Credit: Associated Press

Brandon Roy is Now the Head Coach of the No. 1 High School Team in the Nation

Former Portland Trail Blazers star Brandon Roy was forced to step away from the game of basketball in 2013 after continuous injuries to his knees, but is back on the basketball court this year fulfilling a different position on a team.

The three-time NBA All-Star is now the head coach of Seattle’s Nathan Hale High School basketball team and has turned the team around, to say the least.

Hale High School—who finished 3-18 last season and cycled through five head coaches in five years—is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation and has a great deal of talent pouring into the system. Seven players transferred to Hale to play under Roy, including the nation’s top-ranked player Michael Porter Jr.

“We weren’t considering Nathan Hale at all when we first moved to Seattle,” Porter told the Seattle Times. “Then we heard [Brandon] might be coaching at the school and thought, ‘Wow, that would be a unique experience.’ We can go into this together and try to make something great happen.”

 

Since the beginning of the season, Hale has is 22-0 and are competing against some of the best teams in the country.

After defeating the defending national champion Oak Hill Academy, Roy gave a heartfelt message to his players and expressed how proud he is to coach them.

“What you guys are doing is really special,” Roy told his players in an emotional speech after the Oak Hill victory, “especially for me, because I haven’t even been around basketball in a long time. When you can’t play basketball anymore physically, it’s a treat to be around such good guys.

We’ve done something incredible. We have a chance to do something that we’ll always look back and say, ‘We were a part of that one season.’ Seattle’s been trying to find that moment again since the ’70s and ’80s, and I was part of teams that couldn’t. You guys are doing it. When the buzzer’s going off, you guys have won, and I’m like, ‘Damn, we won this game.’ I mean, I feel like I’m a player.”

 

Roy, 32, earns just $6,000 annually to coach the team, but money isn’t the concern for the former All-Star. During his NBA playing career, Roy earned a hefty $82.9 million. What he cares about, though, is getting experience as a head coach and taking his coaching career step-by-step.

“I’m doing it for the experience, and to be involved in something I enjoy,” he told the Portland Tribune. “I feel like I’m prepared to make an impact and then build my way up. I thought high school was the best level to work on myself and better myself to become a good coach.

I don’t know where it’s going to lead, but right now I’m happy. My kids are settled. I don’t have to worry about moving them. If I go to the next level, the job is a little more demanding. I’m happy where I’m at right now. It’s been a blast.”

 

Roy was once destined for a Hall of Fame playing career but was abruptly cut short. Though we can only imagine what he would’ve turned out to be, we can now root for him in a different way.

Roy returning to the game of basketball is heartwarming and a pleasure to see.