I'm not trying to be different. To me, I'm just being myself.
In life, if you stay quiet, you'll get left behind. So I had to learn to be more vocal and outgoing.
Embarrassment is where growth happens.
I think it's becoming cool to have mental toughness or to meditate. It's a thing, but I don't think people really understand the value of it.
People will come at me telling me to wear this or wear that. If I don't like it, I don't like it. They couldn't pay me to wear it. If it's something I can rock with, I'll rock it. I'm more interested in being completely authentic to me. In my opinion, being myself is making a statement.
The chips fall into place, but the educational experience I had at Cal, second to none.
LeBron's a good player, but I look at him as just a regular guy to me.
There's bigger threats in my neighborhood than LeBron James, so I have no fear whatsoever of LeBron.
I try not to think about the things I can't control.
At Berkeley, you wore a hoodie and pajamas and Birkenstocks, and that's swag. I was so thrown off. What I thought was cool wasn't cool no more, so I thought about what I actually liked. I started experimenting. I started wearing Birkenstocks. I wanted to dive into the culture.
I really like black. I love wearing black, different aesthetics and shades. I like earth tones. Those are my go-tos.
I'm not really worried about anybody or anything. I think I have a lot to offer. It's just, with your rookie year, your body, it's just a lot. It may seem foolish, all those dunks and stuff: they look cool, but it takes a toll on your body, for sure.
I hate taking pills. Like, I probably haven't taken a pill in over 10 years.
I learned to play chess at a young age, and I think that's where learning to plan things out and put things in position, that was the best thing for me.
There's this idea of America that some people have to win and some have to lose, so certain things are in place to make this happen. Some people have to be the next legislators and political elites, and some have to fill the prisons and work in McDonald's. That's how America works. It's a machine which needs people up top and people down low.
Before you can lead anybody else, you gotta put yourself in the right position to be successful.
I think that's kind of who I am. I just try to be vocal and try to lead by example.
Athletes aren't allowed to have an opinion. It's tough. Athletes are evolving right in front of our eyes. You see athletes who are politicians, etc., and still, we're told to shut up and dribble.
A lot of people didn't know why I went to Cal. The Bay Area, Silicon Valley, I wanted to put myself in that position where I'm not only successful on the court but off the court.
I'm just trying to be the best basketball player, the best student, the best son, friend, etcetera. I'm just trying to get better in every facet.
