Gigi Datome and Kyle Hines are the two most experienced players on the roster of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, yet their love for the game of basketball remains the same as when they first started playing. Aged 35 and 36, respectively, the two veterans sat down together to discuss their motivations and their journeys to this point.
"Keep on loving the game. I really love the game, to be up there and competing and building something important," says Datome.
"Really, I would tell myself, 'Hey, don't worry. Things are going to be okay somehow. You're going to struggle a lot of years, but somehow you're going end up happy.' But, it's tough. It's so difficult to suggest to any player a path to follow because we are so different. When I was a kid, if someone told me that you are going to be 35 in Milano after winning a title at the Final Four, cups and so on, and being national team captain, I would be… signing with blood. Again, as a player, maybe I remember a lot all of the finals lost and everything that I could have done more."
Hines agrees with his teammate's point and takes it further, stating that it is this mindset that has got them to this point in their careers.
"It's kind of strange how we remember the losses, or we are more impacted by the losses than we are by the wins sometimes," comments Hines. "It's kind of strange, but as you said, that's just kind of our nature and the nature of the business, I guess you could say. The nature of how we are and how we're wired."
For Datome, he believes that it is necessary to take a moment to stop and reflect on the situation that they are in as top-level basketball players.
"Sometimes it's tough, because you're hungry for a game or for a moment of the season, but if you take that moment to enjoy where you are, the teammates you have, the club you're working for, the organization… really, I feel lucky and lucky, and more lucky, every year," concludes Datome.