This Is Where the Story Starts

One of the biggest lessons I ever got in life came from my dad when I was like four years old.

Something about me, I have a very good memory. Like, I remember being two, flying to London. I remember getting baptized when I was like three or four. Yo, I was dumped in the water. I don’t know how I remember, but I do. I remember being in the little tub at the church, the pastor pushing me under, and the minute I was brought back up and took a big gulp of air, I just busted out crying, dog. Haha. That’s how far back I can remember.

I was born in Boston, but I’m from Brockton, about 40 minutes south. A lot of people come out of Brockton. We got Marvin Hagler, Rocky Marciano, Hall of Fame boxers. A lot of Haitians and Cape Verdeans live there. 

My mom is from Jamaica, and my dad is from Congo. People always say they know my dad’s Congolese when he puts on a suit. That’s one of the things they’re known for. The dancing, the dressing are trim. My dad, man, he got no filter at all. He’ll tell you the truth. My mom is more laid-back. I have two sisters, Samarra and Jasmyn, and my parents made sure we had a good childhood. We traveled everywhere when we were growing up. We’ve been to 25 states. We’ve been to Jamaica plenty of times. Paris, Ethiopia, and Congo.

That’s actually where this story starts — that’s where I got the lesson.

My dad took me to Congo for the first time when I was four. At first, I was excited. I’m just seeing this whole new world. Taking it all in. I ate some good food, got fitted. We went to visit my grandparents’ gravesites, stuff like that. Where my dad comes from, they value the dead. My dad says that when he goes back home, the best part of the trip is visiting my grandparents’ gravesites. There’s a special wine that you buy, and you pour it on the graves to pay your respects. It’s one of the traditions.

I’m proud to be Congolese. I always embrace my culture. The dancing, the fashion and designer suits that we call Sapologie….. It’s tuff. But there’s a lot more to it than that. Maybe you don’t know this, but Congo is a French colony, and any place that started that way has a hard time getting on its feet. They’ve really been through it. There’s a lot of poverty. A lot of corruption. So to tell you the truth, my first experience there as a kid was kind of complicated.

Basically, I just hated seeing poverty. It kind of broke my heart, you know? I was just a little kid. In my head it was like, Wait, but I go to school and get picked up in a car. I have an umbrella when it’s raining.

Some people were walking around barefoot, with sticks and rocks on the ground, and I’m looking down at my feet like, Damn, we have shoes on. 

My dad told me that was just how they lived. 

He said, “That’s how I used to live, too.” 

Just being real, I haven’t been through no crazy hardship. I haven’t had no tragic situations. But my dad really made it out the dirt. He rose up from that and gave me and my family a really good life. I mean, my parents are two immigrants that moved to Brockton and raised three kids.

I’ve just been thinking about that a lot lately. I guess that’s why I wanted to write something. My life is just changing fast, and I made myself a promise that I won’t ever forget where I came from. I’m still a teenager. I scroll TikTok, and laugh at dumb stuff. I fry my dogs in the group chat. My favorite artist right now is Rio Da Yung OG. I’m tapped in with Veeze, Loe Shimmy, Gunna. (I be rapping for fun, but I just be trolling.) Basically, I’m just AJ…… But I also got a Nike contract, you feel me? So it’s different. I don’t know what my future is, but as someone who’s 18 years old, with money in his pocket and hopefully the lottery in his future, I know I’m in a very unique position. I don’t think I can fully even process it all yet because it’s just my life now. But I’m grateful for my parents and how they raised me to be able to navigate this journey.

I remember at the end of my first trip to Congo, my dad took me to visit his old middle school. He packed all these pens and pencils to take with us. Tons of them. And I’ll never forget he was like, “We’re going to give these away because they don’t have, and you have to help people who don’t have.”

“Someday it’s going to be your turn.”

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There were signs my life was going to change.

In eighth grade, I had this growth spurt, where I went from 5’9 to 6’3-ish in less than a year. I was hurting. My knees, everything. 

I have this mirror in my bathroom, right? Every morning, I’m at the sink brushing my teeth, all that, looking at myself in the mirror. 

Two weeks later, I’m looking at myself brushing my teeth, but I could see the top of my head a little bit less. 

Four weeks later, it’s like I can only see my chin.

And then I’m like above the mirror. In two months. Everybody at school like, “Bro.........” 

I would just sleep all the time. Sleeping, eating, and hooping.

I picked up a basketball at five, so I’ve been playing ever since, but I didn’t really take it too serious ’til the pandemic hit.

I remember we were in English class, and the teacher mentioned the COVID-19 outbreak. This was in seventh grade at Trinity Catholic. We were like, “Alright, cool. What does that mean for us?” Two weeks later it was masks. A month later it was hybrid. And then it went full online.

There was nothing to do, so I started hooping every day, doing three workouts a day. There were no indoor courts available, so you were just outside playing with the guys with a mask on.

Eighth grade was an online hybrid year. Same thing. I was bored. I’m so serious. I was just bored. I was like, “Yo, I’m just trying to hoop.” So that’s all I did. And I just started falling in love with it.

COVID made me snap, on God. I went from being a kid who had a pretty normal childhood, not obsessing over the game or caring too much about losses, to thinking about it all the time, can’t wait to get to the court, willing to make sacrifices to keep this thing in my life. I just fell in love with getting better.

Then everything started changing really fast. 

I think with the way stuff pops online, how easy it is to go stupid viral now, that’s just what it was. 

After I kind of blew up my freshman year, I got the chance to go out to Cali for prep school. I didn’t understand what was happening yet. I was just hooping. 

Then I remember I went to a party one night. It was me and my man. I’m like 6’7, and he was 6’5. We walked in, and we were literally head and shoulders above everybody in the whole spot. I’m like, “I’m out. I’m not staying.” I have glasses on, and it’s not working. I was getting recognized. So since then, I’m not popping out to a lot of things anymore. The more kind of “known” I get, the more people look at me all the time. And I’m just like, Bro, I’m like you. The thing is, even if you don’t know me, I stand out. Like Kevin Hart, people know who he is, but if he walks around with a hoodie on, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell it’s Kevin Hart. Me — I’m 6’9. So people are looking at me, regardless. 

Now, I meet a lot of celebrities and famous people, and it kind of doesn’t faze me because I’m used to being the one being looked at. Like, one time I met Jay-Z…. Well, I didn’t meet him. He was standing right next to me, though. I mean standing next to Jay-Z is OD. I wasn’t starstruck, but it crossed my mind like, It’s crazy the fact I’m in a room with Jay-Z. He looked at me, and I didn’t say what’s up or nothing. I don’t really speak first. I don’t be starstruck. I think that’s my superpower.

I feel like the only person I would be OD would have to be like Michael Jackson or something like that.

But even MJ, back in the flesh, I’d just dap him up like, “Yo, you good?”

King of Pop couldn’t even faze me.

I’m dead serious!!!!

I remember I worked out with LeBron James. I was like, “Bro, you straight? Let’s work out.” KD, same thing. KD was like my idol growing up. Now, he’s my guy.

I started getting invites to workouts and stuff like that about two years ago. I can’t lie, I was a little nervous at first going into the runs, but when you pick up a basketball you can’t be scared. When you’re on the court, you’re on the court. I remember I got invited to Drew League. This was 2023. Flew out to Cali. I had a workout run with a few NBA players — KD, Paul George, LeBron, Chris Paul, Tyrese Maxey, all in one week. Working out with pros is different. That actually humbled me. I’m in these gyms forcing myself to make every shot. And they’re just effortlessly not missing.

That lit a fire under me, for real.

Then I played in the Drew, and I was one-and-done. Popped a 20 ball, between the legs dunk, and left.

It’s a blessing to be in this position, to have that access, so I just try to use it to my advantage. I ask for a lot of advice. One day I talked to my trainer, and I was like, “Bro, I want to know about this, this, and this.” And he was like, “You have the resources, hit ’em up.” So I remember I sent a mass text to KD, Tatum, Paul George, Jaylen Brown, LeBron, all of them, and they all responded, giving their different inputs, and I tried to apply it. It was just high school basketball stuff. Like one of the questions I asked was, “I’m getting doubled a lot. How do I read out the double team?” And a lot of them were saying, “Look at the back side guy, or try to get to it quicker, or pass and get a good action and get it back….” It’s common sense, but sometimes you’re not thinking about it like that until someone you really respect says it, and you’re like, Oh yeah, that’s easy.

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Winning gold — there’s nothing like that.

You’re in another country. They playing your national anthem on their floor. 

It’s just like, Damn.

USA Basketball U16, Mexico. 2023.

The team was me, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, Tyran Stokes, Brandon McCoy, JJ Mandaquit, Jayden Quaintance, Isiah Harwell. I’m forgetting guys for sure. That was the first year team. The second year team was like eight of those guys. And then we added Jordan Smith, Chris Cenac, Jaden Toombs, Jalen Haralson, and then last year was the same team, but we added Morez Johnson, Mikel Brown, Daniel Jacobsen. Pros.

That first year, I remember we played Canada in the championship. Throughout the tournament, they were beating everybody by like 30. So our coaches were prepping us the whole time like, “Canada’s really good.”

Whole trip was like a movie. We were riding bikes in the city, eating tacos. It was our first time playing for Team USA, so somebody would always be like, “Bro, we gotta win. We gotta win gold.”

And we ended up blowing everybody out by 30 or more. We beat Canada in the Finals by 82, dog. It was like the record at the time. We were like, “Yo, this is crazy.” I always bring my previous medals from each year, so when we won in July this summer, I had three medals around my neck when they called our names. That was the proudest I ever felt. That was lit. That was the only time I’ve ever been “starstruck,” if you wanna put it that way. And those tournaments were the most fun I’ve ever had. Running the streets in Turkey. Going to gas stations in Switzerland. Chillin’ in the dorms. Those memories are everything.

That’s why I came here to BYU. 

It felt like a place I could make more of those kinds of memories — the ones that last forever. To me, that’s what it’s all about. 

I remember I’d narrowed my list of schools down to seven. I had been posting all my visit dates online, and I guess BYU fans saw that and knew I was coming in October. So they made a whole bunch of posters and stuff. When I got here, people at the football game were chanting my name. The basketball team was chanting my name. They had signs of me all over. And I don’t know, that really sold me. For a kid from Brockton, seeing people show that much love meant a lot. With BYU, I knew I would be going somewhere I was really wanted, where I could belong. I walk around Provo, and people ask for pictures, and I’m always like “Yeah, you can get a picture.” I’m not this huge thing. Yeah, I’m getting more “known.” But I’m not Jay-Z.

I’m so glad I chose BYU. It’s very laid-back over here. I mean, it’s a vibe. And I truly think we can win it all. I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t. I came into this season thinking, We’re going to put in max pain. If we don’t win a national championship it’s a disappointment — that’s how I feel. Just think about last season. Florida won. Nobody will remember that Houston made it to second place. So it’s championship or bust.

Coming back to Boston to play UConn this weekend, I couldn’t help but think about everything that got me here. I felt like I should take a second to reflect and acknowledge the blessings in my life. 

So, I guess that brings me back to my dad’s lesson.

You know, twelve years later, my dad took me back to Congo. This time, he had tears in his eyes. He was crying. Everything came full circle.

“Your turn.”

I gave out shoes, socks, hats, and T-shirts to the kids, and I guess my dad was really touched that I remembered what he taught me way back in the day.

The people who have gotta help the people that don’t.

I know the position I’m in. I’m blessed to be here.

It’s my turn.

–AJ

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P.S.: Right now, my foundation is focused on getting relief to Jamaicans whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Melissa — a cause that means a lot to me and my family. Check out this link to our fundraiser for more information if you would like to help. Thanks for reading.