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Working with his father, Earl, a mason contractor, Smith assisted on everything from senior citizen homes to Best Buy and Sports Authority locations—up until he was around 17 years old. Now, starting with a vision that father and son had together years ago, Smith will be opening his own Team Swish lifestyle store, which is slated for the end of the month. The store, which Earl himself began building five years ago, features apparel, footwear and accessories, one of which is Smith’s upcoming signature backpack with Sprayground. “The store is very special,” Earl told the NBPA. “It’s a long time coming. It’s been 15 years since I’ve been working on this project here. And then with J.R. winning a championship, everything came full circle.”
John Wall spent last summer sharpening his acting skills and raising his profile in a skit with comedian Jack Black for Jimmy Kimmel Live and in a Best Buy commercial for Beats by Dre headphones. But Wall either needs to improve as a thespian on the basketball court or stop trying altogether after he became the first player to receive a warning from the NBA for flopping this season. Late in the fourth quarter of the Wizards’ 113-102 season-opening loss to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, Wall attempted to dupe officials into calling a foul by taking a dive during a last-ditch rally in the final minutes.
Last season, John Wall gifted Beats by Dre headphones and speakers to his Wizards teammates. Before the team’s trip to Brazil, Wall handed out more headphones, this time Brazilian-themed pairs. Wall’s relationship with Beats by Dre allows him to be so generous. It also means we get to see Wall in Best Buy commercials, where he dances to Lady Gaga and utters his only line of “Woof.”
Sonny Weems: Guess the NBA guys that decided to go overseas are looking smart right now. I’m still over here collecting checks while others are looking for a job at BestBuy. But hey, sometimes I wish I was in the States watching some football games… My Arkansas Razorbacks might win a national title this year!
West says the book centers more on what he calls "growing up in a very abusive household" in West Virginia than it does about sharing salacious details. "This book is not a book trashing people," West said Monday night at a local Best Buy, which promoted the debut of NBA2K12. "I don't trash anyone in this book. This book is an honest accounting of who I am. Maybe it's a little bit too honest. It was painful to write, to be honest with you. I'm hoping that people who led a very awkward life can take something from this book. There's not a whole lot of basketball in it."
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When he won his lone NBA championship as a player in 1972, West felt uncomfortable basking in champagne and celebrating. When the Lakers unveiled his statue this year during All-Star weekend, he expressed paranoia no one would actually attend the ceremony. And in his autobiography,"West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life" slated for an Oct. 19 release, West says the book centers more on what he calls "growing up in a very abusive household" in West Virginia than it does about sharing salacious details. "This book is not a book trashing people," West said Monday night at a local Best Buy, which promoted the debut of NBA2K12. "I don't trash anyone in this book. This book is an honest accounting of who I am. Maybe it's a little bit too honest. It was painful to write, to be honest with you. I'm hoping that people who led a very awkward life can take something from this book. There's not a whole lot of basketball in it."
The red carpet was more like a Lakers reunion Monday night at the launch of NBA 2K12 in West Los Angeles. Magic Johnson, cover boy for the latest 2K Sports video game, was joined by Lakers General manager Mitch Kupchak, former GM and player Jerry West, Lakers great Michael Cooper and new coach Mike Brown at the Best Buy parking lot where fans waited for the game to go on sale. "It blew me away," Johnson said about being featured on one of three covers. "Any time you can be on the cover, especially because I played a long time ago, you have to feel good about that." Larry Bird and Michael Jordan are the other two NBA greats who have the image on the new game that also features 15 legendary players, such as West and Cooper.
Kevin Love: I'm hoping that my endorsements help a little. My agent is working on my next shoe deal with the Chinese company Peak, and it's crazy how much more I might get now that I'm an All-Star. They're talking four times the value of my deal now, which would put me in the top 10 percent of player shoe deals. What a lot of people may not know about Minneapolis is that we have as many Fortune 500 companies here as any city outside New York. I have some local endorsement deals with Target and Best Buy and Right Guard, and some of those could go national in the next six to eight months. I'm set to shoot some commercials and sign some new deals this off -season. I have to play a certain number of games to get paid on my shoe deal, but on the other endorsements I get paid no matter what. That will help if there does end up being a lockout.
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