Before he was a popular NBA analyst stuck between a bickering Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith had one of the most promising starts in the NBA. Now the 2x NBA champion is an author too. He stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live to talk about his memoir, Talk of Champions: Stories of the People Who Made Me. Speaking of people who made The Jet, you can’t skip the legendary Bill Russell.

He drafted the 1986 FIBA champion to the Sacramento Kings in 1987. Almost immediately, Russell took Smith under his wing. And the rookie had to follow a rule to have some of the Mr. 11 Rings’ fairy dust rub off on him. “The late great Bill Russell drafted me into the NBA and was my first coach. And you know the interesting thing I had… they had a rule. I had to sit next to him on every bus ride.”

While most of us would give anything to ride shotgun with Bill Russell, the reason why Kenny Smith was made to sit with the coach was peculiar (and maybe a little superstitious). “Because he’s like, ‘you know you want to be a champion or you want to be a loser like them.’ So he’s like so I used to have to sit next to him.”

Russell worked like a charm for Smith but not for the Kings. Russell would retire from coaching in 1988. Smith would later end up with the Houston Rockets where he won the 1994 and 1995 championships. He won that second title beating the Shaquille O’Neal-led Orlando Magic.

The benefits of riding with Bill Russell

There were more perks to sitting with Bill Russell. Most of them include life lessons that stuck with Smith. He revealed to Kimmel that he heard so many stories during the bus rides with the 11x NBA champion.

“He would just tell stories and in the middle of a story he’s like, ‘yeah, so I was going and Martin was coming back…’ I’m like, ‘Martin?’ Like, ‘yeah, Martin Luther King.'” Cue shock from Kimmel and his studio audience. “Like just randomly… like people that I read about in history, he actually knew on a first-name basis and it was just a bit… was overwhelming.”

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Russell was a lifelong social justice activist alongside his celebrated career. He indeed had a close friendship with MLK. Despite this being known facts in the history of the world, it was understandably surreal for Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith.

His experiences with Bill Russell as his coach along with his other coaches as well as his friendships with Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Shaq form a huge part of his memoir.

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