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SALT LAKE CITY — It still hasn’t fully sunk in for Utah Jazz wing Royce O’Neale that he’s someone that kids want to meet.
Four years ago, he went undrafted. The next summer, he was participating in a Jazz free agent minicamp. Two summers ago, he was one of the hundreds of players trying to impress during the NBA Summer League.
That’s not the usual path players take to become deity-like to young children.
But when O’Neale walked into a West High School gym Monday morning, no one would have guessed he was once just a fringe, at best, NBA player. Some of the 100-plus Jazz Youth campers completely stopped dribbling when they saw him and others even put their hands over their mouths in shock.
This is O’Neale’s reality now.
He’s now a valuable piece to a perennial playoff team; he commanded respect from reigning NBA MVP James Harden during the playoffs; he’s earned his teammates’ complete trust.
He’s also won plenty of fans along the way.
“I still get a lot of joy out of it,” he said of the kids’ reactions. “It makes me happy.”
O’Neale on Monday embarked on a week-long trip around Utah as part of the annual Junior Jazz road trip. He’ll make a stop in Tabiona, Duchesne, Price, Moab, Beaver, Fillmore, Santaquin and plenty of other places in between.
“The players love it once they get there; they get into it and see the excitement the kids have,” Utah Jazz director of youth programs Nate Martinez said.
O’Neale knows what he’s getting into; he did the tour last summer, too. He enjoyed the experience of traveling around Utah and meeting hundreds of young Jazz fans enough that when the Jazz asked him to do it again, he said why not.
“I wasn’t doing anything else,” O’Neale said with a smile.
That might not have been entirely true.
O’Neale’s path to becoming a bonafide NBA player has been unique, but he isn’t satisfied having just solidified his place in the league. He has spent time this summer working out with teammates Donovan Mitchell and Jae Crowder, among others, to try to improve his game. He wants to become a better ball-handler, a better shooter, a better defender, a better — well, everything.
“I just want to get better,” O’Neale said.
The Jazz road trip can offer a bit of a reminder to just how much O’Neale loves the game. He used to go to camps when he was growing up — camps run by his local high schools and colleges, and any other ones he could find. He just wanted to play as much basketball as possible.
“It makes me more excited,” O’Neale said. “I feel good. Just the kids having a great time is what I’m excited about.”
He wished he had the opportunity to meet an NBA player and go to an NBA camp when he was a youngster growing up in Killeen, Texas, which is why he’s doing his own free camp in his home town on July 27.
“A lot of guys that are ahead of me that went to high school that grew up around me and showed me the ropes, they want to come to the camp to support,” O’Neale said. “A lot of kids have wanted to sign up already.”
It’s all part of O’Neale’s effort to give back — give back to the team that took a chance on him and give back to his city that helped make him the player and person he is today.
“I wish I had things like this to go to,” O’Neale said. “It would have made things more fun. Just the opportunity to get out and be around other kids and play basketball, getting an opportunity to meet an NBA player.”
The opportunity he wanted is now the opportunity he's providing.
