Back From a Debilitating Illness, Kris Wilkes Is Ready for His Chance

“At first, just like anything else, you get the nerves,” he said. “But once you start playing, for me, it’s all natural. It’s instincts.”

“I played hard and competed, and eventually people just started looking at me like a regular player on the court, which was awesome,” he added.

On various days, he played with Atlanta’s De’Andre Hunter, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dallas’s Spencer Dinwiddie. But what stood out most for Wilkes was the day the Nets star Kevin Durant came into the gym. Even some of the other N.B.A. players there that day asked for photos, but Wilkes didn’t want to be distracted by Durant’s celebrity.

“I reminded myself: He’s got what I want,” Wilkes said. “And for me to get it, I had to prove that I belonged on the same court as him. That’s what I did.”

As the summer ended, Wilkes felt more confident than ever that a comeback was possible. As he builds toward that, he is also working on Origyn Sport, a business he started with his insurance money that created a training basketball. Videos of him using it have millions of views on TikTok.

But professional basketball is never far from his mind.

“My doctors told me I might not be able to walk again, and here I am in the gym every day,” he said. “Everything was taken away from me, so every time I get something back, it’s a blessing. When someone is ready to give me another chance to play basketball, believe me: I’ll be ready.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/24/sports/kris-wilkes-basketball-draft-ucla.html