During a recent episode of the “Born Ready Platform” podcast, Lance Stephenson and his buddy, Darius Adams, recalled a funny and embarrassing incident they had with Lance’s father, Lance Sr., also known as “Stretch.”
Adams played for the University of Indianapolis from 2009 to 2011, while Stephenson was with the Pacers from 2010 to 2014. One time, when both of them were in Indiana together, they went clubbing at a local club and met a group of girls from Cincinnati. After having fun in the bar, Lance and Darius thought that it would be a great idea to “take home the girls home”.
Pops wanted Lance to save his energy for Melo
Home for Lance, however, during his early years in the NBA, was with his parents and younger brother Lantz. That’s because after the Pacers picked Stephenson 40th overall in the 2010 NBA Draft, he moved his entire family to Indianapolis with him. And so even if he had become the breadwinner, Lance Sr. was still the head of the family. As such, his dad remained the judge, jury, and executioner.
Lance Sr. was a war veteran who served in Vietnam. As such, he raised his son with the kind of discipline that he learned from the military. It stayed that way for as long as junior was under his roof, even if it was his salary that provided that roof.
In that particular instance, Lance tried to test his pops. However, “Stretch” wasn’t having any of it. With a game against the New York Knicks the next day, he wanted his son to keep his focus and, well, conserve his energy for Carmelo Anthony.
“So my pops is just smoking outside, me and Darius coming, about to walk in the crib,” Lance started the story. “We got the joints, they all hype. We like, ‘Yo, we about to tag team these joints right here.’ I ain’t gonna lie. My pops like, ‘Oh, don’t you got a game tomorrow? We got Melo motherf—-r. You ain’t bringing these hoes. Get these hoes out of here. Motherf—r, who the hell you talking to? Bi–h a– ni–a. Bye hoes, no d–k tonight!'”
“Stretch” always wanted the best for Lance
Although Lance was disappointed that he did not get what he wanted that night, he knew that his dad was just acting the way he had always been when it came to his basketball career. From the day he was born, “Stretch” knew he had a “beautiful basketball baby” and so he guided his son every step of the way, even when Stephenson was already in the NBA.
“It was a lot of pressure, man. My dad, when we were younger, he used to be like, ‘Yo, you go get all the records. You go get all the chips. We going to do it. I used to be just running like, ‘I don’t know.’ So my dad was gassing me the whole time. If it wasn’t for my dad motivating me every day, telling me like, ‘Yo, you could do this. ‘ I wouldn’t be the player I am right now,”said Stephenson on Melo’s “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast a couple of months ago.
Lance and Darius had a good laugh while recalling that incident, and it’s hard to blame them. However, funny and awkward as it was, it showed how determined “Stretch” was to make his son succeed. Stephenson used to call himself “Born-Ready”, and he was right. He was always ready because he had his dad with him throughout his NBA journey.