SAN ANTONIO — Tonight, the San Antonio Spurs' G League affiliate, Austin Spurs, will take over the AT&T Center as they host the Agua Caliente Clippers at 7:30 p.m.
And making his way back to his San Antonio roots is Austin's Jordan Murphy.
The San Antonio native played at Brennan High School from 2012-2015. He earned Class 6A All-State and District 27-6A MVP honors and as a senior, he led Brennan to a 31-3 record.
Following his time at Brennan, Murphy played at the University of Minnesota from 2015-19, posting 13.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 29.3 minutes per game in 133 games. As a senior, he was selected to the NABC All-District First Team, All-Big Ten First Team, and Big Ten All-Tournament Team.
Murphy was traded to Austin from Iowa on Jan. 13, and now being a part of the NBA team he grew up watching is a dream come true for him.
In this one-on-one chat, Murphy talks about his days at Brennan, his favorite Spurs players, playing at the AT&T Center, and much more.
Jeff: So tonight you will be playing at the AT&T Center and you'll be back home since getting traded to Austin. How nervous and fun will it be for you tonight?
Jordan: Yeah, for sure. I am a little bit! I'm going to try to get as many people as I can there, always going to make me very nervous. From a young age, every little kid wants to play at AT&T Center.
Jeff: Coming back home to San Antonio, what are some of your fondest memories playing for Brennan?
Jordan: I have a lot of good memories of Brennan. It was such a good time for me. I transferred there my sophomore year. We made State the first year I was there.
That was one of the better moments. All three years I've spent at Brennan we made the playoffs, we made deep runs. They just really helped me get to the spot where I needed to be in basketball and they taught me a lot more off the court than they did on the court. They helped me be a better person overall, just going to that school and having the reputation that it has.
You must have been overjoyed when you found out you'll be part of the Spurs organization when you got traded from Iowa. How did you find out?
I was honestly very excited because I didn't really anticipate going there for too long. They told me within two days and I was just very excited, obviously.
It was very, very close to my hometown and very close to my parents, more importantly. My sisters can come to see me play and that's just one of the biggest things that I think that a lot of people take for granted when they're in high school, middle school, whatever, when their parents are around, they rarely see them play as much and when you go off to College of Minnesota and play in Iowa, that's not as frequent.
So being here is a blessing and having such a good situation that we have here is really a blessing for me as well.
You played at Brennan during the Spurs' dynasty years. Who were your favorite players?
I was always a really big fan of Manu [Ginobili] and Tim Duncan growing up. Just being able to see the way they interacted with each other and then Tony Parker, obviously, but just being able to see how those three interacted with each other on the court.
The unspoken understanding that they had amongst each other about professionalism on the court, being able to understand where each other are in every play, having that type of chemistry is special and I think that having that type of prolonged chemistry is something that we rarely see in the NBA today.
Has it hit you yet that tonight you'll be playing in San Antonio on an NBA stage?
It's going to be very, very humbling. Very much a dream come true but I grew up watching games at AT&T Center, going to go see them play the Kings or whoever's in town that night.
Every basketball player that grew up in San Antonio has a dream to play at AT&T Center. No matter how much they don't want to admit it's definitely a dream. So, I'm definitely going to relish it and just enjoy having my family there, my friends and I hope to have a good game.
Hoping I have a good size crowd there and just hoping to have a lot of my people there so they can all see just another dream off the list I have to scratch off.
You've played in the U.S. and overseas, what do you tell people about San Antonio?
It's always really unique. I tell people all the time that if you go to San Antonio any part of the year, you have to go during Fiesta time. That's a must. The city is just very lit up, very lively. People are out, people are friendly, having fun. I think that really encompasses the spirit of San Antonio in itself. Just having fun, enjoying your time there.
Are you giving the fans some excitement on the court tonight?
(laughs) Hopefully, I can get something. I got to do something for people that are coming out, so hopefully, I can get something done. I try not to keep the expectations too heavy but I definitely want to make some people proud.
Murphy is making an immediate impact for Austin. He set a new career-high in rebounds with 17 on Feb. 25 at Memphis and has led Austin in rebounds five games so far this season.
Twitter: @KENS5, @JeffGSpursKENS5