Before Bob Dylan, he is the personality, and even the most famous “kid” from Minneapolis, and as a student, he played basketball. According to several witnesses, including Magic Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson, he was doing pretty well… Eight years after his death, Prince remains more present than ever in the Wolves room where the intro to When Doves Cry continues to accompany the entrance of the players. In 2016, when he passed away, the franchise paid him a vibrant tribute, and three years later, the leaders even released a City Edition jersey in the colors of Purple Rain, which Karl-Anthony Towns and his teammates will wear five times this year.
As the Wolves play for survival this evening at home, ESPN went to meet those who knew Prince, a Wolves supporter. Like Sam Cassell, who remembers that the guitarist-singer-producer only watched the Wolves attack. Even when it came to the Lakers of the heyday with Shaq and Kobe.
“He only looked at the side we were playing on offense,” says Sam Cassellwho played in Minnesota from 2003 to 2005. “He crossed his legs. He wore big sunglasses. And he only looked at one side. In the second half, he looked at the other side. We were playing the Lakers and he never looked at what the Lakers were doing on the other end of the court on offense. When I saw this, I was very embarrassed. I was like, 'Wow, he's tough!' He doesn't care at all what the Lakers do. He's just concerned about the T-Wolves. It was crazy. »
Former Wolves fullback Troy Hudson remembers the day Prince accosted Kevin Garnett at a nightclub: “KG, if I were the coach, you would play point guard, and Troy would be second guard. He's a scorer, and you're a great passer! »
A private concert for the Lynx players
But Prince wasn't just a Wolves fan, as he followed and cheered for the four-time WNBA champion Lynx in the 2010s. In 2015, he invited the players and staff to his home at Paisley Park for a two-hour private concert!
“It was an unforgettable event, which only happens once in a lifetime. We were speechless. We were right in front of the stage, and it was for us”remembers Cheryl Reeve, coach and president of the Lynx. “It was his love for Minneapolis. It was his home and he never left it. He belonged, he was proud to be a Minnesotan and a huge basketball fan. It's hard to say that he's no longer here, when we look back on all those memories and all the times he supported us. We wish he was still here…”
And if he were still in this world, there is no doubt that he would have attended this evening's meeting. “He would have liked to be sitting in the front row so he could represent his city,” concludes his friend Londell McMillan. “He would have liked Anthony Edwards and the cohesiveness of the group, and Jaden McDaniels, because he likes to play hard. He was a tough guy. He would have appreciated the balance of the team, conceived as a group of musicians. He would have liked the white jerseys, but he would undoubtedly have had something to say: “Where did the purple go? »
