writing this on a Thursday night in late April. The tough Raptors just defeated the young Bucks to move on to the second round, and the Spurs and Grizzlies are currently scrapping it out in a dogged Game 6 showdown. I like all of the aforementioned teams. We’ve covered players and coaches on the four of them extensively, and they’re all great groups, filled with fun, likeable personalities.
Isaiah Thomas Covers SLAM Playoff Preview Issue
All basketball-loving kids have basketball heroes. Mine was Nick Van Exel. Then Allen Iverson. Then Stephon Marbury. Though not really one and then the next and then the next. When you’re young, you don’t stop loving a favorite player. You just keep adding other, newer players to the list. Those were my guys—the flashy, occasionally undersized scoring guards who I worshipped as a pre-teen hoops fan in the late ’90s.
Joel Embiid Has The Juice
Joel Embiid and Drew Hanlen drove together to the first regular season NBA game Joel played in. Embiid had been named a starter, but Hanlen, his personal trainer, warned him that it’s going to be a slow progression—Embiid would be on a 20-minute-per-game restriction to begin the year. Still, Embiid had lofty goals. “He told me he was gonna average 20 points per game during the season,” Hanlen says now.
SLAM 207 Cover: Joel Embiid is... Soul On Ice
I know, I know: Rough timing. Hey, it happens. You come up with a great idea, you execute it as well as you could possibly hope to (thank you, Sixers PR) and sometime between the magazine getting shipped off to the printer and the thing hitting newsstands you learn that your new cover star has been declared out for the season with a torn meniscus. Yikes. Regardless, I’m standing behind this one.
Joel Embiid Has Got The Juice
Joel Embiid and Drew Hanlen drove together to the first regular season NBA game Joel played in. Embiid had been named a starter, but Hanlen, his personal trainer, warned him that it’s going to be a slow progression—Embiid would be on a 20-minute-per-game restriction to begin the year. Still, Embiid had lofty goals. “He told me he was gonna average 20 points per game during the season,” Hanlen says now.
Cavs PG Kyrie Irving Covers SLAM's 2017 All-Star Issue
It’s almost time for All-Star Weekend, your yearly mid-season break from the usual NBA programming, during which the entire basketball (and entertainment, for that matter) industry descends upon one lucky city for a few days of relatively controlled chaos. I can’t speak for…well, anyone, but I love All-Star Weekend.
Exclusive: Listen to Celtics Rookie Jaylen Brown's Original Beats
When Jaylen Brown was 16 years old, he attended an OutKast concert in Atlanta. Brown was always into music, but something about OutKast—how musically diverse their material was, the way they carried themselves on stage, the effect their songs had on the audience—had a profound influence on the young basketball prodigy. To this day Brown says it was the best musical performance he’s seen in person, an experience that continues to resonate with him.
Damian Lillard Covers SLAM's First-Ever Music Issue
Those of you who’ve read this publication over the past couple decades likely already know this, but SLAM was founded with the intention of exploring and practically living in the space between basketball players and musicians. In the early days, we (fine: they) would pair up an NBA star and an artist—Allen Iverson and Roots drummer Questlove; Dennis Rodman and Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament; Anthony Mason and The Beastie Boys—and let the magic flow from there.
CJ McCollum's Unlikely Rise to NBA Stardom
In late July, Andrews received a call from her son, Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum. CJ was calling with bad news—it was obvious in his voice. He was down, depressed. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “What happened?” “Ughhhh,” he said, letting out a deep sigh. “We’re finalizing the extension now. Four years, $106 million.” “And she just started screaming,” CJ says now, cracking up.
Russell Westbrook, Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams Cover SLAM 204
Referring to an individual or group as an underdog in the world of basketball is kind of tricky. How can an NBA player ever be an underdog as a tall, athletic millionaire with the fame and adoration that comes with being in the League? But properly fitted into context—and often even without it—there are underdogs all over the hoops community.
SLAM Presents JORDANS Vol. 3 is On Sale Now!
The best birthday gift I ever received was a ticket to a Knicks game. This is weird, because as a member of the basketball media, I’ve now been to maybe hundreds of Knicks games. But this was no ordinary Knicks game. This was March 9, 2003. Knicks-Wizards. Michael Jordan’s last-ever game at Madison Square Garden.
SLAM Top 50: LeBron James, No. 1
The King continues to reign as the undisputed best player on the planet. by Adam Figman October 25, 2016 Hey, we did it. We made it to No. 1. Look, this year’s SLAM Top 50 list brought on a slew of debates. Those are fun; we’re here almost solely for that conversation. But they’re over. Not because we don’t want you to continue arguing about basketball players, but because we’ve arrived at the top of the list. And there’s no questioning the top of the list. Not at the moment.
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant Cover SLAM 203
July 8, 2010. I rode the LIRR into Manhattan and squeezed into a crowded midtown bar filled with bridge and tunnel loudmouths wearing oversized Knicks jerseys and fitted Yankee hats. I was with two friends—one a fellow basketball obsessive, one a pop-culture rubbernecker, there simply to witness the spectacle. And man, what a spectacle it was.
The Perfect Storm: Karl-Anthony Towns
The year is 2008, and Karl Towns Sr, a varsity basketball coach at Piscataway Vocational Technical School in New Jersey, brings his daughter to Piscataway’s Day Park to work on her game. Karl-Anthony, Towns’ son, tags along, too. While Towns Sr and his daughter get shots up and run through drills, Karl-Anthony walks over to the court where the high school boys are playing and tries to get in a game.
SLAM 202 is On Sale Now!
“Every time I’m with KG, it feels like, in my opinion, like I’m looking at myself in a mirror.� “I’ve always said that I want to leave the game on my own terms, finish as the best player that’s ever lived, and do it my own way—never a version two of someone else, but the first version of myself.� Karl-Anthony Towns told me the two quotes above at our cover shoot this past August. It’s a strange juxtaposition, right?
SLAM 202 is On Sale Now!
“Every time I’m with KG, it feels like, in my opinion, like I’m looking at myself in a mirror.” “I’ve always said that I want to leave the game on my own terms, finish as the best player that’s ever lived, and do it my own way—never a version two of someone else, but the first version of myself.” Karl-Anthony Towns told me the two quotes above at our cover shoot this past August. It’s a strange juxtaposition, right?
We Can’t Be Stopped
It’s a blazing hot 113-degree July day in Las Vegas, and the 12 individuals who will be representing USA Basketball in the 2016 Olympics saunter into UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and sit down on a bunch of red folding chairs on the far side of the gym. As a hungry bunch of media members pepper the players with questions, the guys respond softly and slowly, mostly moving at the speed one would the morning after a late night in Vegas. (Same.) But they all look plenty comfortable and plenty proud.
KICKS 19 is On Sale Now!
Today’s sneaker game moves absurdly fast. Every day images of new kicks leak online, events are held to celebrate new drops, shoes are released to retail—so many sneakers, so much content. The volume can get a little exhausting. If sneaker writers worked until they were out of material to cover, there’d be corpses in front of laptops in the basements of parents’ houses all over the world. (KIDDING. Love you all.) This, I’d say, is a good thing. I know I enjoy it. More sneakers? More options? Hell yeah.
Odyssey | SLAMonline
In the middle of January of 1999, Madison Square Garden President Dave Checketts, New York Knicks General Manager Ernie Grunfeld, Knicks Assistant GM Ed Tapscott and Knicks Head Coach Jeff Van Gundy traveled to Milwaukee to meet with Latrell Sprewell, who was in the middle of serving out a 68-game suspension from the NBA after choking his previous coach, the Warriors’ PJ Carlesimo.
Russell Westbrook, His New Sidekicks are Hungry to Prove Themselves
Victor Oladipo sat in the first class section of a commercial flight headed from Washington, DC, to Greensboro, NC, on the night of June 23, 2016. The 24-year-old was traveling south for Chris Paul’s summer camp, where every year CP3 and some big-name guests tutor youngsters who have dreams of one day reaching the level of the camp’s namesake. Oladipo took the trip alone, no friends or family accompanying him, and at some point during the flight, his phone began to buzz.
Coming From Where I'm From
Now, Kris Dunn can look back at the journey and smile. He’s 22 and about to be a millionaire, playing in the NBA. Life wasn’t always a breeze, though. All things considered, it wasn’t that long ago—sometime around late 2002—when 9-year-old Kris and his 14-year-old brother John Jr were on their own, forced to fend for themselves in Alexandria, VA. Their mom was in jail, and their dad, who was trying to find his kids, was totally in the dark as to where they were.
U With Me? | SLAMonline
Mike Taylor was flabbergasted. His JV squad at Marian (IL) Catholic had just lost by 20—a 56-36 onslaught on the road. Right after, a ninth grader named Tyler Ulis followed up the JV game by guiding the varsity team to a win, dropping exactly 36 points all by himself against some poor, unsuspecting opponent. “[Coach Taylor] was like, ‘How do you guys all score 36 [combined], if this freshman on varsity scored 36?’” says Ki-Jana Crawford, holding back a laugh.
Meet the Mastermind Behind Gone Fishin’
Meet the Mastermind Behind Gone Fishin’ A conversation with the Photoshop wiz responsible for Inside the NBA’s most notable segment. The Golden State Warriors’ Game 7 takedown of the Oklahoma City Thunder Monday night marked the end of the Western Conference Finals, and with it the end of TNT’s NBA coverage for the 2015–16 season.
Freakonomics | SLAMonline
Alex Saratis and his client Giannis Antetokounmpo were having dinner in Taiwan last summer when Saratis realized what so many of us would recognize over the following year: Giannis was changing. Saratsis is Giannis’ agent, and the two were in East Asia as part of an NBA tour that brought the Bucks’ up-and-comer to meet with fans throughout China and Taiwan.
SLAM 155: On Sale Now!
With the brutal offseason of 2011 in the rearview, SLAM’s first non-lockout issue in a few months is, for us, a wildly exciting moment. Without actual basketball to distract us or an impending season (or at least one with a known start date) to dream about, the summer/fall of 2011 was a boring lull of nothingness; while the owners and players’ union convened in boardroom gatherings, the SLAM staff did the same in editorial meetings, scrapping up ways to keep the content coming amidst the drought.
SLAM 147: On Sale Now!
I first ran into Amar’e Stoudemire last September, when we spoke in a trailer on the set of an NBA on ESPN commercial. (You know, the one where STAT and Jeff Van Gundy switch places in the RV, and JVG has to awkwardly reposition the driver’s seat.) The Q+A was quick, but it wasn’t his answers that spoke the loudest, strange, or cliché, as it sounds. It was his demeanor.
Adam Silver: Man In Charge | SLAMonline
The NBA Commissioner’s corner office sits 15 floors above midtown Manhattan with sprawling views of Central Park and an attached conference room. The last time SLAM was welcomed to this domain was 2004, when two editors sat with then-Commish David Stern and ran through all sorts of both meaningful and inconsequential league issues. Twelve years later, I took a seat in the aforementioned conference room next to Adam Silver, who replaced Stern in early 2014.
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