Dominique Wilkins - 05/25/21

·1 hr 15 min·5 clips

NBA legend Dominique Wilkins describes being denied a table in Atlanta because of his sweatpants, while white patrons in shorts were seated.

The conversation opens in Atlanta, with Koppelman slowing down because Wilkins has just been through something at a restaurant that shook him. Wilkins does not dress it up. He walked in with a companion, felt watched in a strange way, asked about outdoor lunch reservations, and was told the place was booked even though empty tables were sitting outside. That memory leads into an older one: his family being run out of his hometown at night, at 12 o'clock, and Wilkins staying away for thirty years before going back. Koppelman stays with that gap. Then the talk turns to family. Wilkins brings up Gerald, the brothers watching him, and the way his own career showed people close to him that another life might be possible. His oldest son played professionally in Europe. His youngest is 14 and already 6'7". Koppelman picks up the difference between them. Wilkins was driven by anger, duty to family, and work. His son starts from a different place. The basketball memories have the same charge. A story about a player answering a taunt gives Wilkins a way to explain how irritation became performance. When a fan got under his skin, he could not go back at them, so he took it out on the game. Koppelman ends on the cost of saying it out loud: Wilkins may get unwanted attention, but the choice to talk about it matters.

As heard by us

A candid Dominique Wilkins conversation about an Atlanta restaurant encounter, family legacy, restraint, and the hunger behind a basketball life.

Dominique Wilkins starts with a sharp memory from an Atlanta restaurant, where he was sized up and told outdoor lunch seating was not available despite empty tables.

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Why you'd press play

You want Dominique Wilkins to unpack an Atlanta restaurant encounter, then trace the hunger and family responsibility behind his work ethic.

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