WASHINGTON — Jerami Grant walked toward the visiting locker room inside the Verizon Center and slowed his pace as he approached a security guard monitoring the hallway. The 6-foot-8 forward bent down for a handshake and embrace, then stayed to have a conversation.
It was clear from their interaction Grant was more than just a random player passing through a few times each season. The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia is where Grant now calls home; the Verizon Center is where he grew up.
“I know a majority of the staff,” Grant said Monday after the Sixers' loss to the Wizards. “They remember me from when I was younger. I’m always talking to them and hanging out with them.”
Grant’s father, Harvey, played 11 seasons in the NBA, including seven with the Washington organization and his final one with the Sixers. In retirement, Harvey Grant was the Wizards' director of player development for three years through 2007, working out big men such as Brendan Haywood. During that time, he brought his children on the job, and the arena became Grant’s stomping ground.
“I was kind of a ball boy,” Grant said. “I kind of did what I wanted because I was young. I just ran around, played with the players, used to play video games, stuff like that.”
Grant was raised in a basketball family. In addition to his father, his uncle Horace won multiple championships in the NBA. Currently, his brother Jerian is on the Knicks and his oldest brother Jerai is playing overseas.
Watching the Wizards go to work on a daily basis, though, gave Grant a unique firsthand appreciation of what it takes to be an NBA player.
NBA
“To be able to hang around NBA players and see what they did to get to where they were at, I definitely think that helped me just to know what I needed to do to get here,” he said.
Grant remembers being around All-Stars of a previous generation. The Wizards were in the playoffs, led by a now-retired high-scoring guard. For all the players he saw during his father’s coaching tenure, one stood out the most.
“Gilbert Arenas, he was the deal when he was here,” Grant recalled. “He was scoring 50 like it was nothing, taking the Wizards to the playoffs when they weren’t good. Everybody was talking about him like he was Steph Curry.”
Grant, a second-year player, has returned to the Verizon Center for four regular-season games. Each time he steps into the building, he has a feeling of excitement. He is taken back in time to when he was a child looking up to NBA athletes. Now, he's one of them.
“It’s something that a lot of kids don’t get to do,” Grant said. “Looking back, it was an amazing experience.”