My mother taught me to always be strong and always work hard. She's been working hard her whole life for me and my brother. I'm a lot like her in that I work hard for what I want. She taught me that.

Nick, You know, The first guy I met when I first got to Seattle, As an eighteen year old, You took me in. You believed in me from the beginning. You knew that I had potential. And every single day I know I could look at you And know that you respect me As a man, As a player, And you gonna ride with me to the end. I thank you.

I don't mind talking about the game. I don't mind talking about what we go through as players, because I want people to get a deeper look inside instead of looking at stats all the time or looking at numbers or just watching the game. I want them to get a pulse on us as players, and a lot of players might not want that, but that's what I want.

It feels good to come here and be a winning program.

It feels good to be a part of history.

I'm going to be me at the end of the day. And I think my family appreciates that. They're happy for me that I'm finding out who I am, and I'm content with that.

I want the younger kids, the basketball players in high school and college to hear from me and let them know that when you come to the league, this is what happens and this is how I feel as an NBA player. And it's not all peachy keen.