Jake: Hey I’m Jake of Body by Jake with your motivational minute! I’m here with Mikal Bridges, Phoenix Suns phenom. How about that, man! Great to see you brother! How are you?
Mikal: I’m great man, how are you?
Jake: I’m doing great! So, drafted number 10 in the NBA Draft – what was it like, sitting there, getting drafted number 10?
Mikal: It was crazy! I mean, growing up you always wish to play in NBA, but like, you don’t actually think you’ll actually be picked top 10. And I mean going through our college, I don’t think I’ll ever be picked, or up to it.
I always wanted to be an NBA player, but never had a vision like that.
But, I mean, it was really cool just sitting with my family, just knowing people who’s been there since I was young, who saw my dreams since I was a kid, and to be there at that time, who was there when you were young and you had that dream.
Most of all, my mom. Our mom definitely knew, just because I’ll come more every day, want to go to outdoor court or go to the YMCA all the time with my friends. Especially in summer, I never was home.
I always asked for some money and then be going playing basketball the whole time or something like that. So, I mean, she knows the love I have for basketball, how much I love it. I could see her face, she’s just really excited.
Jake: You ever have a moment of self-doubt?
Mikal: I think the biggest was my freshman year at high school where I went to Archbishop of Carroll for one year. Catholic school, new people and I was a public school kid.
I grew up all public school, so it was a little bit different and I think the biggest thing for that was they’re really good. So as a freshman to like make like the JV team was like a big thing and you have to actually kind of get invited to it.
I had some friends who were invited to it and I wasn’t invited. So I play freshman ball on the freshman team and I kind of felt some type of way.
My mom always tells me “you know it could be politics, so they know the coaches might know their dad, so they give him an invite” and stuff like that.
So I kind of always had, like, a little bit self-doubt my freshman year just because I thought I deserved, I thought I was better than those players who were ahead of me. That was the biggest thing.
Jake: Was there ever a moment that you said “maybe this is not gonna work out and I’m gonna try something else. I’m gonna be right here where I am today.”
Mikal: Yeah I think always basketball, because at the end of day, I didn’t make JV ball. So on the Freshman team, so I still was playing basketball.
It’s not like I didn’t make it, it was always playing basketball. I think I never had this stuff, that were like I was ever gonna stop.
Jake: Unbelievable! Okay, fantastic man, wow!
