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Celebrity Pickleball Bash, a pickleball event concept that launched last year, will stage its second event at the PickleCon pickleball conference in K.C. on Aug. 8. Held at the K.C. Convention Center, Kansas City Celebrity Pickleball Bash will feature a celebrity lineup including former NFLer Terrell Owens, former NBAer Tyler Hansbrough and sports content creator Jenna Bandy competing alongside present-day pickleball stars. Tickets will be available free to PickleCon attendees, with VIP experiences (e.g., clinics, celebrity meet-and-greets, floor seats and lounge access) sold separately.
Tyler Hansbrough: I hated Gerald Henderson for a long time
Tyler Hansbrough on when Gerald Henderson broke his nose in college: “People come up to me like ‘Oh hey you remember that game when you had all that blood?’ Yeah that incident… I hated Gerald Henderson for a long time. I was going to get him back in some capacity — cheap shot, whatever. I know people look down on that, but I was ready. It never happened. Years later, me and Gerald — he’s actually a really good dude. I consider him a friend now. We did a podcast together. I like Gerald a lot, so we’re kind of over that. But that incident? People still bring it up to me — ‘Oh hey, you remember that game when you had all that blood?’”
Tyler Hansbrough: “My first year in China, I had a translator the whole time. End of the season, my coach comes up and starts speaking perfect English. Full conversation. He never let on he understood anything I was saying all year. I laughed — it made sense, honestly. He just wanted to know what I really thought without me knowing he could understand. Smart move. It made me realize: I may never know who actually understood me while I was there. I’d be saying something in what I thought was perfect Mandarin and they’d just shake their heads. But that coach? He was playing chess the whole time. I walked away thinking — that was brilliant. Caught me completely off guard.”
Q. Lou Williams had two girlfriends and he had like code names for them and he was very open about this. You played with Lou Williams. Did you meet both girlfriends? Did he bring both girlfriends around or was that like a known thing that he was a polygamist of sorts? Tyler Hansbrough: They sat next to each other at every game. Lou Williams off the court for doing that I mean I'm not sure he could do anything basketball-wise to ever really top that. I love Lou Williams, we were actually in the same high school class. I knew him a little bit but man that was very impressive, his girlfriends they looked I mean they were impressive. They weren't like smoke shows, like it would have been in fact like if he brought two girls like ‘ah you know they're all right but he found something that works’. No these two girls were like model hot and both of them sat at the game and it was just it was hilarious but much respect to Lou, great teammate too.’
Tyler Hansbrough: Honestly, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I put so much pressure on myself to be a good NBA player that I kind of lost a little bit of my love for the game. I wasn’t playing because I loved it—I was playing to prove people wrong. I listened to a lot of criticism and the wrong voices. It’s never good when you’re trying to prove the media wrong or impress a journalist you don’t like by having a big game just to rub it in their face. When I went to China, everything changed. I got to focus on basketball again. Because of the language barrier, I couldn’t understand if people were criticizing me or not, so it didn’t weigh on me. I had a mentor in my life, a skills coach I’d been working with, who completely changed my mindset. It was a huge shift. Not only did he make me a better player, but I also became a different person. My love for the game came back.
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Tyler Hansbrough: "The NBA game has gotten softer, no doubt about it. When I went to China, I felt like I was stepping into the NBA in the '80s. It was physical. They foul you hard, and they go inside a lot more. They’re not just heaving up threes and relying on analytics the way the NBA does. Analytics hasn’t really hit China yet. There’s no load management or recovery time either. If you suggested that to them, they’d laugh in your face. It was a grind—two-a-days, film sessions at night after practice. It was exhausting, but it taught me a lot about toughness. In the NBA, there’s so much focus on resting players, but in China, you’re expected to show up and work. It was a whole different culture, and it made me appreciate the game differently."
When the five-star prospect took a visit to Chapel Hill, he wasn’t greeted with the warmest of welcomes from on notable Tar Heels star. “So I go on the visit, Ty Lawson and them are there. Tyler Hansbrough’s got his own section … I’m the recruit, I walk up and say, ‘What’s up.’ He said, ‘I don’t talk to recruits.’ I was like, ‘F—k you, I ain’t coming here.’ That f—d it up right there.”
Tyler Hansbrough on John Wall: 'I’m sure the bank of Calipari had nothing to do with him going to Kentucky'
Tyler Hansbrough: The story @JohnWall told on @tpinsonn podcast DID NOT HAPPEN! 100% FALSE! I’m sure the bank of Calipari had nothing to do with him going to Kentucky
A photo of the former UNC basketball players who attended the wedding is a who's who of Carolina hoops royalty. The list includes Harrison Barnes, Tyler Hansbrough, Bryon Sanders, Sean May, Deon Thompson, Danny Green, Raymond Felton, Quentin Thomas, and Jackie Manuel. Longtime UNC staffer Eric Hoots also attended.
Kaminsky: The first time I ever played against Boban, we were playing in San Antonio. Tyler Hansbrough was on my team at the time. … And Boban checks into the game, and he’s standing next to him at the free-throw line, and I’m trying to talk to him, but Tyler’s standing there staring up at him, like, This is the biggest guy I’ve ever seen in my life. Literally, there’s a video, I’m standing on that side of the lane trying to get his attention, he’s just standing there, like, [Kaminsky pauses, leans back, looks upwards, mouth agape, miming what Hansbrough looked like].
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Emiliano Carchia: Former NBA power forward Tyler Hansbrough is joining Sichuan Blue Whales, a source told @Emiliano Carchia Hansbrough will be at his third straight season in China
Tyler Hansbrough has reached an agreement with Chinese team Zhejiang Golden Bulls, a source told Sportando. The former NBA forward spent last season in China with Guangzhou averaging 20.8 points and 9.9 rebounds.
Former Indiana Pacers Tyler Hansbrough is expected to sign a deal in the Chinese League, a source told Sportando. It's still unclear at this point for which team Hansbrough will play. The big man finished last season in D-League with Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
Darren Wolfson: Among those taking part in the #Twolves FA camp today & tomorrow: Tyler Hansbrough, John Jenkins, + local guys Jamar Diggs & Matt Janning.
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