We had guys on our team trying to feed their kids fast food. As apro-basketball player, Sykes weighs around 175 pounds and stands at theheightof 5 feet 11 inches. Over Indianas past two games,Sykes is averaging 20.0points, 5.5assists and 3.5rebounds while shooting 53.8% from the field, 50.0% on 3-pointers and 85.7% at the free-throw line. So all of this has been more than me. Despite those hurdles, there Sykes was, still standing years later and using his day off before his first major NBA road trip to inspire the next generation. We play them (soon)!'" Bloodman's long been saving for this. I do a lot of camps (in my hometown). And to get back and go to my high school and give my jersey, to see all of the people there the men that helped me become a man, the role models that played a role in my life and inspired me, that helped me I think today was the first day I was able to look up like, Man, its really real.. I remember looking up in the clouds like, My dad is in heaven already? Ill never forget that I was holding myself together until we got to the corner and turned down my block, thats when I was just like, Damn and broke down like crazy. Our dedicated Editorial team verifies each of the articles published on the Biographyhost. At Marshall, we were a basketball powerhouse, and it was a Chicago public school. NBA News. I remember they tried to send me home, and the way they do it is like they give you a week trial run. Like Buchanan, and others currently playing college hoops, BYU's Josh Sharp also became a father last fall. I see my daughter come out to the world.". I thought I was going to pass out, but I stayed strong. And as I have witnessed in recent days, the documentary is being augmented with a videographer. Sykes signed a non-guaranteed two-year deal with a team option for the second season with Indiana on Dec. 27, and the 5-11 guardfound out he'd been retained for his first seasonwhile at the team's practice facility Friday. Waiting. Im doing what I do as a mom and thats to provide for my children and back them in everything they do, Lisa Sykes said. Because a lot of people dont even know the half of what it took for me to be here. Thats my dream, but I know the odds of going to the NBA, so Ill just use basketball to get as far as I can.. In Wardle's eyes -- and having spoken to many coaches on this, many expressed similar sentiment -- here was a kid who was playing for something. "As soon as I could see her a little bit, I was really protective of her, just because she's so innocent and so helpless," Johnson said. when he's on the foul line. It's a dimension some critics didn't realize when they were all too eager to bemoan Dawson's performance in MSU's loss last Sunday at Wisconsin, wherein Dawson had four points and two rebounds. Hed come so close in the past and inched even closer with a shot that turned him into an overnight sensation. A tremendous man," Wardle said. He says there's more than $5,000 of his own cash allotted toward parenthood. The two met in middle school in Louisiana, and remained close friends until things turned romantic midway through high school. I didn't have my phone. The two helped Marshall finish third in the Class 3A Illinois high school boys basketball state tournament in 2010, and 12 years later they were on opposing sides of an NBA game for the first time when Sykes and the Pacers hosted McKinnie and their hometown Bulls on Feb 4. As COVID-19 began to change the landscape of everyday life, Sykes signed a one-year deal with the Phoenix, turning down more money in Europe and betting on himself to turn his stint down under into a springboard to the NBA. Most did. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Commissioner.com is a registered trademark of CBS Interactive Inc. site: media | arena: collegebasketball | pageType: stories | My foundation is about mass incarcerationand gun violence. 10:51am: The Pacers intend to waive guard Brad Wanamaker and sign another guard, Keifer Sykes, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). One of those players already had a child, and the other had one on the way. "It's not easy, for me, but the best thing I have going on for me right now is my wife," Gathers said. At James Sykes' urging, and Keifer's own interest in ending the courtship of so many other coaching staffs, he committed fairly early as a junior. The Pacers' Keifer Sykes.AP "I don't ever want to go through that as a head coach again," Wardle said. Burrell's daughter, Alyson, is in Puerto Rico. I didn't learn that until Igotto college.". He was closer to him than any of his other siblings. Its been a blessing. A young man will ask his boy about his father. My mom's going crazy, and my dad was taking heat. Follow IndyStar Pacers beat writer James Boyd on Twitter: @RomeovilleKid. Sykes is featured in the 2018 documentary film Chi-Town, produced and directed by Nick Budabin. Those are the things people have no idea what's going on behind closed doors with so many teams.". This June will mark a decade since Keifer Sykes father died, 10 years of carrying on without his biggest fan. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,600],'biographyhost_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_1',164,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-biographyhost_com-medrectangle-4-0'); Throughout his career, Sykesrepresentedseveral basketball clubs worldwide like Anyang KGC (Korean Basketball league), Ankara DSI (Turkish Club), Felice Scandone (Italian Club), etc. The child's mother, Cecilia, and members of both parents' families crammed into a hospital room and glanced back and forth between watching a father on TV and keeping an eye on T.J. sleep with tubes and probes keeping him alive. Harrington praised Sykes for his resiliency throughout his triumphant but often tough career. On Tuesday morning, Buchanan got into a car with his father, aunt and uncle and drove nearly four hours to join his team in Dayton, Ohio. All coaches who were asked estimated that more than half the teams in Division I men's basketball currently have at least one player who is father, or a father-to-be, on their roster. If anything, Sykes being a dad was a positive. The night before Averyelle was born, Johnson flew from Tulane back to Memphis, got in his car, immediately drove the three and a half hours to Franklin, Tennessee's Williamson Medical Center, and arrived around 3 a.m. At the time I didnt know that, but he was affirming my greatness. All rights reserved. Dawson's first two years at Michigan State consisted of few visits with My'Shawn during the season. I didnt go somewhere that eased me into it. Buchanan, who leads URI in assists, played in Tuesday night's game against the Flyers, a vital one for Rhode Island's NCAA tourney at-large chances. Sykes had nearly 100 ticket requests for this game, and he will not disappoint the familiars. In thesix years of his professional career, Sykes has played for various leagues worldwide, including the NBA and NBA G League. It's been an emotional journey for Freeman, who went out and bought a few pregnancy tests last summer, and then cried and hugged Kylee as they discovered they'd be parents. I shot that wing 3 against the Bulls,I air-balled. "Just because we're in college athletics, we try to separate ourselves from the rest of the society, and we just can't do that," Ray said. Green Bay's Henry Uwadiae, a 6-foot-11 Nigerian-born sophomore, had a daughter born last summer. The next thing I know I hear the coaches banging on the door. Keifer Sykes is 29 years old. Sykes said his mother will be in attendance for his sixthNBA game and first asaguaranteed player Saturday night when the Pacers host Utah at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Gathers, who's likely to return for his senior season, said his household of three is living off $15,000 per year. She has been the backbone of the Sykes familysince Sykes' father, James, died of a heart attack June 6, 2012. Keifer Sykes' 3-pointer wins TBT for Boeheim's Army. I had a translator the whole time, so I never knew what my coach said, and I never really knew what my teammates said either.. Keifer Sykes plays professional basketball in Turkey, not Los Angeles or New York. Keifer Sykes weighs 180 lbs (81 kg). Even when I was younger, he would just always affirm my greatness, Sykes said. He carried the Phoenix to a 75-72 victory with 21 points and a game-high 10 assists, compared to 17 points and six rebounds from Brogdon. The two remain close, and Harrington said hes thankful the gun violence that changed his life didnt have the same effect on the player he nicknamed Special K., I just started calling him Special K because I knew that kid had something special about him, Harrington said. Sykes' son represents an overlooked and under-discussed fact of life for so many college athletes: fatherhood. Keifer Sykes was clutch in the fourth quarter for Boeheim's Army. So many missed calls from his girlfriend. Simple things, like sleeping patterns. The shoes were squeaking, the coaches were yelling and the kids were smiling. And in addition to that, you've got a demographic of kids without fathers, maybe more irresponsible, who don't understand things at a young age and make mistakes earlier.". It wasn't a happy cry. Having not yet committed to Michigan State, the stress of choosing a college only added to Dawson's ongoing personal strain. Gathers saved up his scholarship checks ($400 per month) and Pell Grant money to help pay Bria's rent, which came to nearly $800/month. The drive was like three hours and I had been on the same trip probably 15 times, but this time it just felt so different. You could be winning and they still try to nitpick at something. I knew my mom couldn't afford college. The best rebounder in college basketball, perhaps the most intimidating player in the sport, is a father. Sykes is from the South Side of Chicago, so he was originally supposed to attend Hyde Park Academy, Simeon or St. Rita, which have all produced pro players. These are the guys helping Dawson, watching the little one when he's away, driving My'Shawn to and from pre-K school sessions. So whatever dreams they had, she backed them, which is why when Keifer Sykes fathered his son, Keifer Jr., at 16 and daughter, Kennedi, at 21, she volunteered to help take care of them while Sykes went to college at Wisconsin-Green Bay and continued his career overseas always chasing his ultimate goal of playing in the NBA. Some schools turned down interview requests. Sykes' relationship with his son is the connection he carries from the one he had with his father, that connection he still feels, but one that inevitably dims with the passage of time. I couldnt tell you that he was going to make a million-dollar shot or make it to the NBA, but from the time he was 13-years-old and getting ready to come to high school, I knew that boy was special., I asked #Suns star Devin Booker about his relationship with #Pacers rookie Keifer Sykes. In that week, Sykes averaged 28.7 points, five rebounds, and four assists per game while shooting 53.6% from the field, 50% from three, and leading the Phoenix to a 30 record. It made my heart weep in joy, not weep in sorrow but in joy that, Wow, he really feels that way about me.. [32], On November 3, 2022, Sykes was named to the opening night roster for the Motor City Cruise.[33]. His father, his best friend, was dead. Sykes said, laughing. [30], On December 27, 2021, Sykes signed with the Indiana Pacers for the remainder of the season. "It's my job to do what my dad did and tell him who my dad was," Keifer said. When I first committed, I didn't know where basketball would take me. Former South East Melbourne Phoenix import Keifer Sykes has enjoyed a stunning rise with the Indiana Pacers, starting at point guard in their 129-121 loss to Brooklyn Nets on Thursday (AEDT) after seven years playing around the world and in the NBA G-League. Keifer Jerail Sykes (born December 30, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Motor City Cruise of the NBA G League. I told them, 'Don't have any babies. "I didn't want to do it. Her husband, James, Keifer Sykes father, was there every step of the way, encouraging him to chase his dream, reminding him that his influence will always be bigger than basketball and instilling values in his son that Keifer Sykes still carries with him nearly a decade after his dads death. Keifer prides his relationship with his son as an extension of what he had with his dad. 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