Jason Kidd on growing up around Bill Russell in Oakland, California

An underrated hotbed for NBA basketball that gave us the 11-time champ, Jason Kidd had a front row seat.

The City of Oakland, California has long been a hotbed of basketball talent, the hometown of NBA and ABA greats like Bill Russell, Paul Silas, Antonio Davis, Jim Hadnot, and later, Cliff Robinson, Drew Gooden, Damian Lillard, and Jason Kidd. And it was a tight-knit community that Kidd opened up about in an interview with Andscape’s Marc J. Spears from 2017.

“It’s underrated,” said the Dallas Mavericks head coach to Spears of his childhood home, now back in the spotlight with rising twin Overtime Elite prospects Amen and Ausar Thompson. “We don’t get the attention that New York or L.A. gets,” he added.

“But there are a lot of talented guys who have made it to the highest level of basketball, a lot of guys who didn’t make it who didn’t get the light they have deserved at a high level.”