For two seasons, Tyshawn Taylor languished at the end of the Brooklyn Nets bench, getting more publicity for facilitating Jason Kidd’s soda spill than anything else he did in a Nets uniform. After leaving the Nets, Taylor spent time playing in Russia and Puerto Rico.
Now, he’s trying to help a different New York City team win $500,000 in a streetball tournament.
Taylor led the Sean Bell All-Stars to an 81-67 victory in the New York Ball Up Million Dollar Challenge Championship on Sunday, putting up 19 points and adding three assists, according to a report from Brooklyn Daily. The victory won the team $50,000, and they’ll have a chance to win $500,000 in Los Angeles at the end of the month.
He’s not the only former Nets point guard on the team. Sundiata Gaines, a Queens native who backed up Deron Williams with the New Jersey Nets and even started 12 games, is also on the team. The team has no other former NBA players.
Taylor, the team’s leading scorer, hails from Hoboken, New Jersey. He said he “appreciate(d) these guys welcoming a Jersey kid”:
“These are my guys,” said Taylor, who played in Puerto Rico last season. “I appreciate these guys welcoming a Jersey kid. This means that when people hear New York City and that we won this tournament, they recognize that we are good and that New York still breeds good basketball players.”
The team was named after Sean Bell, who was killed by New York City police in 2006. The team’s coach, Rah Wiggins, was a close friend of Bell’s.
Brooklyn Daily — Former Nets Guard helps streetball team win tourney
