Two phrases. Naz Reid.
SLAM 251 that includes Naz Reid is offered now.
The identify of the reigning Sixth Man of the 12 months represents greater than only a identify at this level. Naz Reid has turn into a greeting between Minnesota Timberwolves followers outdoors of residence video games. It’s changed into a constant stream of automotive horns outdoors of Parkway Pizza in Northeast Minneapolis with the now well-known “Honk If You Love Naz Reid” signal sitting proper outdoors. It’s reworked the seats of the Goal Heart right into a seashore day with Naz Reid towels in late March. It’s seen a whole lot of yard indicators plastered together with his face strewn about lawns throughout the higher Minneapolis space.
It’s the identify of a Jeopardy contestant’s cat. It’s even turn into the primary tattoo for everybody from 18-year-olds children to 82-year-old grandmothers. Naz Reid has bought a maintain on the Timberwolves fan base and the higher NBA group. There’s no clarification, no broader particulars. That is the epitome of if you recognize, you recognize. And belief us, after this previous season, everybody and their momma, and their mommas, is aware of in regards to the rise of Naz Reid.
However at first, Naz didn’t assume the ink was actual.
After the Timberwolves took down the Denver Nuggets by 26 factors in Recreation 2 of the Western Convention Semifinals—that includes 14 factors, 5 boards, 4 blocks and 4 threes from the person himself—two lifelong Wolves followers and artists at Beloved Studios in Roseville, MN, set the stage for the group’s newest outpouring of admiration.
At 12:29 a.m. on Could seventh, tattoo artist JC Stroebel tweeted out, “Will tattoo ‘Naz Reid’ on anybody for $20. I’m lifeless critical.”
A whole lot of requests adopted.
“It was loopy. I feel the 82-year-old woman was the primary individual that I noticed, after which the listing simply goes on, I feel 200-plus,” Naz tells SLAM. “It was as much as the purpose the place I used to be on the barbershop at some point and two children got here in [and] my identify was their first tattoo. So, that was loopy to expertise. Positively tremendous thrilling. It’s one thing you clearly dream about as a child, to have that kind of fan base and that pleasure round your identify is large.”
From the again of the tricep to the decrease thigh simply above the kneecap, that pleasure is on everlasting show in Instances New Roman font. The sensation has been surreal, in Naz’s phrases.
His identify has turn into celebrated amongst a small market fan base eager for a return to prominence. Sure, the Timberwolves have a bonafide celebrity in Anthony Edwards, alongside All-Stars Karl-Anthony Cities and Rudy Gobert manning the paint. However it’s the 6-9 versatile New Jersey native with the bag of a guard that has fully received over the hearts and minds of Timberwolves followers. And it’s the explanation he’s on this very cowl.
Naz Reid is the unsung hero of Minnesota. His quiet confidence is on full show as quickly as he walks into the health club we’ve rented out in Las Vegas for his first SLAM cowl shoot. Summer season League video games are going down just some miles away, however Naz is suited in his midnight blue and white Timberwolves threads with contrasting “Reverse Grinch” Kobe 6s on his ft as we snap away flicks. He’s paying no thoughts to the record-setting 116-degree warmth that awaits simply outdoors.
Reid is simply the third-ever undrafted participant to win the Sixth Man of the 12 months award—becoming a member of John Starks and Darrell Armstrong—and the primary Timberwolves participant to take residence the respect. His 13.5 factors, 5.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per sport on 41 % taking pictures from three weren’t only a bump throughout the board from years’ previous. The 2023-24 season served as his arrival as a full-fledged power within the L.
“That is the craziest I’ve ever seen it, particularly this previous season with how far we made it within the Western Convention Finals,” Naz says of the tradition in Minnesota. “It’s been loopy. We now have posters in every single place, chalk on the bottom in every single place. It’s tremendous thrilling. Positively one thing that we’re wanting ahead to for years to return.”
For those who have been to really dive into why the Timberwolves fan base has such a deep-rooted love affair with the stoic 25-year-old, the overwhelming reply would most likely be the relatability of his journey. And positively the best way he strikes with the rock.
It’s the opening spherical of the Western Convention playoffs and the Wolves are cruising with a 17-point lead over the Phoenix Suns. With 9:53 left within the fourth quarter, Naz snags a free ball and units out in transition. A duo of fast in-and-out dribbles observe, holding Eric Gordon from planting his again foot confidently. As Naz finishes the second transfer with the ball, he whips it large over his proper shoulder, excessive above Gordon’s head, right into a fluid professional hop. Time stops for a second, as he cradles it in his chest and Bradley Beal enters the scene to contest. Besides that is Huge Jelly we’re speaking about. With ease and a chilled finesse, Naz pulls his momentum to the left aspect of the basket and lays the ball onto the glass and thru the web with a clear right-handed reverse.
These routine shows of basketball artistry have despatched residence crowds right into a frenzy, however for these in Asbury Park, NJ, they’re paying homage to the times Naz was cooking at Roselle Catholic and dropping spotlight after spotlight as an official member of the Jelly Fam.
“That’s simply my go-to. I’ve been doing that for a very long time, very long time,” Naz says of his transition excellence. “I feel Jersey guys are simply shiftier than numerous different folks. We simply include a distinct kind of swag and sport to any transfer that we put into play. That’s simply type of how we roll. You consider all of the guards which have been within the NBA or close to the NBA. You’ve bought Kyrie Irving, Isaiah Briscoe, Kyle Anderson; you’ve bought numerous guys who’re shifty and transfer with a distinct kind of swag. I feel it’s simply type of how we roll and the place we come from.”
Trying again on the times when highschool phenoms have been stitching a brand new period into the cultural cloth of hoops, Naz now appreciates the impression being surrounded by guys like Jahvon Quinerly, Atiba Taylor and Luther Muhammad had on his sport. “Every part has positively translated and brought off to what it was again then to the place it’s now,” Reid says.
Twenty-seven factors, 6 rebounds and seven threes towards Dallas in mid-December. A 31-piece and 11 boards whereas taking pictures 75 % from the sphere in an early April dub vs. the Lakers. Twenty-three factors on 78 % taking pictures from three in Recreation 2 of the Western Convention Finals.
From Roselle Catholic to Minneapolis, Naz has blended a guard-like fluidity and tempo with the scale and abilities of a stretch huge. He punishes smaller mismatches within the low submit with surgical footwork and hook pictures whereas dusting slower opponents on the elbow. He cashes in nook threes earlier than his defender even realizes he left the paint. And he thrives, completely thrives, in any place head coach Chris Finch places him in.
“We’ve had lineups this previous 12 months the place I used to be the three. We’ve had huge lineups, in order that’s one thing that I’ve been engaged on and persevering with to work on,” Naz says. “Time will inform, however I can most likely transition to a 3, 4 or 5 on this League. So, I’m simply going to maintain engaged on it and hold increasing my function.”
In that function as first off the pine, Naz recorded essentially the most constant season of his profession in ’23-24. Fourteen 20-plus level performances within the common season behind a career-high taking pictures from deep. And his defensive instincts started to shine. With No. 11 on the ground, the Timberwolves recorded a League-best 107.9 defensive ranking. The notorious Recreation 2 that spawned a litany of tattoos noticed Naz enact a defensive masterclass. Within the first half alone, he stuffed Jamal Murray twice, then rejected Nikola Jokic on a pair of pictures.
Forward of the ’23-24 season, Naz signed a three-year, $42 million extension with the Timberwolves. The deal was 5 years of tumultuous work within the making.
His illustrious rise from Jersey to LSU wasn’t met with the identical quantity of enthusiasm you may need anticipated when he set his sights on the NBA. After a lone season in Baton Rouge, the 6-9 ahead went undrafted in 2019.
His 13.6 factors and seven.2 rebounds throughout that season have been sufficient to obtain SEC All-Freshman crew honors, however the League wasn’t biting. Considerations round his draft exercises and dimension have been highlighted.
“It simply made me extra hungry. It type of rose, type of modified to the place I used to be the hunted, now I’m searching at that time,” Naz tells SLAM. “In highschool, I used to be a high recruit, five-star, McDonald’s All American, issues like that, to the place now I needed to grind to be able the place I needed to compete towards others who have been at excessive ranges, who have been drafted and issues of that nature. So [I was] placing myself in that perspective of simply searching.”
Over the previous 5 seasons, Naz has hunted for extra minutes, extra pictures, extra defensive assignments and extra accountability. In each function he’s discovered himself in, he’s progressed. Dialing into the specifics issues—who he works out with, his every day routines, even what time he goes to sleep at night time—all of his habits are predisposed to how issues carry over into the following season. Consistency in his function, in his development, “that’s simply the important thing to the sauce, to be trustworthy.”
Because of this, the celebrity, the outpouring of affection and the appreciation he’s obtained have reached yet one more peak. From influencing a whole technology with how they lay the ball up as a 17-year-old to the cult following of his identify within the League, Naz has been coping with the numerous waves of notoriety for years.
“I deal with it as second hand and no matter comes with me placing the work that I put in, I’m excited to have,” Naz says. “Clearly, I’m actually humbled to have all that. I feel as anybody ought to on the skilled stage, take that together with the bumps and bruises. Simply hold being you and enjoying your sport.”
Standing in entrance of a blue seamless backdrop that lets the aurora inexperienced piping of his shorts pop, Naz holds the notorious “Naz Reid” towel outstretched throughout his again. That March 22 night was his favourite from this previous season. As 18,000 trustworthy unfurled the towels all through the world, Naz dropped 18 factors en path to a 13-point win over the Cavaliers. “That second was a second the place I needed to actually take it in,” he says. “I haven’t actually defined how a lot I appreciated that second and the way a lot that actually made me really feel so far as excited and needed and cherished.”
So we requested him to develop on that appreciation, to talk on to the followers. From Naz to the Timberwolves fan base, NAZ REID the cat and those that maintain his identify in ink, that is his message:
“I admire each single one among you guys. You guys have seen me are available in and work since day one, because the two-way signing to the place I’m now up to now,” Naz says. “I feel everyone is aware of how a lot work and dedication I put in and [the] aspirations that I put in to get to the place I’m now. It’s not going to cease now. That is solely the start.”
Portraits by Erik Isakson. Motion photographs by way of Getty Photographs.
