Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is struggling initially. His first three shots during warmups clang off the rim. This is before one of the most significant games in Thunder history, a nationally televised home game on March 9th against the Denver Nuggets. Gilgeous-Alexander is a contender for MVP alongside Nikola Jokic, and this head-to-head matchup could influence voters. He needs to find his rhythm.
With 78 minutes until tipoff, after his three misses, a ball boy quickly bounce-passes another ball to a coach, who feeds it back to SGA. He fires off the three unsuccessful shots in about ten seconds before sinking the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh jumpers. Suddenly, he`s sharp and remains so for the next two hours. His brief shooting slump lasted only about 15 seconds, thanks to the three ball boys scrambling to supply him with basketballs.
Throughout the warmups, Joel Yasuda and two other ball boys diligently track and retrieve rebounds for the home team. At any given moment, three basketballs from different Thunder players might be airborne. Yasuda and his colleagues are frequently struck by falling balls as they fill the space above them. This is a typical day for an NBA ball boy.
The term `ball boy` is actually a misnomer for these crews. The Thunder employ only adults, both men and women. Referring to them simply as `ball people` still doesn`t fully convey their crucial role and extensive duties. Once games commence, the ball boys transition to positions as part of the towel crew, team attendants for both benches, and assistants in the equipment room. They are constantly active on the court during games but are seldom noticed or credited. These positions are mostly part-time, with wages typically ranging from $12 to $15 per hour. Despite this, the NBA could not function without them.
With 68 minutes left before the game, SGA leaves the court, passing Chet Holmgren, who is stretching near midcourt with balance exercises. Holmgren eventually finishes with his elastic bands and signals for a ball. Yasuda, 20, passes it to an assistant who feeds it to Holmgren at the 3-point line.
Holmgren is also starting cold. His first two shots of the day hit the front of the rim and zip like missiles toward the three ball boys. Yasuda retrieves the second miss and throws it to an assistant coach, but Holmgren has already launched another 3-pointer. This one hits the back of the rim, making a dull thud as it soars towards the arena ceiling.
The ball bounces past Holmgren to half court, where ball boy Bobbie Roy catches it and throws it back. Roy is responsible for managing the ball rack at midcourt, acting as the basketball supply chain for both teams.
Holmgren takes a fourth 3-pointer, and this one is all net. The next one swishes, and the one after that too. Three consecutive makes. He has found his shot, just in time for tipoff. The countdown clock drops below 20 minutes, and the arena lights dim. It`s time for introductions, offering the ball boys a brief rest for their necks – but not for long.
The easy part of their night is over.
On a game day, the hidden areas of an NBA arena are fascinating to witness. A multitude of support staff work tirelessly in the background, setting up benches, organizing basketballs, cleaning uniforms, filling water bottles, and fulfilling any other request from 24 exceptionally talented athletes and their coaches. When players need something, it appears. When they need to dispose of something, it vanishes. If they`re hungry, they might give a ball boy $100 for takeout. And when they sweat, it`s mopped up almost instantly.
This level of service wasn`t always the norm in the NBA. When Marc St. Yves was hired by the Seattle SuperSonics as a 13-year-old in 1979, the team`s athletic trainer also managed equipment, ball boys, travel, and numerous other essential duties. Today, St. Yves is the Thunder`s VP of Logistics and Engagement, and the team employs 24 ball boys as part of a large support staff.
St. Yves holds a unique place in Thunder and NBA history. He was an immediate prodigy as a ball boy, working harder than anyone could expect. Early in his time with Seattle, the arena roof leaked during a rainstorm, and St. Yves had the challenging job of running onto the court between every play to soak up the water. By the end of the second quarter, officials recognized it was an impossible task despite St. Yves` efforts, resulting in the NBA`s first rainout.
At that time, only two NBA teams had a full-time equipment manager. The Sonics were such a low priority in the Seattle sports scene that they had almost no storage space at the arena. Equipment was stored in various locations across the city during the offseason, and St. Yves was one of the few who knew where everything was. When the team trainer left two weeks before the 1987 season, a Sonics staff member took St. Yves` parents out to dinner and pleaded with them to let St. Yves leave college early to become the NBA`s third full-time equipment manager.
They agreed, and St. Yves never left, even when the team moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2012. He exemplifies how a role as a ball boy can lead to a full career. Over the past 40 years, St. Yves has consistently advanced within the Thunder organization. He is now a VP overseeing security, travel, and the equipment team.
Despite his high position, St. Yves still possesses an exceptional knack for recognizing talented ball boys. Over a decade ago, he hired a teenager named Wilson Taylor, who is now the Thunder`s equipment manager responsible for the ball boys and is the NBA`s reigning Equipment Manager of the Year.
They have cultivated a ball boy culture that is significantly more professional and organized than what St. Yves experienced when he started. Taylor conducts what amounts to a ball boy scouting combine each year, testing applicants` hustle, ability to quickly clean spills, and rebound for players.
Two hours before the Nuggets game, the ball boys start arriving. Yasuda and others check in with Taylor in the equipment room beneath Paycom Center, where daily assignments are posted. He uses a board, similar to a coach`s, with magnets bearing everyone`s names to determine roles.
Taylor has expanded upon St. Yves` legacy with an operation that runs with military precision. He has created what feels like a small shopping area within the unseen corridors of Paycom Arena. There are shelves stocked like a drugstore with razors, soap, shampoo, floss, and gum. Nearby is a mini-laundromat with washers and dryers capable of handling six times the load of typical home units. And, of course, an abundance of towels worthy of a luxury hotel – the Thunder use around 500 towels on a standard game night. Taylor stocks plain white towels, higher-quality white towels with the Thunder logo for the home team, and enough premium bathrobes for a small resort.
As the game approaches, the six assigned ball boys briefly leave the court for a final break or water. Then they become what Taylor calls his `tac teams` (tactical teams). This might sound exaggerated for six young individuals seated court-side, but watching them work makes the term understandable.
Two ball boys are positioned behind each hoop. Their primary role is to bring out Swiffer-like mops during timeouts and after free throws. They also receive cues from a ball boy stationed on the court near both baskets. For significant spills, all three quickly respond.
For this game, Yasuda is the ball boy on the floor near the Thunder bench. As pregame introductions begin, he grabs a blue cushion and a white towel and moves to his corner spot. He will spend the next two hours positioned on the floor, ready to combat the main hazard for professional basketball players – a slippery court.
Sweat is unpleasant. Yet, it represents one of the most critical evolutionary traits in human history. Our sweat glands have made us the only animal capable of reducing heat through glands. Other animals can regulate their body temperature, but it`s more challenging. Dogs pant from their mouths, bumblebees regurgitate fluid onto themselves, and seals urinate on their own bodies. Human sweat doesn`t seem so bad in comparison, does it?
`Sweating is humanity`s superpower,` states Sarah Everts, a journalism professor at Carleton University in Ontario and author of the book `The Joy of Sweat.` `It`s our evolutionary secret weapon that has allowed us to inhabit every part of the world.`
However, sweat is a serious injury hazard for every NBA player. A fan`s spilled drink or water on the sidelines is one issue, but most player sweat on the court also contains sebum, a waxy natural fluid that moisturizes skin. When sweat mixes with sebum, it creates an oilier substance that is harder to absorb than pure liquid, turning the court into a breeding ground for bodily fluids if not promptly removed.
The Thunder towel crew is trained to dry sweat puddles, then perform a quick `foot check` where the crew member firmly plants their foot on the floor to ensure no slippery residue remains. Yasuda is tall and slender, and when he does a post-mop foot check, he slams his sneaker onto the court much like a frustrated golfer might hit the ground with a wedge.
On this particular day, the starting lineups for the Thunder and Nuggets include some of the world`s most impressive athletes – a group earning nearly $250 million – moving at incredible speeds, pivoting off the hardwood. The organizations trust Yasuda and his team to quickly clean up the sweat, blood, spit, and water players leave behind.
`I constantly remind our crew: You have the most critical job in the arena, without question,` St. Yves says. `Players` safety directly depends on them doing their job effectively.`
As the game tips off, the six tactical team members settle into their positions on the court. After Jokic misses a free throw early on, two crew members wait for players to cross midcourt, then each works one side of the free-throw lane with mops, meeting in the middle. When they reach the spot where Jokic was shooting, they touch mops and begin walking backward, mopping as they go but keeping an eye on the other end of the court to ensure a fast break isn`t coming their way.
`It gets a little stressful for my family watching the games,` Yasuda comments. `My mom said she held her breath the entire game today, and my sister mentioned her heart rate increased.`
Most teams use a similar towel crew setup, with a primary person for normal sweat situations and rapid responders for unexpected incidents. March was particularly eventful for towel team supervisors. When comedian Tracy Morgan became ill in the front row during a recent game, the Knicks` towel crew spent ten minutes frantically cleaning the area. Morgan was later wheeled off the court, covered by a towel. `Appreciate my MSG family for taking such good care of me, and I need to thank the crew who had to clean that up,` Morgan later said, blaming food poisoning. `More importantly, the Knicks are now 1-0 when I throw up on the court, so maybe I`ll have to do it again in the playoffs.`
At a Lakers game the previous week, Luka Doncic retrieved the ball between James Harden`s free throws in the fourth quarter and wiped sweat from his forehead with it. When he flipped it towards referee Sha`rae Mitchell, she gave him a look of disgust and let the ball bounce several times. She called a delay of game violation, refusing to pick up the ball with her hands. She kicked the ball towards the corner, and out of nowhere, one Lakers ball boy tossed a towel to another, who quickly wiped the ball down and threw it back to Mitchell. A camera captured LeBron James entering the game and making a gesture suggesting disbelief.
At halftime of the Nuggets game in OKC, Yasuda takes a short break. He looks up into the crowd and waves to his family. His parents got season tickets when he was a toddler and started bringing him and his sisters to almost every home game. He remembers being captivated by the players and the games, eventually studying the supporting figures too. He noticed security guards, the scorer`s table staff, and especially the ball boys. Their jobs looked exciting. He recalls seeing Wilson Taylor, who is now his boss, darting around the court.
His eyes would often drift to the visitors` bench, where team attendants cared for players like James, Steph Curry, and other opposing superstars. He still remembers about ten years ago, noticing one team attendant who stood out. Most ball boys and attendants looked like college students, but this man seemed around 40, twice the age of the others. Yasuda wondered if the man had made a career as an NBA ball boy.
Someday, he thought, I want to be just like that guy.
Then-Nuggets coach Michael Malone is frantically signaling for Jokic to return to the game. Denver had taken an early double-digit lead but watched the home Thunder surge back to lead late in the second quarter while Jokic was off the court.
Jokic leaps from the Nuggets bench and attempts to shed his warmup jacket as he enters the game. He finally gets it off but forgets about a large heating pack wrapped around his waist. He`s already a foot onto the court when a man appears behind him, picking up Jokic`s jacket and closing in on the Serbian star. He gently tugs on the heating pack, and Jokic pauses momentarily without turning around. The man unfastens the pack, gathers it with the jacket, and disappears behind the bench as quickly as he arrived.
That man is Marty Jones, 47 – the older gentleman Joel Yasuda used to notice on the court. Jones has been with OKC since 2012, following the team`s relocation from Seattle. On this day, Jones is one of two Thunder employees managing the visitors` locker room and bench, which includes retrieving gear players shed.
Jones is a middle school teacher by day and a ball boy by night. However, his days of rebounding and towel duty are behind him. `I`m too old for that,` he says with a small laugh. He is a quiet, gentle person, but he works incredibly hard to accommodate visiting players. He`s been doing this long enough to become friendly with several NBA players, particularly older ones like Steph Curry and Vince Carter. `They`ve been around, and so have I,` he notes.
Team attendants are closely related to ball boys within an NBA equipment crew`s structure, and many employees move between these roles. Team attendants have almost always started as ball boys, and ball boys often have experience as team attendants.
Towel crew members typically earn slightly more than team attendants (around $15 per hour versus $12), but attendants frequently receive significant tips, making their overall earnings potentially much better. They work closely with both teams – most NBA teams treat the visiting team exceptionally well, especially OKC. The Thunder even have a cart named `The Taylor Cart,` after Wilson Taylor, which is essentially a rolling mini-store. It`s stocked with shaving cream, razors, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, floss, and gum for the visiting locker room. `If we didn`t have gum, there`d be a total meltdown,` Taylor says.
Taylor is regarded as an excellent boss. His staff appreciates how grounded and understanding he is. He has performed all their jobs and worked his way up, so he understands what it takes to have a flawless game and meet the demands of professional athletes, who can sometimes be particular. Additionally, he has fantastic stories from his time as an eager ball boy years ago.
Once, when Caron Butler joined the Thunder in 2014, he told Taylor he required at least three McDonald`s straws per game. He liked to bunch them with his teeth – Taylor calls them `straw logs` – and chew on one for about 45 minutes before getting a new one. They specifically had to be McDonald`s straws with the red and yellow stripes. So Taylor visited a local McDonald`s and asked for the manager. He explained the situation, and the manager provided him with a box of 500 for the season. `Caron was very happy,` Taylor recalls with a laugh.
His staff also finds amusement in a laminated photo of Carmelo Anthony that Taylor keeps in the equipment room. It`s a picture of Anthony when he was with the Thunder, looking utterly miserable. Written on the photo is, `Don`t forget my sleeves,` referencing the tight arm sleeves Anthony wore for every game of his career. Anthony had told Taylor on day one that he needed a new pair nightly and couldn`t play without them.
But in one game, Taylor forgot to put them in his pocket. Anthony looked distraught as he walked onto the court to enter the game. Taylor sprinted to the equipment room as play resumed. Anthony played a few minutes before Taylor returned with the sleeves. `I almost took myself out of the game,` Anthony said, and Taylor could tell he was serious.
Taylor`s staff transforms into a high-speed pit crew at halftime. When the Nuggets and Thunder leave the court on March 9th, the area under the players` benches is littered with fluid, empty water cups, protein bar wrappers, and gum. Within five minutes, however, Jones, Yasuda, and the rest of the crew have teamed up to clear cups and mop up liquids.
Most crew members are between 18 and 25 years old, many attending college. Yasuda is a sophomore at Oklahoma, studying finance. Initially, he considered following his parents into the medical field and becoming a doctor. But after taking his first college biology test, he realized, `Nope, that`s not happening.` He is one of several ball boys with aspirations for a career in the NBA.
The Thunder have a career development plan for their ball boys and team attendants that is as carefully constructed as Sam Presti`s strategy for the actual team roster. Many progress from ball boy to team attendant and potentially into full-time roles in the equipment department. Several ball boys mentioned their excitement when the Thunder`s G League team plays at home, as they often receive greater responsibilities during those games. St. Yves and Taylor serve as excellent examples of the paths a skilled ball boy can take in basketball.
Yasuda plans to finish his degree at OU, but his real focus is working in an NBA equipment room or as a video coordinator. `Joel is a very high-performing kid,` says his boss, Taylor. `He has a lot of potential.`
Jones has no such career ambitions in basketball. This is simply a rewarding part-time job he works hard at 41 nights a year. He is married with two older children and works his teaching job during the day before coming to handle the visiting locker room for home games. There`s always plenty happening for visiting teams. Jimmy Butler consistently offers a $100 tip to whoever will fetch him food from Raising Cane`s. Last year, Gradey Dick requested jumbo playing cards. Team attendant Dave Brylewski called almost every store within 25 miles of Paycom Center before finding a CVS that had a deck. `Hold them for me, and I`ll be right over to get them,` he told the store.
St. Yves remembers Shaq once asking a visiting team attendant during a game for an old-school Walkman for the plane ride home. The attendant left mid-game, went to a store, and returned with a Walkman. Shaq gave him $100 – plus a $1,000 tip.
Team attendants have a busy job, but it`s usually not as frantic as what the ball boys experience. Falls cause absolute panic. Huddles and free throws can create messes, certainly, but those are dead ball situations. With falls, anytime a player hits the floor, Thunder towel members are instructed to rush onto the court and dry it as thoroughly as possible, often while play is still ongoing. Cameras rarely capture it, but in person, it`s astonishing how often some of the world`s fastest athletes are only 25 feet away from a college freshman furiously toweling the ground.
Against the Nuggets, Yasuda faced the two biggest wipeouts – and wipe-ups – of his young career. The scariest occurred when Jamal Murray missed a 3-pointer and tumbled to the ground. Murray believed he was fouled and stayed down, staring at a referee with his hands raised. The other nine players broke toward the other end before Murray finally rolled onto his side and started to stand.
In the corner, Yasuda is crouched, poised to surge onto the court. His right hand holds a towel while also serving as a base for launching his body – he`s almost in a defensive lineman`s stance, but with a towel pressed to the ground. He has to sprint to the 3-point line as the game continues nearby. A steal and an outlet pass heading his way would be disastrous; the ball boys had previously shaken their heads at the thought of someone like Luguentz Dort sprinting back toward them mid-mop. And rightly so. `I`m glad our ball boys are fast,` Dort says with a smile. `I will run through them. I will not wait. I`ll keep going.`
Yasuda is at the top of the arc on his hands and knees, scrubbing intensely. His eyes never leave the play at the opposite end, and he is fortunate that Alex Caruso pulled up on the fast break and started running an offensive set. By the time Isaiah Hartenstein`s floater goes through the net, Yasuda has already ducked back into his spot on the floor. `My goal is just to escape to the sidelines,` he explains.
Later in the game, Caruso is knocked down on an and-1 play under the hoop, remaining on the floor for a good ten seconds. By the time Caruso`s teammates help him up, Yasuda has been waiting behind him with a towel the entire time. Caruso, likely the Thunder`s heaviest sweater, is barely airborne when Yasuda drops to the ground and frantically starts drying the floor with rapid, circular hand motions. He looks like someone hand-scrubbing a vintage car, but in fast-forward. Caruso casually walks towards the free-throw line a few feet away as Yasuda cleans up the aftermath of the fall.
By that point in the fourth quarter, the Thunder begin to pull away. SGA has a poor shooting night from long distance (2-11 on 3s) but is brilliant from mid-range near the free-throw line (13-22 on 2s), finishing with 40 points. Holmgren, still recovering from a pelvic fracture in November, looks agile, scoring 14 points on 6-10 shooting.
`Props to our ball boys,` Holmgren says after the game. `It`s extremely important to find your shooting touch before the game. Every time I come to the arena, I need to find that rhythm. Sometimes it`s not immediately there, so having rebounders is crucial for getting us the ball back quickly. You can take ten shots consecutively in a way you can`t if you`re rebounding for yourself. You can build your rhythm. That happened for me today.`
After the game, the roles of ball boys and team attendants converge again. Yasuda and his tactical team help clean up around the home bench, while others assist Jones with the Nuggets bench area. They collect discarded towels and cups, then mop and dry any remaining liquid. They will eventually do a quick sweep of the entire court with their mops as well.
As they fill two rolling towel bins, someone mentions the relief that they don`t have to deal with a repeat of two nights prior, when the Thunder starters rested during a win against the Blazers. Afterward, the team dumped ice and water on backup Jaylin Williams, who had just achieved his first career triple-double. The ball boys initially tried mopping, but quickly realized they were just pushing ice and water around. Three ball boys ultimately needed about 25 towels to soak up the water and scoop up the ice cubes.
After the Nuggets game, Yasuda tosses his white towel into a bin on his way off the court. He still reflects on how recently it was, just a year and a half prior, when he took the court for his first home game and nearly tripped Steph Curry as Curry was rebounding for the Warriors during warmups.
Leaving the court today, Yasuda`s mom and sister wave down to him from their seats. He is at an age when some college students are drawn to fraternity parties and fake IDs. But Yasuda possesses a strong passion for his job. `I`m not really a party guy,` he says. `My job is what I do for fun.`
An hour later, Yasuda walks out of the arena with a bounce in his step. He`s heading to get dinner before preparing for classes tomorrow and another game against the Nuggets the following day. Friday was demanding, Sunday was demanding, and Monday will be very demanding. He will have spent a significant portion of 72 hours chasing rebounds, sprinting to dry sweat, and crouching on a small blue pad, all while an NBA game is unfolding nearby. This seems like a lot for a 20-year-old. One might expect him to be exhausted and concerned about his energy level.
`Nah, this is the life I want,` he states. With that, he heads towards his car outside the arena. The day is done, and he barely broke a sweat himself.