DALLAS – Paul Washington still remembers the first time he saw his son do business.
It happened in a game played in Brooklyn, New York, which was part of Nike’s EYBL circuit, an under-17 league in which the Dallas Celtics, coached by Washington and directed by his son PJ, competed. A big man from the other team, the Arkansas Wings, had fouled young Washington hard.
“He kind of stomped on PJ’s head after (PJ) fell to the ground,” Paul said. “It was the first time he saw (PJ) like that.”
When PJ Washington stood up, he had only business on his mind.
“I just said, ‘Forget the play,’ and I ran and pushed him as hard as I could on his back,” he recalled. “And I just stood there.”
The benches cleared and Washington received a technical foul, but his team ultimately won. The incident can’t be found online like the one last month against the LA Clippers, where he stared at the opposing bench, arms crossed, in what he later called his “stand up for business” pose, but one of the Current Washington teammates can attest to that. he.
He was wearing an Arkansas Wings jersey when it happened.
“I remember it,” Daniel Gafford said, when asked about that play in his locker last week. “It was one of those days where he was very physical and the referees just let us play. We are young, we were in a bad mood. As soon as (PJ Washington) got fouled, he was always going to do that.”
Today, Washington and Gafford’s lockers are across from each other in Dallas. The teammates, who came to Dallas in separate deals with the Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards at trade deadlines, have started every game this postseason and helped turn Dallas into a team within three wins. of the NBA Finals.
Their shared traits (physicality, toughness, defense) have transformed the Mavericks into a defensive juggernaut that no longer relies on three-pointers or a high-powered offense to win.
“You have to have a certain edge to play defense,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said earlier this week. “Those two do. We’ve been able to see a little more of that advantage shown, and it’s what we needed. “Those two have delivered.”
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Washington and Gafford, both 25, have played with each other since they were kids. When he was in elementary school, Washington and his parents moved to Frisco, Texas, where Paul Washington founded the Dallas Celtics. The team traveled to play other teams, including teams from Arkansas, where Gafford was growing up in a small southern town called El Dorado.
While Washington was always viewed as a top prospect, Gafford had not prioritized basketball in the same way. Not until Antonio Buchanan, a youth basketball coach in Arkansas, saw him during a recruiting trip intended for a guard on Gafford’s high school team.
“I saw this lanky kid fall all over the court and I had no idea what he was doing,” Buchanan said. “He was a band boy. He played the drums. “So I started recruiting him.”
Buchanan convinced Gafford that he should coach him in ninth grade, and soon Gafford was on the Wings, one of the most prestigious youth teams in the state, on the Nike circuit. It was with the Wings that Gafford began facing teams like Washington more frequently. By his junior year, he had risen to become a four-star recruit, with coaches like John Calipari, then coaching Kentucky, and longtime Kansas coach Bill Self calling Buchanan to talk about him.
“Daniel didn’t know how serious it was until we got to 10th grade and started playing against PJ and all those guys,” Buchanan recalled. “He was like, ‘Damn, I have to fix my body.’ I have to clear my head.’”
Buchanan, who remains close to Gafford and describes him as his “long-lost son,” admitted that Washington teams usually emerged victorious against the Wings. “They always had a full team,” Gafford recalled.
But it was those competitions that turned these two into NBA players. One time, Washington drove from the baseline and nailed Gafford with a handball. On the next possession, Gafford returned the favor, snagging the ball off the backboard and dunking it.
“I got it pretty good and then he got me pretty good,” PJ Washington said. “But we ended up winning, so it was all good for me.”
Washington spent two years at Kentucky while Gafford played at Arkansas, where he also remained until his sophomore year. (Yes, Washington’s Kentucky teams also won both matchups they played against Arkansas and Gafford.) Washington was also selected higher, selected 12th overall in 2019 by the Hornets, while Gafford slipped early in the second round.
The two had never played together until the Mavericks changed that in February.
Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington fight for a rebound in a 2021 game while playing for their former teams. (Stephen Gosling/NBAE via /Keynote USA/Getty Images)
Now, it’s almost impossible to talk about one player without mentioning the other, especially when telling the story of Dallas’ transformation after the trade deadline. Both players had been toiling in low-visibility franchises when Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison identified their similar skills as what this team needed. But Harrison, who takes the Dallas job in 2022 after two decades at Nike, knew these players long before they arrived at college.
“He’s watched these two guys play (since they were) kids,” Paul Washington said. “That is the uniqueness it brings. It’s not that they’re fresh and new to him. He has been watching them do this for years.”
Washington has contributed scoring and defense to the Mavericks, excelling as an auxiliary defender and contributing 29 and 27 points in consecutive games in the last series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Dallas needed his physicality, his position in business, which led to the iconic moment that made him a local cult hero.
In Game 3 of the Mavericks’ first-round series victory over the Clippers, Washington found himself fighting with Los Angeles wing Terance Mann, who took issue with Washington looking toward the Clippers bench in the fourth quarter of a landslide victory for Dallas.
In response, Washington stood and stared more intently, his arms crossed over his chest, a pose that has become iconic. He later described it as saying that he was “down on business.” As Washington told Keynote USA, “(Mann) was angry because I was watching his bench, so I decided to watch it again.”
Like years ago, he received a technician. And just like it happened years ago, it was worth it when his team won.
Gafford doesn’t have that playoff moment yet, but Kidd was quick to point out how his energy can similarly drive the team.
“Just the emotion of expression helps us,” Kidd said. “We feed off that.”
Kidd pointed to one specific play, a blocked 3-pointer that Gafford sent into the stands during last week’s Game 6 against the Thunder. Moments later, Gafford stomped on the baseline as he yelled into the stands.
“Daniel’s screams on pick-and-rolls, (playing for) the Wizards, meant absolutely nothing to anyone,” Buchanan said. “But now, once you take it to the national stage on a big team, that means a lot.”
They’ve been like this all this time. The only difference now is that they will do it in the conference finals.
“They’re a great combination,” Kidd said. “And we’re glad they’re here.”
(Top photo: Glenn James/NBE via /Keynote USA/Getty Images)
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