Life of Mavs Dads: Balancing NBA grind, birthday parties, modeling strong fatherhood
Summary
“We kind of want to change the narrative of, like, not being there,” said Theo Pinson, the team’s newest dad with 8-month-old Alana. “We’re their heroes. We’re like their role models and stuff like that. They don’t know it how blessed they are, but you also want to give them the best life you possibly can.”
A few weeks ago, Theo Pinson walked into the Mavericks’ practice facility and saw a distinct look on Dorian Finney-Smith’s face.
While Finney-Smith received treatment on the training table, he sat with his eye half closed, head tipped back.
Pinson, dressed in a sweatshirt with no T-shirt underneath and slides with no socks, could relate.
“Long night, wasn’t it, Doe?” Pinson joked.
“Little man did not want to go to sleep,” Finney-Smith responded.
“I already know,” Pinson said, “because I feel the same exact f—ing way.”
Welcome to the life of the Mavs Dads, no different from the typical erratic sleep and random mess all other parents with young kids face but with the additional challenge of balancing full-time NBA careers with their own late game nights and 41 road stops. That’s before hope for months of playoff focus, too.
Coming off the franchise’s longest home stretch in 16 years, then with seven of 10 games on the road including Thanksgiving in Toronto, the Mavericks are in the thick of another season in which parenting has become a connective force for the player-dads, most of whom are new to the squad within the last year.
“We kind of want to change the narrative of, like, not being there,” said Pinson, the team’s newest dad with 8-month-old Alana. “We’re their heroes. We’re like their role models and stuff like that. They don’t know it how blessed they are, but you also want to give them the best life you possibly can.”
Continue reading at Dallas News.