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“I thought about (TV), but never thought, ‘This is going to be my path,’ ” said Johnson, who has worked in coaching, scouting and training since retiring as a player. “I think it’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be me in a different light, breaking down the game and explaining it.” During mid-playing career stints in Los Angeles with the Lakers and Clippers, Johnson enjoyed speaking to team TV analysts James Worthy and Corey Maggette, respectively, who helped Johnson embrace becoming a veteran leader for those teams. His second-to-last NBA stop coincidentally was New Orleans, appearing in 26 games and making 13 starts for the 2018-19 Pelicans.
On Thursday's broadcast of the Chicago Bulls-Denver Nuggets preseason game on NBC Sports Chicago, Fenwick High School product Corey Maggette filled in for analyst Stacey King, who is recovering from hip surgery. But Maggette's connections with the Bulls began well before that. Not only did Maggette detail attending his first Bulls game as a kid on the broadcast, but he also shared details from his friendship with All-Star DeMar DeRozan. The relationship began while Maggette starred for the Los Angeles Clippers from 2000-08 and DeRozan grew up in nearby Compton, Calif., before attending USC for the 2008-09 season.
"It was amazing," DeRozan said when asked what it was like to see Maggette sitting courtside alongside Jason Benetti on the call. "Corey was a vet mentor to me. A lot of people don't know that. I spent a lot of time with him, man. I was 18, 19, 20 years old in the gym with him, working out every summer, him giving me a lot of drills and more so just pushing me. Being with a veteran guy that early in my career showed me what it was like to be a pro. "He's always been such a positive figure for me. He got me to understand a lot, not just with basketball but about life. He got me into cars at an early age."
Law Murray: GHOST, featuring Corey Maggette, back at #TheDrew for the last game of the weekend pic.twitter.com/m0Ny3wi7ax
GHOST, featuring Corey Maggette, back at #TheDrew for the last game of the weekend pic.twitter.com/m0Ny3wi7ax
— Law Murray 🎡 (@LawMurrayTheNU) June 11, 2023
The games included a number of NBA veterans, with Jordan joining Walker, Michael Finley, Juwan Howard, Quentin Richardson, Corey Maggette, Bobby Simmons, Tim Hardaway and many more. A 16-year-old named LeBron James even joined in the action. "We treated LeBron like a 16-year-old," Walker said.
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Corey Maggette: As far as with Kobe, you just knew that he was different. He was different. I remember the call that I got from Rob and Kobe. Rob called me and said, ‘Man, you wouldn’t believe where I am right now.’ I said, ‘Where?’ He said, ‘Man, we’re in the middle of the ocean and Kobe is trying to prepare himself for the rigors of the season. He’s swimming with great white sharks.’ I’m like, ‘What?!’ He said, ‘He’s literally swimming with great white sharks.’ I’ll never forget that. He sent me a video of him literally swimming with great white sharks. And Kobe was like, ‘Hey, if you want to get some of this Mamba, you need to come swim with the sharks.’ I’m like, ‘Kob, I’m not coming to swim with no damn sharks, man. You’re on your own with that one.’ It was just a different approach.
What do you remember about the summer of 2004, when Kobe was considering joining the Clippers? Corey Maggette: Honestly, man, the information was very vague. As a player, we didn’t hear much. We knew that Kobe, in that process, talked to (then-Clippers coach) Mike Dunleavy and they were trying to figure out if it was something. But honestly, I thought it was really a scare tactic for the Lakers to solidify himself there. But who knows. It could have (been true). But I always thought, when I heard it, that it was more of, again, the scare tactic for the Lakers.
Before winning four state championships and back-to-back Mr. Basketball awards at Simeon, Parker attended camps where Chicago players he looked up to — such as Corey Maggette, Bobby Simmons and Antoine Walker — worked as instructors. "But the one that stands out for me is the Juwan Howard camp,” Parker said. “That’s why I loved every second of his Michigan hire. I know he really, truly loves the kids. He doesn’t need to coach. But his enjoyment for it and his energy toward it helps everyone around him. “Chicago basketball is a brotherhood. That’s why we need to come back. It’ll be a great summer for kids to have these memories. And I teach them most importantly to have fun. Do everything with hard work and emphasis. But if you’re not having fun, all that goes out the window.”
The woman who has accused Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Justin E. Fairfax, of raping her said that a former N.B.A. player, Corey Maggette, raped her at Duke University 20 years ago and that school officials did not pursue the claim, according to a childhood friend of the woman and Facebook messages the woman exchanged with another friend. Mr. Maggette, who attended Duke for one year, 1998-99, and reached the national championship game, played in the N.B.A. until 2013 and has since worked as a television analyst for Fox Sports.
Mr. Maggette denied the accusation through a spokesman Monday evening. “It has only been through media accounts and a statement from Meredith Watson’s lawyer that I first learned or heard of anything about these sexual assault allegations,” Mr. Maggette said in a statement. “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my life and I completely and categorically deny any such charge.” A spokeswoman for Fox Sports West, where Mr. Maggette is a basketball analyst, said in an email, “Fox Sports takes allegations of misconduct seriously, and we are looking into the matter. We have no further comment at this time.”
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The longtime coach of Duke’s men’s basketball team, Mike Krzyzewski, said after his team’s victory against Virginia on Saturday night that he had “no knowledge” of the situation and that he had learned of it only from news media reports Friday.
Ralph Lawler will call Clippers broadcasts during his 40th and final NBA season alongside an alternating cast of seven analysts. Corey Maggette, Don MacLean, Hubie Brown, Mike Fratello, Ryan Hollins, Cheryl Miller and Bill Walton all will take turns serving as the in-game analyst alongside Lawler’s play-by-play on Prime Ticket and Fox Sports San Diego broadcasts during the 2018-19 season, according to a league source not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
There is an opening in the Fox Sports broadcast booth right now next to Ralph Lawler, and a lot of people on Twitter and Reddit have mentioned your name. Are you throwing your name in the hat? Does the position interest you? Corey Maggette: *Laughs* Honestly, that’s up to Fox and up to the Clippers. I’m humbled by them and fans even trying to consider me for that position. I think for me, in my step in my life and career, it would be a great position. I just got to make sure it kind of fits with the family dynamic. For me, I think it’s more about my kids. Being able to see them more. When those opportunities come up, sometimes you miss out on those other opportunities with your family. Who knows? Who knows what will happen. It could be a great job and to work with a legend like Ralph Lawler would be amazing. We’ll see happens this upcoming year.
Rod Beard: In @big3 news, #Power's Corey Maggette wins MVP and Nancy Lieberman is coach of the year. More importantly, there's a Best Trash Talker award -- and of course, #3HeadedMonsters coach Gary Payton won that.
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