Coming To America: Skal Labissiere’s Journey to the NBA
On March 18, 1996, Skal Labissiere was born in the capital of his home country, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Labissiere was born into a relatively normal household living with his mother, father, and brother. He had been in love with the game of basketball at a young age and had been playing organized basketball while in Haiti. It helped that he was 6'7 by the time that he was thirteen years old. Things were looking bright for the young man going forward in his playing career. Then, an event happened that would change his playing career, psychological mindset, and life at home for the rest of his life.
January 12, 2010
On January 12, 2010, when Labissiere was only 13, tragedy struck his home country. A catastrophic, 7.0 magnitude, earthquake violently left destruction all over Haiti. It was an event that left over 160,000 casualties. And it also affected the Labissiere family. Skal had just come home from basketball practice when the quake struck. And the quake destroyed the Labissiere’s home. A wall collapsed onto Labissiere’s back forcing him to crouch in his 6'7 frame. Debris also fell onto his mother and brother until all three were rescued 3 hours later by their father. That forced crouch by Labissiere left his legs numbs for weeks and rendered it impossible to walk. The first of many leg troubles he would experience throughout his career.
Departing Haiti
A few months after the earthquake, Skal Labissiere joined the Reach Your Dream Foundation, created by Gerald Hamilton. His program took athletes from disadvantaged countries and allowed them to play in the states to get a chance at making the pros. Labissiere along with fellow Haitian player, Samuel Jean-Gillies went to live with Hamilton and his wife in Memphis, Tennessee and attended the Evangelical Christian School. Labissiere was only 14 and didn’t know any English whatsoever.
High School
As an Eighth Grader, Labissiere made ECS’ high school Varsity team. He played 22 games but rarely got any playing time. He averaged just 2.7 PPG and 1.6 RPG. Academically, he needed a French interpreter for 3 months until he learned to speak English fluently. After receiving little playing time at ECS through his high school tenure, Labissiere transferred to Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, TN in his Senior Year. The move however rendered his ineligible to play due to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. Labissiere again turned to Hamilton for help. The Reach Your Dream Foundation created a team that Labissiere played out his Senior Year on. He averaged 26 PPG, 12 RPG and 4.5 BPG elevating to the Second Best High School Prospect in the ESPN Top 100. On November 13, 2014, Skal Labissiere committed to the University of Kentucky.
University of Kentucky
Labissiere came into UK with VERY high expectations, with even some mentions of his name amongst the NBA Draft’s Number One Pick. Labissiere however underwhelmed drastically once arriving to the Wildcats. Playing alongside Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray, Labissiere averaged just 6.6 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 1.6 BPG on 52% from the field. He started in only 18 games. To make matters worse, the Wildcats found themselves out of the Big Dance in the Second Round losing to Indiana. Labissiere had 4 points and 5 rebounds. In an utterly shocking move, Labissiere decided to declare for the 2016 NBA Draft nonetheless, although his draft stock was drastically lower than the beginning of the season.
Welcome to the NBA Kid
With the 28th Pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, the Phoenix Suns select, Skal Labissiere from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti and the University of Kentucky. On that same night, Labissiere, Georgios Papagiannis, and Bogdan Bogdanavic were traded to Phoenix in return for Marquese Chriss. Skal Labissiere had now made it into the NBA. He made his official NBA debut on November 5, 2016, notching 8 points. By March 1, 2017, Labissiere found himself in the Starting Five. A few days later, on the 15th of March, Labissiere tallied 32 points and 11 Rebounds and becoming the first player from his draft class (2016) to tally at least 30. He also earned the record of being the youngest King to notch a 30–10 game.
Future in Sacramento
For the foreseeable future, Labissiere is looking like one of the important factors in Sacramento’s future. So far in the 2017–18 Season, Labissiere is averaging 12.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG, and 1.0 BPG on 54% Shooting backing up Zach Randolph. It’ll be interesting seeing how Labissiere develops going forward in his career.
See ya next time,
Jayden
