Alright, so you wanna know about them NBA fellas, the ones they say got that autism thing, right? Okay, okay, I’ll tell ya what I know. It ain’t much, but I heard some things.
Now, I ain’t no doctor or nothin’, but I know what I see. And I see these boys, they playin’ ball real good, even if they a little…different. You know, like that Jason McElwain fella. Heard about him on the TV once. Folks made a big fuss over him back in, what was it, 2006? Said he was real special. Played basketball like a champ, even with that autism thing.
Then there’s this Tony Snell guy. Chicago Bulls picked him up a while back, 2013 I think. He played good too, real steady. Folks whispered he had it too, you know, that autism. But he didn’t let it stop him none. He just kept on playin’ his game.
- See, that’s what I like about these fellas. They don’t let nothin’ hold ‘em back. They got that fire in their belly, that want to play ball, and that’s all that matters.
- It ain’t easy, I reckon. This autism thing, it makes things harder for them. Heard it makes it tough to talk to folks, to fit in. And basketball, well, that’s a team sport, you gotta work with other fellas. But they do it. They figure it out.
I heard tell of another fella, Anthony Ianni. Played for Michigan State. Folks say he was the first one, the first with autism to play big-time college ball. That’s somethin’, ain’t it? Shows you, anything’s possible if you put your mind to it.
And there’s this other boy, Kerry they call him. Don’t know his last name. He said basketball helped him. Helped him grow as a person, even with that autism. Said he used to have trouble talkin’ to folks, makin’ friends. But basketball, it gave him somethin’ to focus on, somethin’ to be good at.
Now, I ain’t gonna lie, some folks say team sports ain’t for them autistic kids. Say it’s too hard, all that runnin’ and coordinatin’ and such. You gotta be strong, gotta be able to handle that ball. But these fellas, they prove them wrong. They show the world that autism ain’t a stop sign, it’s just a bump in the road.
There ain’t a whole heap of them in the NBA, mind you. Not like the regular fellas. But the ones that are there, they’re somethin’ special. They got grit, they got determination. And they got that love for the game, that fire in their eyes. That’s what matters, see?
So next time you watchin’ them basketball games, and you see a fella who’s a little different, don’t you go judgin’. You remember them fellas I told you about. You remember that they ain’t let nothin’ stop ’em. You remember that they playin’ their hearts out, just like everyone else. And maybe, just maybe, they playin’ even harder, because they got that somethin’ extra, that somethin’ that makes them unique.
And that, my friend, is somethin’ to be admired. That’s somethin’ to be celebrated. These fellas, they ain’t just basketball players. They’re heroes. They showin’ the world that different ain’t bad. Different is just…different. And sometimes, different is pretty darn amazing.
So yeah, that’s what I know about them NBA players with autism. Not a whole lot, but enough to know they’re good folks, strong folks, and they deserve all the respect in the world.
Tags: NBA, Autism, Basketball, Jason McElwain, Tony Snell, Anthony Ianni, Sports, Inspiration, Neurodiversity, Athletes
