“I was young and I was playing with a …

“I was young and I was playing with a superstar, and he was allowing me to sit with him on the plane and go over each possession,” Nurkic said. “And he would tell me straight up: ‘This is wrong.’ “I didn’t have experience playing with great players — that’s not disrespecting teammates in the past, but that’s a fact. So to me, it was like, ‘I can be way better if I listen and do what he says.’” The seeds of trust and respect had been planted. Soon, a friendship would blossom.