“I’m going to let you know the real, and I’m going to let you know the real as I can about me.”

My mother taught me to always be strong and always work hard. She’s been working hard her whole life for me and my brother. I’m a lot like her in that I work hard for what I want. She taught me that.

Everything has been such a whirlwind ever since I stepped foot in the league and everything has been like a dream, so I’m just blessed to be in this position.

Everybody. No matter how they feel about me, everybody on Oklahoma City, on that team, of course I watch them. I support them. I want them to do well.

I want them to get a pulse on us as players, and a lot of players might not want that, but that’s what I want.

I failed so many times and got back up. I got through the toughest times with my family, but I’m still standing.

I’ve been second my whole life.

And last, my mom. I don’t think you know what you did. You had my brother when you were 18 years old. Three years later, I came out. The odds were stacked against us. Single parent with two boys by the time you were 21 years old. Everybody told us we weren’t supposed to be here.

I want to show people who I really am, especially aspiring basketball players who want to be at this level. That’s what I’m about.

Music has always been a big part of my life. It’s kind of like a refuge for me. I just use it to get away.

I look at my jersey and see the NBA logo, I’m like, ‘I didn’t think I’d be here.’

I’ll play all five positions if my team needs me to.

Work harder than your opponent.

I just loved being in the gym. It was tough at times. Sometimes I wanted to quit, but I’m glad I stuck with it.

I’ve been more content with just who I am.

If I continue to just get to the playoffs every year, I guess you could say I arrived, but right now I’m just trying to find my way.

You hear all these stories about, ‘There’s one in a million guys that make it to the NBA and stay there.’ To see people cheering for me and when they say my name, it’s just crazy. It’s still crazy to me.

The day Obama got into office, rap was less important because Obama gave kids an alternative. But will rap ever go away? No. There will always be a need for poets.

It’s absolutely right that we scrutinise the leaders who after all are going to be in a position of great power.

Being that I’m a tropical black man I don’t get to see much snow. When I see snow I go crazy. That’s why they call me Sasquatch. There’s no Sasquatch found in the snow so I had to go back to my Sasquatchian roots.

There are a group of people who would like to silence everybody and have everybody go along to get along, but that’s not going to be very helpful for us in the long run, in terms of solving our problems. And somebody has to be courageous enough to actually stand up to, you know, the bullies.

I think they’re going to force us to eat lots of cake and then take an unreasonably long nap.

If I continue to just get to the playoffs every year, I guess you could say I arrived, but right now I’m just trying to find my way.

Fashions come and go, but style is forever.

There’s always going to be pressure, and there’s always going to be an area where you disappoint. As a storyteller, you have to understand that.