Time and time again the world has seen people destined for greatness fall to undesirable influences. Growing up in a rough area of Pensacola, Florida, Reggie Evans could have easily become one of the people that fell by the wayside, but he persevered and is now using the platform that he has built to give back and help the youths of his community.

In an interview with Nothin’ But Nets, Evans describes the obstacles that he had to overcome while growing up in a single-parent household, as well as in a city that is known as one of America’s most dangerous.

“With the way my life was growing up, you go numb to it. Some of the biggest challenges were just being raised by a single parent and not having that other support system there. Making sure you eat consistently and making sure you have a good meal every day were tough and I got used to not eating. My surroundings just weren’t the best and there were a lot of illegal activities going on in the community around me,” Evans said.

Unlike many before him, Evans did find a way to get out and used basketball to do so. Attending tiny Coffeyville Community College in Kansas that currently has less than 2,000 students, Evans considered the adjustment necessary for him to succeed in life.

“It was a major culture shock because it was a small town and I was far away from home. I knew getting away was good for me though, because I probably would have eventually gotten in trouble at home. That first week in Kansas, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it. It ended up working out really well, though.”

From Coffeyville, he moved on to Iowa, where the Hawkeyes made the NCAA Tournament in his first season with the school. It was a far cry from where he was at a few years, and even a few months before.

“I was nervous because I was in front of 15,000 people and within itself that was a huge challenge. For us to finish the season out and go to the Big Ten Tournament where we were playing in NBA arenas, that was a big step for me and then the NCAA Tournament just took it to a different level. The tournament was a do or die experience, but it was really fun.”

While he established himself as a solid scorer at Iowa, averaging over 15 points per game in both of his years there, each NBA team skipped his name in the 2002 NBA Draft and he was left without an organization.

It wasn’t long before he was able to continue his career, however, as the Seattle SuperSonics were on the phone with him soon after the draft had concluded.

“I felt like that was the best situation for me. I could have went to another team but I felt like the need was there in Seattle for a player like me. They didn’t do well rebounding the ball the year before I got there, so I figured if I went in and gave it my all I’d have a pretty good chance of making something happen. I started working with Dwayne Casey, who was an assistant there at the time, once I got there and put in a lot of work and just never looked back.”

From being challenged to find a consistent meal while growing in Pensacola, to playing in the middle of Kansas to start his college career, Evans had shot up the ladder and even after going un-drafted, he managed to start 60 games during his rookie season.

“I knew that I belonged in the NBA and I just had a never quit type of attitude. I didn’t have expectations as far as starting, i just went in and hooped and made the team and made the best out of the situation. When I started the season in the starting lineup though, it took things to a whole different level. I worked hard to get into that position and to be one of the first guys to start on opening night after going un-drafted really meant a lot to me.”

He had established himself as a reliable rebounder and had carved out a starting role in the SuperSonics lineup by his third year, but in the midst of his fourth, assistant coach Bob Hill took over as head coach and playing time was hard to come by. With that, the team chose to ship him off to Denver.

“During the offseason, Seattle offered me a contract that I didn’t want, so I signed a one-year deal that would make me an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. In that contract, it said that if they wanted to trade me I would have to agree to it and I just thought that it was best for both sides if we went our separate ways.”

He continued, “We had changed coaches and things were going in a different direction on their end, while Denver was going through some injury problems and had a role for me right away. We ended up making the playoffs, so it worked out perfectly.”

He wound up spending the next year and a half with the Nuggets, joining a team that had stars in Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. Despite their regular season success, the team was unable to translate it into a long run in the postseason.

“I think we probably could have approached each game differently with more of a ‘leave everything out on the floor to get a win’ mentality. You can point at a lot of different ways why we didn’t do as great as we should have, but we just didn’t have a winning attitude in each game.”

Prior to the start of the 2007 season in Denver, the team traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers, a place where he quickly became a fan favorite. His presence was a major factor in the team jumping up the ranks in terms of rebounding and it helped them reach the playoffs in consecutive years.

During a game in the first round of the playoffs against the Detroit Pistons, Evans played an instrumental role in the team’s 20 point win that put them up 2 games to 1 in the series and the fans showed their appreciation by breaking out in “Reg-gie!” cheers.

“I had experienced that moment before in Iowa when everyone started chanting my name, but to receive that in the NBA it made me know that people respect what I bring to the court. It’s really something for the fans to be going crazy for you and I was really happy in that moment.”

After a two-year stop north of the border with the Toronto Raptors, Evans moved on to Los Angeles to play for the Clippers. He was excited to be with the team, but it was an interesting set of circumstances that led him there.

“I had a lot of stuff going on with my agency firm at that time and that was just a crazy time. I had talked to some other teams and in the middle of the process, I switched agents so that complicated things a bit, but it ended up working out.”

His stay with the Clippers was brief and he chose to head to Brooklyn and wound up playing with the Nets for a pair of seasons. Much like his previous stops, Evans had established himself as a fan favorite due to his tough play and relentless effort.

“Brooklyn was a great experience. It was cold and it was challenging dealing with the traffic and things like that, but my kids loved their schools and I really enjoyed my time there. I had great teammates and we were a great team on the court, so I definitely didn’t want to get traded but I understood why it happened.”

That trade, which also involved guard Jason Terry, sent him to play for the Sacramento Kings. While he was his regular, grab every rebound self, the reputation of the off-court workings of the organization held true.

“What’s understood doesn’t have to be said. You see how everything is going on, so it really goes without saying.”

Aside from the organizational standpoint, Evans was hit with another blow while he was with Sacramento during the 2014 offseason. While he was 2,500 miles away from Pensacola, his family suffered a major loss.

“When I was in Sacramento, my nephew had been killed so I had a lot weighing on my mind, it was just too much. I couldn’t really enjoy myself fully because I was thinking about that a lot.”

He played well throughout the season despite the tragedy in his personal life and while he was still rebounding at a high rate, Evans did not join an NBA team. That was not due to a lack of interest around the league however, and even with the year off he plans on getting back into the swing of things next year.

“We were communicating with teams and early in the year there was a team that I could have went to, but they offered me a two-year deal with the second being a team-option and I wasn’t really interested in that. With the CBA coming up soon, I would have preferred a one-year deal. We talked to a lot of other teams throughout the year and sometimes it got hot, but it just didn’t really work out as I would have liked. I never got frustrated though and I’m just going to keep working so that when I do get the call I’ll be ready.”

For a physical player like Evans, the year off may do him good as far as his health is concerned and it’s opened up some time for him to be able to spend with his family.

“I’ve been working out a lot and my body feels real good. I had offers overseas, but at this point in my life, I’m a married man with four kids and I didn’t want to make them move or be away from them for that long. I try to look at the positives from this year and I was able to spend time with my family, take a year to rest my body and work on all of the off-court stuff that I have going on.”

Though he didn’t play in the NBA, he has not been far away from the game. He has taken up coaching an AAU program in Florida and hopes to help younger generations learn to play the game the right way. Without the time that he had away from playing professionally, however, this opportunity would have never presented itself.

“When recreation leagues started up, I let my daughter play and I began to see how these programs were run and it was just very frustrating. They weren’t very focused in practice and it was showing in the games, so I began to practice with the girls. Around that time, my son was just about old enough to start playing organized basketball and that’s when I came up with the idea to start an AAU team.”

Evans hopes to help his team develop both as players and as people, and he hopes to grow the game of basketball in his native Pensacola.

“We got everything set up and held tryouts and I’m just going to do my best to put everything into the program and help it grow to benefit the young kids in this community. This is known as a football area, but I want to help basketball grow throughout the whole city.”

In addition to his work with the AAU program, Evans has also formed the Reggie Evans Foundation, which is intended to help give back to communities in a variety of ways.

“I was brought up by a single parent and wasn’t really blessed to have the Jordan shoes and nice clothes or anything like that and I just wanted to give back to the single parents and help with giving them the resources to improve their family’s lives.”

He went on, “It ties into the AAU program perfectly, because we work with a lot of inner city kids where the parents can’t come to games. These kids need an outlet and a good role model to steer them in the right direction and keep them on the right path. I want to get to the point where I can get these kids scholarships, too, so it’s all taking things day by day.”

Whether Reggie Evans ever takes another step on an NBA court or not, he has proven the power that the game of basketball has. He was able to lift himself out of a tough situation growing up and he is doing what he can to help tear down the obstacles that he personally had to overcome.

————————————

Quick Questions

How did you choose #30?

I was #32 in college and when I went to Seattle that number was retired for Fred Brown. I chose #34, but when we got Ray Allen he wanted it, so given that I was just trying to keep my place on the team I gave that up to him. From there, I got #30 and I just stuck with it.

Who was your toughest opponent?

Zach Randolph was never easy to go up against and Shareef Abdur-Raheem was an animal on the block.

Who is your all-time starting five?

PG: Magic Johnson

SG: Michael Jordan

SF: Kobe Bryant

PF: Karl Malone

C: Bill Russell

Not condoning any type of violence, but who is on your All-Dark Alley Team?

PG: Gary Payton

SG: Tony Allen

SF: Ron Artest

PF: Myself

C: Charles Oakley

Best moment in a Nets jersey?

We were playing against the Wizards and I just couldn’t hit a free throw all day. When I finally hit one, the crowd went crazy and all of my teammates were going wild, it was really fun and really one of my better moments in my career.

Favorite team you played with/city you played in?

My favorite team was the Seattle SuperSonics because of the players. All of them were so professional on and off the court and I think it skyrocketed my career. It was not dysfunctional and I had quality guys around me; they helped me grow.

My favorite city that I played in is tough. I loved New York and Los Angeles and Toronto and Seattle and Philly, they all had their own meanings to them. Sacramento and Denver went by so fast, it felt like. I liked Sacramento, but it just went by too fast. I thought I would be going back, they had so many different guys running it that it just went by so fast and it was so crazy.

Who was your favorite player growing up?

Michael Jordan was my favorite player, but it’s definitely going to be different with this new generation. I show my son all of these videos of older players and classic NBA videos, but I spend so much money on Stephen Curry stuff for him. He also loves DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and Rudy Gay, too.