It was a devastating blow to a summer that was supposed to be a new beginning. After a whirlwind journey that took him from a first-round pick with the Oklahoma City Thunder to quick stops in Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Utah, and even a season in China, Darius Bazley was finally getting his real shot. He was absolutely lighting up the NBA Summer League for the Los Angeles Lakers, playing with the fierce drive of a man on a mission to “revamp his career.” Then, in one horrifying instant, everything changed. He was carried off the court in a wheelchair, a scary, non-contact leg injury threatening to derail it all.

The timing? Brutal, absolutely brutal. Bazley had been the Lakers’ most consistent performer all summer, putting up 12.3 points and a team-best 2.3 blocks per game. He was showing everyone that defensive skill that once made him such a highly-rated prospect. This chance meant everything to him. His entire journey, really, has been about one thing. “Right from the top, I want to make something clear: My dream, for as long as I can remember, has been to play in the NBA,” he once wrote for The Players’ Tribune. So, to truly grasp the incredible strength he’ll need for this recovery, you have to look at the people who have been his rock from day one: his parents.

Who are Darius Bazley’s parents?

Darius Bazley’s parents are his mother, Lynitta Bazley, and his father, Darius Bazley Sr. While his dad has mostly stayed out of the public eye, his mom, Lynitta, has been the undeniable anchor of his journey. From the packed high school gyms in Cincinnati to the high-stakes meetings that would define his unusual path to the NBA, she has been his biggest cheerleader.

Growing up, Lynitta worked up to three jobs at a time just to support her family. That kind of sacrifice surely taught her son a deep sense of gratitude and how important it is to work hard. Her role as his main advisor became super clear when Darius made the huge decision to skip college and go straight to the G League.

It was a move that shocked the whole basketball world, but Lynitta was right there with him, fully supporting his choice. “This is history in the making, and this could open up the doors for so many people behind him, which is a good thing,” she told Yahoo Sports at the time. “I will always encourage my kids to make history, to be the best that they can be… This could be a very huge success story and I’m willing to go for it. I’m always going to be by his side, pass or fail.”

That steady support created a bond so strong that Bazley once used his mother as the ultimate way to show respect for his coach at the time, Mark Daigneault. In a moment where he was truly open, he explained how connected he felt with his coach by comparing it to the most important relationship in his life. “There isn’t a single thing in this world I would not do for my mom,” Bazley said, “and Whatever Mark Daigneault asks of me, I am going to do.” For Bazley, you can’t give higher praise than that.

What ethnicity are Darius Bazley’s parents?

Darius Bazley’s parents, Lynitta and Darius Sr., are African-American. He was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, but his real story is from Cincinnati, Ohio. That’s where his family’s background and culture truly took hold and made him who he is today. In a powerful story for The Players’ Tribune, he described a busy home that naturally pushed him towards basketball. “I grew up in a big family with two brothers and four sisters,” he wrote. “When there are that many people around the house, you’ll usually try to find any excuse you can to get outside. For me, that excuse was basketball.”

It was in that Cincinnati neighborhood, on those local courts, where his dream truly began. It felt real for the very first time after a particularly tough loss in high school. “I’ll always remember my first offer because my coach told me about it after a game in which I’d played terribly,” he wrote. “I think we’d lost by 20 and I was slumped down in the locker room when he came up to me and said, ‘Keep your chin up.’… ‘Toledo just offered you a full scholarship.’ That was dope.” It was a moment that showed him that even on his worst days, his potential was still clear.

Darius Bazley’s relationship with his parents

So, why would a top player turn down a scholarship to Syracuse, a sure path, to bet everything on himself? For Darius Bazley, the answer is simple and deep: his mom. His strong connection with his mother, Lynitta, is the absolute base of his entire career. Her steady, solid support gave him the huge confidence he needed to take the less common, often criticized, path. Even as the big college offers came in, Bazley was completely honest about his main goal. “I looked at all of them the same way: As a one-year stop before declaring for the NBA draft,” he admitted.

When the wild idea of an internship with New Balance came up, it was his mother who was right there with him, navigating the uncharted territory. In a piece for The Players’ Tribune, Bazley described a pivotal conversation he had with his mom and coach about skipping college to play professionally. It was a path no top recruit had ever taken, and it meant giving up the chance to be the “big man on campus and play in front of 33,000 screaming fans at the Carrier Dome.” As he wrote, “That’s not easy to do.”

That decision was a calculated one, made after deep conversations with his inner circle. “This is a life-changing decision,” Bazley said at the time. “I put a lot of thinking into this with my mom and close circle… Ultimately, playing professional basketball has always been my dream… This is going to put me one step closer to doing so.” He saw the G League as the most direct route to the pros, a chance to learn NBA schemes and compete against NBA-level talent every day. “The G League is the closest thing to the NBA,” he explained. “I see most guys now are spending time in the G League even after they went to school and the draft, so this gives me the chance to accelerate the process.”

The stakes for his Summer League were very high, he was playing for a guaranteed spot on an NBA team. This terrible injury brings new, painful uncertainty about his future. But if his journey has taught us anything, it’s that he’ll face this challenge head-on, with his family’s strong support right behind him.