Was there a moment you decided basketball was the way to go?
There wasn’t an exact moment … but my junior year of high school I just decided I was going to get as good as I can, because I can go onto the next level. I wasn’t even thinking about the NBA, just college. I figured I could go get a free college tuition if I just kept working.
Who was the best athlete of the three of you?
[Long pause] Trayce says he’s the fastest. Mikey can probably jump the highest. He can jump pretty high. Trayce can dunk, but not as well as me and Mikey. We’ve got a few inches on him. But he’s pretty fast in the outfield. But I’m going to have to go with myself. I can’t give it to my brothers. I’ll go with myself.
What was it like watching Trayce make his major league debut with the White Sox this summer?
That was such a great [moment], after winning the championship … it was an amazing summer. It went so fast. I got to go to Chicago and see him play, and then the next week he went to Angels Stadium so me and my friends all got to see him play, and he went 1-for-2, so that was awesome.
Is the family excited about him being traded to the Dodgers?
Yeah. We were a little disappointed at first, but now we’re excited. I’m excited. Right up [Interstate-5] from where we grew up, so I’m kind of pumped, and I’ll get to see him so much more in the offseason now.
Was there a point you started to think about the NBA?
Probably the beginning of my sophomore year. I was in a zone. I was playing well, and I knew that my freshman year I had a good year. Making all-freshman was great. But I just knew if I could do it this well, there could be a spot for me in the league. And my dad told me that as well. He said, “Klay, the way you can shoot it, handle it and pass it, you can definitely make it in the NBA.” He was telling me that when I was really young, though.
But you didn’t necessarily buy in?
I didn’t let myself think about it. It’s crazy … if you ask everyone in the NBA if they ever thought they were going to make it to the NBA, they say their whole life. It’s crazy. It’s weird. As a kid, you don’t realize the odds, that there’s only 450 jobs or whatever. You just think,”I’m going to play in the NBA.” It’s crazy.