FULL INTERVIEW: KENDRA SITS DOWN WITH DESMOND BANE

FULL INTERVIEW: KENDRA SITS DOWN WITH DESMOND BANE

[Music] bane with the steal off the turnover vel chasing him down and Bane made sure flying charter what’s up guys i’m Kendra Douglas the team reporter for the Orlando Magic here with Desmond Bane desmond just how do you feel how how excited are you i mean welcome to Orlando yeah I’m I’m super excited um when I when I got the news um it was almost like it just went straight to excitement um coming here it’s a beautiful city um the little bit I knew about the organization everybody’s good people family oriented um and it’s been that way since I’ve been here a lot of the players reached out um so I’m I’m excited to be here and ready to get to work i want to talk about just the initial reaction going back to that where were you when you got the call what was that moment walk us through that journey yeah I mean it was Father’s Day um I was at breakfast with my with my wife and and my young son um and my GM had text me and said “You got a second.” So I knew something was up you know I didn’t know exactly what but he gave me the news and we had just ordered like two bagels or whatever where we was at and I like I was going through so many emotions i had the bagels and was walking out the door and just threw them in the trash and my lady was like “Where’s the food at?” I’m like “Oh my fault whatever.” Next thing you know one thing lead to another and uh here I am crazy i’m sure yeah happens fast happens fast and sure luckily you’ve been able to be here a couple days see the facility see everything there is a recently not recently there was a deleted tweet but of course Twitter finds it all everything and it said you know it was when WO tweeted out this new practice facility and you were like I need this do you remember that tweet i I didn’t but I I do now after the 20 people that sent it to me you know what I’m saying but now that you’ve had the opportunity to be here just what is it like to be able to now say that this is a place that you get to come to and that it’s somewhere where this organization offers for their athletes it’s a great place to call home um I mean I think it’s the people in here that really makes it special i mean we have all the bells and whistles and and everything like that but everybody here seemed extremely supportive and um to do it in a space like this i mean I saw people eating lunch outside on the patio all type of natural light coming in here indoor outdoor training facility it’s It’s uh It’s nice real nice i want to talk basketball now just what excites you about joining this magic core i think I think it’s hardworking talented competitive hungry guys um that want to win um and and that’s that’s where I’m at in my career um really want to want to get to to a championship and um start that that legacy and and build something special here and um I think all those guys have the same mentality um and not just the core I mean Wendell um all the pieces off the bench the young pieces that are continuing to get better i think we have a really really special group i’ve seen some of your interviews and you talk about defense and this is a team that really hones in on that just talk a little bit about your skill set of where you’re hoping you can see that fit in especially now with you’re going to be playing with guys like Paulo and France too that’s that’s going to that’s been the identity of this team this culture this organization um and I’m going to buy right into it and fit right in um I’ll do whatever um it takes to win you know I’m going to have a conversation with with Paulo France Jaylen I mean everybody and let them know that I’m here um to help you know I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes or I just want to fit right in and um make make all this thing work you’ve talked with Jaylen though too right like how many of the guys have you been able to to communicate with since being here a decent bit um I text with Wendell Paulo France um Jaylen Tristan Anthony Black i just talked to Jonathan um so yeah I mean I’ve talked to a decent bit of guys and um hopefully we can find time to get together before training camp just um get a chance to know each other before we before we set things off now that you’ve joined this group just what part of your game are you I guess more focused on improving on this season now with this team um I think just uh it’ll be interesting i mean cuz it’s a new group you know so I’m I’mma see where where my spots are and and where I fit in but um I think definitely space in the floor um you look at guys like Paulo and Fron and um their downhill and ISO ability just giving them them space um you gives a player like that some some room to work and um the rest is history so I think that’s something that I’ll be able to bring to the table right away this is an opportunity for Magic fans to get to know you a little bit more more you went to TCU so just talk about your journey at TCU and how it really helped shape just your journey to the league and and getting to this point yeah no I think TCU uh turned me into a grown man i mean I I uh came from a real small town of like 30,000 people in Indiana um graduating class of 20 kids in my in my high school class so real real small um so like going down to TCU was like a jumping off a cliff you know i mean into the into the deep end and um it was it was the best thing that could have ever happened um Coach Dixon was was great family environment um smaller campus um so taught me a lot about you know working hard but also just being a good person and um those things have have carried me um through my time in the NBA and and they’ll continue to carry me we’re if if people are wanting to get to know you um you have a free day in Orlando what do you want to do what are you doing with your free day um here in Orlando now it depend if it’s August or uh or October that’s true you know from what I hear if it’s August you stay inside but we we like the heat we like outdoors um so hopefully we’ll we’ll get a nice little place and I like to cook get on the grill um have barbecues like big gatherings family hopefully the team wants to come through and kick it um but yeah that’s that’s kind of my speed real laidback chill family guy mhm i’m sure you’ve already had tweets and stuff from the Orlando Magic group just seeing how dedicated they are how much they love this group the jersey reveals everything just what you know does it feel like now to really put on this jersey and know that you’re going to be representing this organization it feels it feels crazy i mean I was just in the locker room looking at myself like I ain’t know who I was you know putting this jersey on but it it it fits you know it feels good it feels right um and like I said I’m I’m happy to call this home awesome that’s so good to meet you and I think the Magic fans are going to be excited to see what you can do for this team so thank you thank you

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