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Learn more at vertexinck.com. Yo, yo, welcome to Stargazing, a show about the figures and influencers that surround

the superstars in NBA culture. I'm Yovam Buha, NBA reporter at The Athletic.

Joining us now is Zach Gonzalez, a player development coach in the NBA.

He previously worked with the Lakers for a season and currently works with Clay Thompson,

Austin Reeves, Peyton Pritchard, Juan Tiscono Anderson, Max Christie, Frank Kaminsky,

Mack McClunk, among many others. He played college basketball at Warner Pacific University.

He's a NorCal native. Zach, thank you for doing this. How are you doing today?

I'm doing great. Thank you for having me on. It's a pleasure.

Let's start with this. How and when did you

fall in love with basketball? I felt in love to basketball, I think, when I was about three.

My uncle played basketball at the local high school. I'd go to watch him. And then it was around

six years old when the local high school asked him to be their ball boy. It's like water boy.

So then I was always at the high school games. I just fell in love with it there, just being around the guys and the team camaraderie. I just loved it. So I really fell in love with the game, you know, around that age between three and six. I was always playing it. Had the little little basketball hoop in the house. Super competitive. and it was probably my favorite memories. That's a kid crying if I lost. You know, so a lot of good times, a lot of good times. You grew up in the Northern California area. Were you a Warriors fan? Were you a Kingsan? Were you a Lakers fan? I know there's a lot of Laker fans in NorCal. Or were you a player-specific guy? Or what were you a fan of? I was a fan. Funny how life works. I couldn't stand the Lakers. I couldn't stand the Lakers. So when I started to understand basketball, it kind of like, oh, it's a team game. This is how people play. It was when the Kings are really good.

So, the Kings and Lakers, you know, rivalry. But I was a Bulls fan growing up. And just because you always hear Jordan. So I was like, oh, yeah, I'm Bulls fan, even though never watched them. They're never on TV. But when I started watching the game, like, full like, okay, set screens. I was around like six, seven.

It was Sacramento Kings were like my favorite around them.

Okay. of watching the game, like, okay, set screens. I was around like 6, 7.

It was Sacramento Kings were like my favorite around then.

Okay, so we're talking.

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