Markus Black happened to wake up early this morning. Not even the sun appears to be awake — if it is, it’s hiding behind the gray clouds dimming the Nashville sky. No matter. He’s up now. Why not get this crucial day started a little earlier than usual?
He grabs his important belongings and leaves his hotel room. As he heads down, the graduate assistant for the University of Arkansas men’s basketball program still can’t see any of his team’s players, coaches, or coworkers. Not until he reaches the lobby. There, Markus notices the six-foot-eight freshman and the fluffy hair covering his head like a lampshade.
Markus greets Anthony Black and asks what he’s up to. With his shy smile, Anthony tells him that he’s getting ready to go for a walk—nothing unusual for the ever-early riser, especially on game days. And for a March morning like today, the morning before the underdog Razorbacks challenge Texas A&M in the 2023 SEC Tournament quarterfinal, a walk does sound nice. Markus thinks so too, so he asks if he can join him. Anthony tells him that he can. Once the two finish breakfast, they exit the hotel and embark on their walk underneath the gloomy clouds.
Anthony talks with Markus about basketball, college life, and his family during this walk. He gushes about his younger brother, Beckham. The two have been extremely close ever since Beckham was born. Anthony says Beckham is way ahead of where he was at that age as a basketball player. He even says his little bro could end up becoming the best hooper in the family one day.
Anthony also talks about his mother, Jennifer. His rock. The woman who gave Anthony many of his most defining traits. His athletic gifts? They were partially from Jennifer, who played soccer at Baylor University and the University of Texas. The skill he shows on the court? His mother found ways to attend games and afford expensive programs and opportunities. His desire to help out his communities? That could stem from all of the early Sunday mornings he spent with Jennifer and Beckham under the bridge near their home in Coppell, Texas, where they would offer food to the many homeless people who took refuge there.
His insatiable work ethic? That was also Jennifer’s doing. She helped Anthony stay the course that would let him pursue his lofty athletic goals. That course required declining invitations to birthday parties and spending those extra few hours in the gym. Those hours would be worth it if he could spend years playing inside professional stadiums. Anthony and Jennifer knew those stadiums weren’t an easy fifteen minutes away. The ride to make it there lasts for several years, perhaps even decades. It can make you carsick and force you to pull over from time to time. It may even make you wonder if this destination even exists, or if you’ll even be let in when you arrive. Those fears only get worse if you look away from the road and at the vehicle in the other lanes passing you by.
The best way to prevent those things from happening is to keep moving forward. So Jennifer made sure that Anthony did not stop moving.
“Looking back, I tell him now I was probably a little too hard on him, to be honest,” Jennifer said. “But there are certain things we demand. It’s not excellence, it’s not perfection, but it is being perfect with your attitude. It’s being perfect with your work ethic.”
Which stadium did Anthony want to journey towards? As a kid, he could take his pick. He had a real talent for soccer. Jennifer thought he could go pro in baseball at one point. College football scouts admired his skill on the gridiron, and they would even offer him scholarships to catch touchdown passes in their program’s uniforms.
Anthony would ultimately set his sights on Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. That’s the stadium where the NBA Draft is held every year. Anthony dreamed of hearing the NBA commissioner call his name. He wanted to complement his fancy suit with a snapback hat adorned with the logo of whichever NBA team he would be called to play for. He wanted to step onto that stage as a professional basketball player and leave it with the team that would turn him into one. That was Anthony Black’s destination.
As soon as he realized that, his ride to Barclays Center commenced.
Anthony began this ride by continuing his slow, yet unwavering commitment to moving forward. Nothing out of the ordinary. He started going just a little faster sometime around the eighth grade. That was the year Jennifer first met David Peavy. The two met on an online dating app and hit it off. They grew close enough to eventually begin discussing their kids. When Peavy first mentioned that he was Duncanville High School’s basketball coach, Jennifer told him that her two boys played the sport. Peavy first assumed that this comment came with an irrational confidence that her kids are the best in the world, but Peavy soon learned that such a belief would not have been too far-fetched in this case.
“‘Hey, he’s got a chance,’” Peavy told himself when he first watched Jennifer’s “gangly” eighth grader play. “‘He’s pretty good.’”
There weren’t many college basketball scouts with these same beliefs. At the time, not a lot of “best basketball recruits” lists had Anthony’s name on them. Most of his scholarship offers at the time came from the gifts he showed on the gridiron. Those gifts didn’t have to be just for football. Peavy knew that the physical tools that made Anthony a talented wide receiver, especially his outstanding hand-eye coordination, could very well translate into a basketball star. The multiple growth spurts Anthony would have throughout high school raised that potential even further. If he learned how to harness those gifts on the court, there’s no telling how good he could become.
Anthony was more than just a basketball player in Peavy’s eyes, though. To the coach, Anthony was the son of the woman he had a strong relationship. Jennifer and her two children felt like family to Peavy almost as soon as he met them. Peavy would even move into the Blacks’ home with them, allowing him to spend plenty of his time with the boys he was starting to view as sons of his own.
“It didn’t take long for [Anthony] and Beckham to just grow on me,” Peavy said.
That move came at a cost. He now had to drive a half hour every morning just to arrive at his job in Duncanville. It was a logistical nightmare, one that they could wake up from if they decided to move closer. Jennifer was hesitant at first, but she knew that a move to Duncanville would allow the blossoming family to spend even more time together. They debated a move to Duncanville for about three years before Jennifer finally decided the time was right. The Blacks found a home in Duncanville, and Anthony transferred to Peavy’s Duncanville High School for his senior season.
The move allowed Anthony to floor the gas pedal on his ride. Whenever school ended for the day at 2 p.m., Anthony would spend his next three or four hours doing basketball workouts before heading back home to eat. He’d leave home an hour later and head to practice for AAU. On the nights he didn’t have practice, he would instead head to Duncanville’s gym and work out either by himself or with his personal trainer, Charles Hill, who took the wheel for Anthony starting that season.
“He ate, slept, and breathed basketball for sure,” Jennifer said.
This ride had its fair share of setbacks that year. But they weren’t obstacles you could just drive around. A few weeks before Anthony’s senior season was set to begin, representatives from Coppell High School claimed that their former guard transferred to Duncanville solely for athletic purposes, which violates Texas rules. The Black family insisted those claims were not true. They moved after Duncanville won the last two Class 6A state championships, and Jennifer said that Anthony had already received every scholarship offer he would get throughout high school by that point. That wouldn’t stop the District Executive Committee (DEC) and later the University Interscholastic League (UIL) from declaring Anthony ineligible to play in his senior season.
Jennifer and Anthony sued the UIL and won. Anthony would be allowed to play in his high school games. The UIL would later appeal the ruling, leading Peavy to sit Anthony again. This tug-of-war with Anthony’s eligibility continued for the entirety of his senior year, even after it ended. Some days, he wore his Duncanville jersey with pride. On other days, he was forbidden to touch it.
“As a coach, I had to go and keep coaching everybody, and come home knowing this kid was dying inside,” Peavy said.
No smooth ride can take place on a road where you have to slam the brakes multiple times throughout it. For Anthony and his family, this case stopped their whole world. A whirlwind of anxiety and frustration consumed the Black household throughout the legal battle. Where do they go from here if they lose? Would Anthony even qualify for the McDonald’s All-American Game? Should they send him to a prep school away from home to just put an end to all of this?
These questions were far too overwhelming for the family to answer, especially with how much of their time they devoted to this seemingly endless fight. None of it was easy to deal with. The difficult nights Jennifer spent thinking about the battle, the “unknowns” that came with it, and the several worst-case scenarios sometimes brought her to tears.
Whenever those tears started to fall, Anthony stood right there next to her and did his best to wipe them away.
“Sometimes, he would say, ‘Mom, it’s just basketball; there are people who have sick kids. It’s going to be okay.” Jennifer said. “He always just kept the best [attitude], even though it was so hard for him emotionally.”
Anthony wasn’t going to let the weight of this battle crush him. He instead focused on making the shots he took on Duncanville’s basketball court, often alone, to take his mind off his situation. Anthony would also spend considerable time with Beckham and open up to a small support system of trusted coaches and employees whenever he needed to talk about it.
That was all Anthony could do. That, and stay strong for the family searching for any source of light amid their interminable darkness, a family that had no control over when they would find it.
“Being a coach, I’m able to fix things. Something’s not going right? Man, we can do this, we can do that, we can fix it,” Peavy said. “Well, I couldn’t fix anything. So I’m his coach, and I’m his stepdad. I’m coming home, and I can’t help this kid.”
There was at least one thing Peavy had some control over: staying competitive on the court. His basketball team would soon begin the postseason. Without Anthony. At that time, the UIL was appealing against the judge’s most recent ruling in the Black family’s favor, so Peavy chose to sit Anthony during their first few playoff games. Not all of those games were pretty — Duncanville trailed by ten points with about three minutes left in one of them. Peavy looked over at Anthony, who was stretching in case the coach decided to play his star point guard. He didn’t need to. Anthony’s teammates came back to win that game while he stayed on the bench.
Duncanville clawed its way to regionals, ready for the onslaught of juggernauts that awaited them. Though “ready” may be a little generous. They won their previous two games by the skin of their teeth, and Anthony didn’t even get a bite of the action. And he was starving. It was difficult for Anthony to watch his teammates fight from the bench, considering he could not leave it and help. His teammates saw the struggle on his face. They met with Peavy and pleaded for Anthony to play with them. So Peavy made the decision he felt was best for his team.
“When we got to regionals, we decided to play him,” Peavy said. “The judge had said that he could play, so we played him.”
Anthony’s teammates sorely missed watching him score. They saw him contribute 19 points in Duncanville’s 72-59 triumph over Cypress Ranch High School in the regional semifinal game. If they could beat Garland High School in the next round, led by four-star power forward Zubi Ejiofor, Duncanville would earn its third straight appearance in the Class 6A State Tournament. Black defended the big man and held him to his playoff-low of 16 points, which included six free throws. Garland’s best player couldn’t take control of this game the way he often did. So Duncanville dominated instead in their 61-38 regional championship-winning victory.
“That kid just wanted to show the world that he was the best point guard in the country,” Peavy said.
Duncanville had to win two more games before they could clinch the Class 6A state championship. Humble Atascocita, their first opponent, wasn’t going to let that happen. Atascocita threw everything they had at the previously red-hot Duncanville during the first half of that state semifinal game. They even led by 20 at one point in this quest to snuff their opponent’s flames.
But there’s something Atascocita didn’t realize about fire: the more you throw at it, the stronger it burns. Duncanville torched their poor opponent for 31 points in the second half. Atascocita could only counter with four second-half points in their 50-36 loss as they watched Duncanville blaze their path to the Class 6A state championship game.
Their final opponent awaited them. All that stood between Duncanville and championship glory was McKinney High School. Another team that demanded to be the last school standing. Everything had to go right for Duncanville if they wanted to win. Their defense against future five-star recruit Ja’Kobe Walter needed to be airtight. All of their plays would require perfect execution. And one final dominant performance from Anthony could be enough to earn Duncanville the championship that was now just one game away.
One game away from winning everything, after everything Anthony and his family lost.
A team high in points. Four rebounds. Three assists and an equal number of steals. That was Anthony’s final statline when the final buzzer went off. Though you could be forgiven if you couldn’t hear it. That sound was drowned out by the screams from the crowd and the cheers from the players who sprinted to center court. That’s where Anthony and his teammates celebrated what had just happened.
Duncanville defeated McKinney 69-49 to win the 2022 Texas 6A state championship.
And Anthony was named the Class 6A state championship game’s Most Valuable Player by the UIL.
“For a kid that had to sit and watch as much as he had to sit and watch his senior year,” Peavy said, “When he got his opportunity in the playoffs, it was a wrap.”
Anthony and Markus walk and talk together for a little bit before spotting a small coffee shop. It’s around 10 o’clock at this point, still early enough to grab coffee. They walk into the shop and place their orders. Anthony looks downward to make eye contact with Markus as they continue their chat. He would have to do the same for anyone else here. Anthony towers over every other customer inside this shop, including an older woman who can’t help but notice the two men talking near the pick-up counter. She walks up to Anthony and interrupts his conversation.
“You’re really tall,” she tells Anthony.
Anthony looks toward the woman and smiles at her. It’s the same authentic grin he gave Markus earlier that morning. Anthony tells her that he plays basketball at the University of Arkansas. The woman is intrigued. A new conversation breaks out. Anthony spends the next two or three minutes answering all of her questions and explaining the role basketball and the Razorbacks play in his life. Not once does his smile disappear from his face.
He flashed this same smile about a year before this conversation happened. Almost everyone inside Chicago’s Wintrust Arena could see it during the three-point contest for the McDonald’s All-American Game, when he hoisted a bottle of Powerade with the Razorbacks’ logo on it. They saw it again moments later, when he posed for a photograph alongside his soon-to-be teammates Nick Smith Jr. and Jordan Walsh. If those people were to see Anthony two hours earlier, that smile would not have been there. It would have likely been replaced by an anxious look on his face. That was the face of a man preparing to announce the biggest decision of his life — a decision he had not yet made.
“[Anthony’s college commitment] was going to be televised during the McDonald’s All-American Game, so he was kinda pressured to make a decision,” Peavy said. “I think if he had to do it all over again, he probably would have taken a couple more days.”
Anthony garnered plenty of attention as one of the final top recruits who had yet to make a college decision. He and Jennifer spent the last few years pushing off the many recruitment letters that had all dropped onto Anthony at once. By that senior year, they had removed enough offers for him to sit up and stare at the few standouts that remained. Georgia had some interest in him. As did Texas. Baylor wanted Anthony to become the next member of his family to play on their sports teams, as his mother and biological father did before him. Cuts still had to be made. It was the only way to silence his phone from ringing every night. So they kept rejecting offers until the day of his decision, when only two schools remained: Gonzaga and Arkansas.
There was a lot to love about what Gonzaga could offer. Anthony and his family admired the way that team played basketball. They respected Mark Few as a coach and a teacher, as well as his program’s reputation for lasting multiple rounds in the NCAA Tournament almost every year. They adored the culture that Gonzaga has, one that turns teammates into family members.
But Arkansas had Eric Musselman.
Musselman hates losing. He hates talking about losing, he hates thinking about losing, and most importantly, he freaking hates losing. You can’t play for Musselman unless your heart blazes with that very same hatred for losing. If it doesn’t, he’ll reach into your chest and ignite your heart for you. Even if it burns. The Black family knew this. They were told that the fare for riding the “Muss Bus” is a complete devotion of your body and soul to basketball, and that the rocky route it travels will throw you around and bruise them both.
With that said, Anthony and his family trusted that this bus would take him to Barclays Center. If he could get off at that stop, he had no issue paying that steep price for a one-way ticket there.
“[Anthony] needs that guy,” Peavy said. “He needs that crazy little dude right there to just stay on him, and we just felt like the situation was gonna get him ready the fastest.”
Anthony experienced his new coach’s ferocious intensity almost as soon as he moved to Fayetteville. Musselman hounded every mistake the freshman would make, and he wouldn’t let go until he felt confident Anthony wouldn’t make it again. The freshman never pushed him away. His ear was always open to Musselman’s reprimands, no matter how loud they were. If Anthony needed to curl off a screen better, he would curl better. If bigger, stronger defenders had been pushing him around, he would do a few extra reps on the bench press during his next weight room visit.
If Musselman told Anthony to start running to the Razorbacks’ away games, some of his team’s employees believe he would ask only one question: Should he sprint or jog?
“Anthony was always the guy that would listen to what [Musselman] had to say, and really just take it to heart,” said Dave Richardson, head strength and conditioning coach for the Arkansas basketball programs. “He never got down on himself, and he never fought back against the criticism that he would take. He just wanted to get better.”
Not everyone responds to an in-your-face coaching style the way Anthony does. While some people require a little push, others would rather be pulled in. Anthony knows that, so he made a point to talk to his teammates in ways that would best motivate them. He would briefly snap at some teammates after making a mistake. He would pull other teammates to the side and start a gentle conversation about their errors.
“People always say, ‘Treat people how you want to be treated,’ but I’m more on the side of, ‘Treat people how they want to be treated,’” Markus said. “Everybody doesn’t want to be treated the same way, and I think that AB did a really, really good job of understanding that.”
That team-first mentality showed whenever he brought the ball up. When he spotted an open shooter, his first instinct was usually to kick the ball to him. He knew how to create good opportunities for his bigs to score at the rim. Scouts watching his games would scribble down notes about how gifted of a playmaker Anthony was. Part of that skill comes from a genuine desire to elevate his team.
At first, Anthony’s selflessness came almost at a fault. He spent his first three games as a Razorback doing only the little things — getting his teammates good looks, leaping up for rebounds, and guarding his butt off. That meant that almost everyone on his team was scoring — except for himself. Anthony scored a combined 18 points and made only a third of his field goal attempts. The Razorbacks won all three of those games, but those victories would have come much easier if Anthony had just been a little more assertive. And with the Maui Invitational Tournament coming up soon, they would need a more assertive style of play from their five-star point guard if they wanted to keep winning.
It would have been one thing if Anthony wasn’t much of a scorer, or if he was best suited as a table setter for his teammates. That wasn’t what the Razorbacks saw in him during practices. They saw a confident kid who was hardly ever afraid to sprint toward the basket or launch the ball into the hoop. Where was that version of Anthony? Some of his teammates wanted to find out. So before the first game of the Maui Invitational Tournament, they grabbed the freshman and told him that they needed to see the true version of Anthony Black, the version that everyone on the team knew he was.
That’s when it all clicked.
“From that time on,” Markus said, “You got a version of the guy that would go on to become a lottery pick.”
Anthony scored 26 points in his first game of the tournament. That’s about half of what Louisville scored against Arkansas that night. He went 9-for-11 from the field and still managed to deliver six assists to his teammates. That performance — and two similar ones that followed — earned the Razorbacks a third-place finish in the Tournament.
This was the version of Anthony Black his team needed to see.
They didn’t need to see that from him all the time, though. Those scoring outbursts were always appreciated, but sometimes his team just needed him to win games as a playmaker and a defender. That was never a difficult task for Anthony. Nothing was. He could score. He could rebound. He could pass, steal, and block shots, too. Better than most of his peers. He was the only SEC freshman that year to place in the Top 25 in all five of those stats.
It wasn’t just that Anthony had multiple play styles. He developed a strong ability to identify which one to bring onto the court. He often knew when to unleash the scoring monster his team could see in practice, and he also knew when his team needed him to stifle it. There’s a reason he led the SEC in minutes per game in his freshman year. They were all played by the same person, but often different players.
“[Anthony] just has a very, very good sense of knowing when to take a step forward or take a step back,” Markus said.
Anthony’s indispensable minutes would become even more necessary once the brutal month of March began. This normally wouldn’t have been an issue — he was always a certain bet to take the court as long as he could physically walk onto it. That walk became much more difficult after Anthony sprained his ankle. And boy, was it sprained. Ankles aren’t supposed to look as red and as fat as his looked. If that ankle got worse, there’s a chance Arkansas would have to play the most important games of their season without their star freshman.
Anthony wasn’t going to let that happen. He visited the training room about three or four times a day to ensure that his ankle would stay in good condition. Sometimes he showed up to the training room at the crack of dawn. Some visits would last until midnight. Anthony spent just as much time in that room as the training staff did. It was the place his team needed him to be. And for that team, Anthony would do almost anything to fix his ankle. Other than sitting out.
“He was very, very focused on what his role on the team was, and he knew without him we weren’t the same team,” said Matt Townsend, Head Athletic Trainer for the University of Arkansas Men’s Basketball Team. “He put a lot of work into … making sure that he could be available to play.”
Those visits paid off. Anthony’s ankle never once prevented him from putting on his Razorbacks jersey. Any time a scout wanted to see Anthony play, they did. They often liked what they saw. “Excellent on-ball defender”, they would write. “Impressive overall athleticism”, others would notice. His extraordinary height and length for his size made them “salivate”. These praises started adding up. Decision makers in NBA front offices started to notice the gifted six-foot-eight playmaker and outstanding defender that Musselman helped build.
Just as he promised.
It was one of the many he kept. Many months ago, Musselman sold the Black family on a tantalizing vision for their son: not only was he going to give Anthony the keys to Walton Arena, he would help drive him to Barclays Center. That’s a very difficult vision for any coach to promise, but the end of Anthony’s freshman season somehow looked an awful lot like the season the Black family pictured after hearing Musselman’s pitch.
“Muss did everything he said he was gonna do,” Peavy said. “Everything he said — about playing time, about his role, about what he was going to do and how he was going to coach him — he did everything he said he was going to do.”
There was no promise that Anthony’s ride would be calm. Anthony learned that the hard way. The Muss Bus sometimes jostled him and threw him against his seat, banging up his body. That’s just the price of all of those minutes he played. Not all of his hardships were physical. He even had some flashbacks of the road he traveled a year ago — the UIL ended up nullifying the games Anthony played in, including the 2022 Class 6A State Championship Game.
None of those bumps, bruises, or swollen ankles ever bothered him. The beautiful scenery outside and inside the bus was well worth the pain. He appreciated the coaching from Musselman in the driver’s seat and the encouragement from his teammates sitting next to him. They made this ride enjoyable for Anthony, who shared his enthusiasm for it with his fellow passengers.
“He always had a really good attitude,” Richardson said. “I always thought that if we had a whole team of guys like that, I mean, we’d be unstoppable.”
Anthony’s destination was starting to come into his view. Just a few stops remained before he would arrive at Barclays Center. That’s where he would become the version of himself he wanted to be more than anything: an NBA player.
It’s a nice walk so far. Markus and Anthony are discovering a lot about each other’s upbringings and goals while they explore Nashville. That’s all that matters underneath this dark, yet bright sky. For the next hour or so, there is no basketball. There is no game tonight, and there are no future careers to prepare for. There is only this walk.
Within an hour, this walk will be over. Within that night, Arkansas will fight to stay alive in the SEC Tournament. And within a few months, these two men will go their separate ways. Markus will take a job as an assistant men’s basketball coach for California State University, San Bernardino, and Anthony will move to a brand new city and begin his NBA career. This walk will be one of the final journeys either will take as a Razorback. So until that hour comes, they walk.
Not long after the sun left Nashville that night, Arkansas did the same. Texas Tech defeated Arkansas, 67-61, ending the Razorbacks’ SEC championship dreams. But not their season. They flew to Des Moines, Iowa, and punched their ticket to the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, with a somewhat unrealistic expectation of staying for the afterparty.
And they did. Just when the Razorbacks finished dressing up for the big dance, Musselman ripped his shirt off to celebrate their second-round victory over the University of Kansas. They kept dancing for one more week until their game against the University of Connecticut in Las Vegas.
The lights at T-Mobile Arena turned on for Arkansas almost right away. Anthony’s 20 points could not save the Razorbacks from bowing out to the eventual champions. When the team made it back to the locker room, Anthony took off his Razorbacks jersey for the last time.
Whose jersey would he put on next? There was no way for him to know. Several teams awaited Anthony at Barclays Center, excited to pick him up from his ride on the Muss Bus. They would have to wait. Anthony had a few more stops to make before arriving at Barclays Center.
His first stop: a small rec center in Santa Barbara. That’s where Anthony’s new agency, William Morris Endeavor (WME), hosted workouts to prepare their new clients for the NBA Draft process. It was a great opportunity for Anthony to get some shots up. A lot of them. Reports say he shot a basketball over 18,000 times during this visit. Most of those shots went in. That was a nice change of pace from the year he had. Anthony mastered so many versions of himself while at Arkansas, but he hadn’t quite gotten a hold of the three-point threat archetype. His 30.1% accuracy from behind the three-point line was the sole blatant weakness to his otherwise enticing game. For some teams to consider Anthony a true slam dunk, he’d have to be able to make some baskets from a little further away.
“That was the biggest question on his game,” Peavy said. “They loved his size, they loved his playmaking, they loved how he competed, a lot of teams just needed to see if he was a capable shooter.”
After spending about five weeks inside that gym, Anthony continued his ride. There were around 10 stops left before Barclays Center, each to a different NBA city. Anthony observed the breathtaking mountains of Salt Lake City and revisited the memories he made near Dallas, but these stops weren’t solely for sightseeing. They also involved visits to many basketball arenas, where an NBA team waited to greet him and work him out.
Anthony needed to be careful during these workouts. His body was still banged up from all the minutes he played at Arkansas. There was no need to push that body even further and risk a devastating injury. That wasn’t too big of a deal for these teams. They mostly wanted to determine whether or not he could shoot. So that’s what he did. Anthony spent most of these workouts shooting the same shots he made in Santa Barbara.
Some of Anthony’s visits were well worth making the trip. For others, he may have been better off just passing through. His workout with the Washington Wizards, who would select eighth overall, went about somewhere in the middle. It was like one of those trips where your fondest memory was that small restaurant you dined at during your first night. You may not have taken enough photos to fill up a whole scrapbook, but the experience wasn’t bad enough to rule out a return one day.
Anthony wouldn’t have to wait too long for this return. At some point after Anthony left Washington, D.C., the Wizards invited him back for a second workout with them. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t happy with that first workout. He leapt at the chance to add another stop to Washington, D.C., on his itinerary.
The ball to impress the Wizards was now on his court once again. When he arrived at Capital One Arena for the second time, Anthony picked up that ball, took careful aim, and let it fly.
Swish.
That wasn’t the only shot he made. Many of Anthony’s attempts landed on the rim no matter where on the court he took them from. It wasn’t just the shots, either. Nearly everything went Anthony’s way during his second visit with Washington. That’s what his agent told Jennifer. Up until that point, she and Peavy had a strong feeling Anthony could be selected as high as fifth overall to Detroit, and as low as 18th to Miami. That range suddenly and dramatically decreased when Anthony left Capital One Arena that day.
“We heard he just killed it,” Peavy said, “And if he was available at number eight, then he was going to Washington.”
Even though no firm promises had been made, Anthony and his family could now reasonably picture his next destination. But he still had this ride to finish. He wouldn’t find out his new home until the wheels slowed down on June 23, 2023.
That was the night Anthony made it to Barclays Center.
Anthony got off on his final stop wearing the dark, double-breasted coat he made sure was a perfect fit. Hopefully, he would fit onto his new team just as well. He walked inside the stadium, entered the arena’s green room, and sat at a table alongside some of the people who brought him to Barclays Center. Jennifer was there, as she always was. Beckham couldn’t miss this incredible moment. Peavy was ready to learn where Anthony’s journey would take him next. Even a giddy Coach Musselman, who had never sat at a green room table before, came for his soon-to-be former guard. As did many other people who made Anthony’s journey a success.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver walked onto the stage at around 8 p.m. that night. He gave the San Antonio Spurs five minutes to make the first selection of the night. The wait to discover where Anthony’s next ride will take him had officially begun.
It would not take him to Texas. The Spurs’ passenger seat had been reserved for French phenom Victor Wembanyama for over a month now. Wembanya put on his new Spurs hat to the surprise of no one, especially not Anthony and his family. They still predicted his draft hat would have a Wizards logo on it. Three more players learned their new homes after Wembanyama did, but Anthony was not one of them. He wasn’t supposed to be. Everyone around him still thought his new home would be Washington, D.C.
“We actually just assumed that he would go number eight to Washington,” Peavy said.
This thought remained in their minds after Ausar Thompson shook Silver’s hand after becoming the fifth overall pick. It didn’t leave when all the screens displayed the Orlando Magic’s logo and a five-minute timer. They watched the seconds tick, tick, tick down until the numbers disappeared. The words “PICK IS IN” replaced them. Anthony and his family thought nothing of it. This wasn’t the eighth pick, nor could they see the Wizards’ emblem anywhere on the screens. They had no reason to believe that Anthony would walk toward the stage for another two selections.
“I was just kinda feeling like, ‘Okay, we got a couple more picks before we gotta straighten up our ties and everything,’” Peavy said.
Everyone at Anthony’s table then looked up to see a group of camera operators rushing towards them. Hearts started to race. “Oh my gosh,” Jennifer yelled as tears formed in her eyes. “I’m going to pass out!” she declared before Anthony reminded her they had no proof that he was the pick. Anthony’s agent picked up his buzzing phone and put it to his ear. He put it back down after the call ended. He informed Anthony’s family what the Magic had just told him. Silver walked onto the stage.
“With the sixth pick in the 2023 NBA Draft,” Silver said, “The Orlando Magic select … Anthony Black from the University of Arkansas!”
Anthony stood up from his seat — his smile stuck on his face. He embraced his mother and stepfather before hugging everyone else who came to celebrate his tremendous accomplishment. He adorned his head with an Orlando Magic snapback, his new crown. His feet touched Barclays Center’s stage, culminating the 18 years of travel it took to make it there.
“The amount of stress and pressure and all of those things,” Jennifer said, “You hear your name and boom. It’s gone.”
Anthony left the stage and participated in the many draft night activities during his NBA orientation night. He had his first interview as a professional basketball player, chatting with ESPN’s Monica McNutt alongside Jennifer and Beckham. He found and hugged childhood friend Keyonte George, who would leave Barclays Center that night with the Utah Jazz. It would soon be time for Anthony to leave as well. The Magic were waiting to take him home.
Anthony boarded the Magic’s private plane with his family and his agent the following morning. Orlando’s many buildings and landmarks came into his view shortly before they landed. He saw many of those same buildings when he visited the city for his workout. Those same buildings now decorate the city he would call the first home of his adult life.
Not once did Anthony’s family expect Orlando to be that city.
His workout with the Magic didn’t go poorly or anything. He had a productive time in Orlando, but Anthony didn’t get much of a chance to show the Magic his basketball ability while he was there. He didn’t need to. The Magic’s primary objective during Anthony’s visit was to assess his character. How good a person was he? How strong of a leader could he be? Can he, as a point guard, rally a group of men several years his senior? They needed those answers, and they attempted to find them through conversations with Anthony, observations, and very likely making phone calls to everyone they could reach in Anthony’s orbit.
“We knew for Orlando, [having a strong character] matters,” Jennifer said. “That, as a mom, obviously is huge for me.”
The physical side of this workout was less of a priority for a few different reasons. Peavy believes the Magic were already sold on Anthony’s talent and physical gifts. After all, it’s no secret that the Magic adore tall players who have long arms and can guard multiple positions. In addition, Anthony tweaked his already banged-up lower body just before that workout, which had been too late to push back.
Jennifer is almost positive that she received a phone call from Anthony not long after that workout. She picked it up to hear the ecstatic voice of her son, who returned to his hotel room after his workout to find a massage gun waiting for him.
“He thought that was the nicest gesture,” Jennifer said. “He thought it was the nicest gesture that they even did that for him.”
The Black family soon learned that this act of hospitality was not out of character for the Magic. Their very first lesson came at the draft, when they met Rhonda Banchero. Rhonda approached Jennifer and raved to her about how much the Banchero family loved Orlando, the very close bond her son’s teammates had, and how happy they were that Anthony would be going there. With this conversation, Rhonda became the first of many people to serenade the Black family with praise for Orlando, the Magic, and the people involved with it.
“[The praise] just made us feel like, ‘Man, this is gonna be good,’” Peavy said.
The Magic were just as welcoming to Anthony as his family had been told they would be. From his very first practice, Anthony’s new teammates treated their rookie like one of their brothers. They made a noticeable effort in helping Anthony adjust to his new life as a pro, helping him through all the little things they went through in their rookie years. As his confidence grew, so did his relationships with the team.
“It’s the toughest year for a lot of players in their whole basketball career,” Anthony told Orlando Magic HQ. “So [I] had a lot of support from the whole cast, making sure I was just sticking with it.”
The NBA’s roads can sometimes produce accidents. Some of these crashes can be devastating. There are games where you’ll miss important baskets in front of thousands of people. There are nights when you lose your best player to a right oblique injury. There are nights when you lose your second-best player to a right oblique injury. A lot went wrong for the Magic this season. But Anthony knows more than anyone that there are a thousand more miles behind every blockade. No hardship, rough patch, or difficult stretch will prevent Anthony from wearing his Orlando Magic jersey with pride and giving his best for the organization and teammates he loves.
The love Anthony has for Orlando is awfully deep for someone who’s only lived there for two years. He’s very eager to increase that number. That’s something he tells his family all the time whenever he talks with them. Of course, not every player’s first NBA stop is their final one, but unlike his pre-draft visit, Orlando is not just a stop in Anthony’s mind. It’s a place where he wants to begin his adult life and help build the competitive basketball team he knows the Magic can be. While, of course, stopping at The Monroe or Eddie V’s now and then.
“A few weeks ago, he just told his mom he just really wants to stay in Orlando and hopes he gets the chance to stay,” Peavy said.
Why continue a journey elsewhere when you’ve already found your destination? This city isn’t just where his team plays basketball; it’s the home he hoped basketball would take him to. And very soon, it will be his family’s new home, too. Peavy will become the head basketball coach at Southeastern Preparatory Academy, and Beckham will start school there in August. The many opportunities for basketball in Orlando excite them, as do its many attractions. Jennifer already loves the little restaurants and atmosphere of Disney Springs, where she visited with Anthony for his first time recently. There’s so much that they’re ready to do in Orlando, not least of which is spending more time with Anthony.
Though for Anthony, his family is never too far away. There’s always a video game Anthony can play with Beckham from across the country. There’s always time to pick up the phone whenever Jennifer calls him. There’s always a flight to Dallas he can take for Christmas, and there’s always a chance to chat with his extended family and answer the several questions they have for him. It’s the least he can do for the people who have taken him so far on his ride.
This ride drove over some bumpy roads. It had some potholes and speed bumps that no one could prepare for. There were even moments in which it almost ran out of gas. But through all of these roadblocks, his ride never stopped moving. It moved past Duncanville. It moved past Fayetteville. It moved until he reached Barclays Center, where his journey to having a successful NBA career began with a new ride to Orlando.
And he doesn’t mind stopping there for a while.
“He has made it very clear to us that he doesn’t want to leave,” Peavy said. “He loves it there. He wants to be an Orlando Magic.”
EPILOGUE
Markus does not remember what he did a few hours after his walk with Anthony ended. He believes he was loading up the team’s bus with basketball equipment. Just graduate assistant things. Someone’s got to get the bus ready for the Razorbacks’ stop at Bridgestone Arena. How much equipment he loaded, Markus doesn’t remember either. Nor does he remember how far it would take to get there.
But he does remember feeling his phone vibrate at that time. He remembers pulling it out and opening his lock screen. And he definitely remembers the text Anthony sent him, a text he read with a smile similar to the one Anthony had throughout that morning.
“Thank you for walking with me.”