When You look at the offspring of some former NBA players that performed in the NBA, you do come upon a good number of guys that made the jump to being able to have a solid career at the highest stage. Surely one of the best examples was seeing How Del Curry’s son Steph Curry evolved into for many as the best point guard of all-time. Other good examples that demonstrate that the offspring picked up some of that positive vibe from their daddy’s and perfect DNA was Mike Bibby from papa Henry or Kobe Bryant from Joe, or Tim Hardaway Jr from Tim, or Domantas Sabonis from Arvydas, or Klay Thompson from Mychal. There have been many other dad/son combo’s where only the dad was in the NBA with John Stockton and son Michael having a stellar career overseas or combo’s where a son couldn’t stick in the NBA with Patrick Ewing Jr, Andy Rautins, Glen Rice Jr or Larry Drew II. But what other guys have there been who had the famous last names, but had extreme difficulty of getting to the highest level. One of those players is Sam Cassell Jr. Dad Sam had a stellar 15 year playing career winning 3 NBA titles including 2 with the Houston Rockets in the mid 90’s and had career stats of 15/3/7 and now is an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics. His son Sam Jr didn’t fair as well despite playing at elite Basketball school UConn, and carved out a 3 year pro career that took him to Mexico, Germany where he played with Herford in the 4th division and in the UK where he put up solid stats with the Manchester Giants averaging 13.6ppg, 2.9rpg, 4.4apg, but hasn’t played in the last 2 seasons. But there is an even more extreme example of Xavier McDaniel and son Xavier JR. Who could forget the X-man, a player that wasn’t afraid to mix it up with anyone on the court and even had to withstand trash talk from Larry Bird. He led the NCAA in scoring in 1985 and finished his 12 year pro career with 13/5 stats. His son XavierJr is still trying to get into the front door as a professional player as he is somewhere between the drive way and front door mat. Ok so maybe he doesn’t have the skill set of his dad, but he can still play. It may not be enough for the NBA, but at least having a career overseas has to be possible, but so far hasn’t happened. He has been toiling around in semi-pro leagues in the States and had some experience in Jamacia despite having 2 solid NCAA seasons in Texas. For me it’s truly a riddle why a guy with his skill set hasn’t landed overseas and why his name couldn’t open doors for him. ‘It’s a wonder to me as well. I know I bring a certain energy to a team, natural leadership qualities and knowledge of the game, as well as the skill to back it all up. It’s nothing new to me though, I’ve been betting on myself and proving people wrong my whole life so having to do it again won’t be a problem. I would say my work ethic and character speaks for itself and it shows on and off of the court’, stressed Xavier McDaniel Jr. (200-G/F, college: UTRGV). Especially overseas, his name could surely help any team from a marketing standpoint and having that trusty agent didn’t happen either. ‘I had been trying to shop myself around. Back in 2018 I was doing tours and traveling to go work out at all these different places but nobody ever gave me a real chance. I was always cast aside for whatever reason, so I opted to do my own thing and started reaching out to teams and coaches myself. I was finally able to find a semi pro team in Seattle called the Seattle Mountaineers. From that point, my basketball journey in the professional world was finally kicked off but it was just the start’, remembered Xavier McDaniel. Having connections is the name of the game in any profession, but surprisingly his dad hasn’t been able to open doors either. ‘It has been extremely frustrating. I have so much love for the game, I’ve got a lot. I bring to the table and I’m ready to give my all to whoever bets on me. They won’t be disappointed, every possession played is played as if it will be my last’, warned Xavier McDaniel. Will somebody give Xavier McDaniel Jr. a chance overseas because he plays every possession as if it was his last.

Xavier McDaniel Jr. who lists Dennis Smith Jr as his toughest opponent in his career played high school basketball at Hammond high school helping the school win a title in 2015 and after balled at Moravian Prep Academy. He didn’t realize his dad had been a high-profile player until he was 9 or 10. He then had his negatives and positives dealing with his dad’s fame. ‘The kids down there knew all about him and his career, I was ridiculed for a bit because I wasn’t as well versed as they were. To me, he was just dad. Nothing more or nothing less. This also put a target on my back at times, on and off the court. There were kids that would pick on me because of who my dad was because they thought it was cool to pick on a famous person’s kid or kids who would come at me much harder on the court because my dad was in the NBA. It wasn’t all bad though, the positives were that I was always surrounded by the game of basketball no matter where I went, I absolutely loved it. The travelling we did when I was young is something I’ll never forget. Not to mention once I decided basketball was something I wanted to do professionally, my dad was all in as well and helped me get stronger and got my skills to where they needed it to be’, remembered Xavier McDaniel. He has fond memories of learning the game from his dad and others. ‘The earliest years of my basketball journey were very fun but it was hard work. We learned our fundamentals at a little rec league with a lot of talent in Columbia, South Carolina and played in the V.V. Reid Basketball League. My dad was a tough man, even in my early years he wouldn’t sugarcoat anything, had my sister and I play up with older kids, and worked us to the brink of exhaustion. I’m really glad he did that because nowadays I tell myself if I can survive that then I can do anything. He wasn’t the only one though, my high school coach Mark McClam, Eldridge Recasner (Former Atlanta Hawk), Troy Miles, as well as my dad’s good friend Danny Samuels all helped me get to where I am today’, said Xavier McDaniel Jr.. He is forever grateful for having his dad as a mentor early on and remembers one key piece of advice. ‘My dad was always a vital key in my development as a player, nobody else knows me better than he does. But one thing that he taught me is that you can’t keep your eggs in one basket and that sometimes you have to find new help for new challenges in life. He would always take me to go work out with his colleagues as they had skillsets that he wasn’t too familiar with. So instead of teaching me an incomplete or inferior version of something, why not go to an expert and learn it properly’, stated Xavier McDaniel Jr..

The South Carolina native who remembers meeting Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis knows that not only his dad can tell stories about Larry Bird, Wes Matthews or Scottie Pippen. But Xavier Jr also has that monumental anecdote about Dennis Smith Jr. ‘My junior year my team went to a Christmas tournament out in North Carolina and played Dennis Smith Jr. and his squad. It was a waking up moment for our team as we realized that we were big fish in a small pond. So we put in the work to get better individually as a team. The following year we played them again in the famous Chick Fil A Classic high school basketball tournament. I had major butterflies before the game considering we got demolished by the same team a year prior. We went out there and left it all on the floor, and we ended up beating Trinity Christian by 20 that game. Seventh and I both had breakout games and I made the all tournament team, a list comprised of the most elite players to come out of high school in that region of America. Dennis didn’t make it easy as he had 21 points that game but so did I and as a whole our squad shut him down’, remembered Xavier McDaniel Jr.. He was fortunate enough to win a high school title and was teammates with Seventh Woods who would go to North Carolina and help the school win the 2017 NCAA title. ‘My favorite memory with Seventh was when we played Spring Valley High School (PJ Dozier’s high school) in my senior year. It was an important game for the both of us but for two very different reasons. For me, it was my former high school that cut me from a varsity team I feel like I should have been on in my freshman year. For Seventh, it was a very somber night as his grandparents were both killed in a fire at their house the night before. We both went out there and gave it everything we had. It was a real life Cinderella story where the little private school came out to beat the big 4A public school, not by a small margin but upwards of 20 points’, stated Xavier McDaniel Jr.. Getting an extra year of schooling at Moravian Prep Academy was also crucial for his development at an early age. ‘My game actually benefited a lot. I had good enough test scores and grades in high school when I got there all I had to do was focus on basketball. I did two a days for almost every day I was there and I gained massive amounts of confidence as I slowly became my teams number one option. The games against Oak Hill were the most memorable for sure, it was just unfortunate that Harry Giles ended up getting injured in one of our games but he still ended up making the NBA’, remembered Xavier McDaniel Jr.

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The 200cm swing man who lists Seventh Woods, Lesley Varner, Najee Garvin, Chevez Goodwin and Emeche Wells as his 5 best teammates of all-time went on to play at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley from 2016-2018 playing a total of 62 NCAA games. In his freshman season he averaged 6.6ppg, 3.9rpg, FGP: 39.4%, 3PT: 35.7%, FT: 69.2%. He raised some eyebrows as he exploded for 27 points in his first NCAA game against Tennessee-Martin. One would think that a player would never forget their NCAA debut, but for him, he had to test his memory bank. ‘Funny enough, my memories from that game are kind of hazy. Aside from being in such a flow state that I wasn’t thinking about my actions too much, I just went out there and had fun. It was the beginning of the season and there was no pressure to win or perform, just to go out there and do it. The most prevalent memory from that is being mad that we lost but also excited about my big debut only to have it shot down by my dad because I missed 2 relatively easy shots that would have put me at 31! A tad annoying at the time but looking back it’s something to chuckle at’, said Xavier McDaniel Jr.. That season he would score in double figures in 8 games including netting 20 points against UMKC. He raised his game in his second season averaging 9.0ppg, 4.3rpg, FGP: 42.9%, 3PT: 29.2%, FT: 73.8%. In his second season he had 2 more explosive games scoring 27 points against Nicholls State and 28 points against Grambling State, but both were in losing causes. ‘My fondest memory in that game against Grambling State was just the pure excitement of feeling free. I’m not sure what I did to prepare for this game but I need to try to remember! I went into the game not expecting too much, just took what the defense gave me and made sure all my shots counted. Near the end of the game I hit around 2-3 deep threes to try and bring us back in the game but it was too late by that point’, added Xavier McDaniel Jr.. Despite losing many games, the overall NCAA experience was positive. ‘The most fondest memories in college had to be our battles in practice and the general comradery. There’s nothing more fun than competing with your teammates and trying to make each other better. Every day we were trying to become better versions of ourselves on and off the court and the coaches did a great job in helping us do that. Coach Lew treated each and every one of us like a son and that’s something that I will always appreciate’, commented Xavier McDaniel Jr.. He scored in double figures in 11 games and will never forget head coach Lew Hill and teammate Terry Winn who is a step ahead of him as he has made the step overseas. ‘Coach Lew and the coaching staff at UTRGV really taught me how to hold myself accountable in the real world. In college I personally would say that in my mind I was still very much a kid. But they instilled in me a sense to want to hold myself to a higher standard on and off the court. When life was hitting me hardest my last year in college he got me the help that I needed by taking me to counseling sessions. Here I was able to learn how to deal with my ADHD and an outlet for me to get things off of my chest. One thing that I immediately noticed about Terry is his insane work ethic. It shows me that as long as you put in the work, you’ll never have to get ready because you stay ready. The most fond memories in school would be after games we would go grab food and just talk about how we can be better. What we did well and how to compound on it, what we need to work on and the best way to do it, what went wrong in the game and why. We loved breaking the game down to it’s smallest, minute details’, remembered Xavier McDaniel Jr. who remembers typically beating Terry Winn at 1-1 in practice as whoever missed first lost and he enjoyed how aggressive but smooth his game was.

The former NCAA player who names Magic Johnosn, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Wilt Chamberlian, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki on his personal NBA Mount Rushmore began his professional Career in 2018. He played 2 seasons with the Seattle Mountaineers (ABA) and it was a grind as he also held down a second job. But he learned quickly the meaning of knowing that basketball is a team game something he will need to keep should he come overseas. ‘It’s an extremely tough process. It’s like being at a junior college but at the professional level. A majority of the players in these types of organizations are going to be out for themselves most likely. The ball sticks in people’s hands more because they want to show everyone that they can perform at a high level. In my experience that approach doesn’t work because at the end of the day basketball is a team game and when the team doesn’t involve each other into the mix, then nobody wins. So I took it upon myself to do it all. Facilitate, rebound, and defend. I did everything but worry about scoring because that comes easy through the flow of the game. Doing this landed me a contract in Australia with the Canberra Stallions but I tore my achilles and subsequently lost the contract. All of this was in the works as, at the time, I was a clerical substitute for the Seattle Public Schools system. Even today I still hold a fulltime job as I play, people don’t realize it but until you make a larger, high profile league; you’re most likely going to have to hold a second job if you want to be truly comfortable financially. Hopefully I can make basketball truly full -time ordeal so I can put all my energy and focus into it’, warned Xavier McDaniel. Even if the semi-pro level isn’t high, the competitive level is fierce and he is content his game grew in that time. ‘I feel like my game got to a point where I could recognize when to turn my motor on and off. In college, I played at one speed: fast. Everything I did was done with a high motor. In the pros I quickly learned that when you can switch up your speeds and essentially control how the defense plays you, then you can get just about whatever you want on the court. At this point in my career it’s more so about making sure that my fundamentals are sharp and that I stay creative and look at problems and situations on the court from many different angles in order to come up with a strategy to handle some adversity’, added Xavier McDaniel Jr.. He got a gig in Jamacia recently and has to do the extra work himself finding these opportunities. ‘ Jamaica was amazing, I had a great time there connecting with all of the players and coaches. They love basketball with a passion out there and there’s a big desire to have high level basketball out there. I feel that over the years that league will grow to be much larger, considering this year was it’s first year. I played alongside players for the Jamaican National Team as well as seasoned overseas vets. I learned a lot about how things on the backend work for making deals such as this happen, considering that every playing opportunity that I’ve had since my tour in Taiwan has been set up by myself’, commented Xavier McDaniel. His last pro gig was back in Seattle, but he suffered an injury that derailed the opportunity a bit. ‘This opportunity in Seattle was a great one. It’s in the TBL league, the same league that I received my first pro job with Flint United. The team this year did great, although we went through quite a few changes as far as team structure goes. I started off my season pretty well but it was sadly cut short because of an injury that I have since recovered from. There was a disk in my neck that was messing with my nervous system because it was slipping out of place but a minor surgery corrected that. Since then I’ve been keeping my head down and working out daily to make sure that when I come back I look better than I did before considering I had only 2 weeks off until I was set for noncontact work’, said Xavier McDaniel.

So let’s fast forward to July 2023. The versatile player who has Lebron as his GOAT and believes the sequel to the classic Coming To America movie should stay as someone’s fever dream has rehabbed his injury and is ready to tackle the competitive transfer period for the 2023-2024 season overseas. So if a club overseas takes a chance on him, what kind of player will fans witness overseas? He watches a lot of Jimmy Butler and Demar DeRozan. He enjoys Butler’s zeal of exploiting mis matches and likes to incorporate that into his game while also likes the decision making in the mid range game of DeRozan. It is no secret that his versatility is a massive part of his game and something that would be highly appreciated by any club overseas. ‘My biggest strength is my versatility I feel as though I can comfortably fit into any system because of my knowledge of the game. If you need me to be more of a guard and facilitate some I’d be more than happy to, if you need me to simply score from the wing that’s what I do, if you need me to guard the bigs and use my size to my advantage on offense then I can do that as well. I’d like to see myself as a Swiss army knife on the court’, warned Xavier McDaniel Jr.. He is also very truthful in what area he is working on most now, so he can keep up with the slick guards overseas. ‘I’m working on most is definitely my ball handling. If I can get my ball handling to a point where I’m truly elite, that would bring me to the apex of my game. I’m not the best ball handler at the moment but I still have some ways to go before I can say I have elite ball control’, stressed Xavier McDaniel Jr.. For him to demonstrate his abilities, all he needs is an opportunity overseas. ‘Whoever takes a chance on me won’t regret it. I have a work ethic matched only by few, my desire to win is so strong I’m sure its genetic, I not only have the skill but the IQ after being taught by some of basketballs greatest minds. All I want to do is win and show people that I can play this game that I love so dearly at a high level, like I said before; I’m used to proving naysayers wrong and I really love trophies’, warned Xavier McDaniel. The game and name of Xavier McDaniel Jr. fits and having him overseas would be refreshing. One thing is for sure, it will never be boring with him on the court with his exciting game and off with his stories he can tell about his dad.