Game: An Autobiography
The headline of the April 1995 GQ cover story asked, “Can Grant Hill Save Sports?” The article opens with a mocking description of a party in downtown Detroit thrown by one of Hill’s Pistons teammates filled with “hoodlums” and people who “you just know had guns stuffed in their pockets.” Hill, an African American, stands out within this otherwise stereotypical portrayal of wealthy Black athletes and urban America. Some contemporary critics regarded this article as proof that Hill could save the NBA’s public image while others pointed to it as evidence that due to his privileged upbringing and Duke education he was out of touch with modern NBA players. Hill explains in his 2022 autobiography, simply titled Game, that while he hated the demeaning portrayal, he still felt like he “inhabited different, divided worlds.” (193) Hill’s efforts to operate within these different worlds provides a through line for his life story.
Compared to many of his basketball contemporaries, Hill’s career was relatively free of controversy. One exception though occurred in 2011 near the end of his playing career, illustrating Hill’s continuing loyalty to his alma mater and ways he was defined by and against what he felt were narrow conceptions of Blackness. In the 2011 ESPN documentary The Fab Five, former Michigan point guard Jalen Rose asserted, “I hate Duke and I hated everything Duke stood for. Schools like Duke didn’t recruit me. I felt like they only recruited Black players that were Uncle Toms.” Hill took considerable offense at “such a blanket, erroneous allegation,” particularly being called an Uncle Tom. (337) Rather than going on television to state his side, Hill responded to Rose via an op-ed in The New York Times where he speculated that the claims were linked to the absence of Rose’s father (former NBA number one draft pick Jimmy Walker) from his life. Hill contends that “Jalen seems to change the usual meaning of these very vitriolic words into his own meaning, i.e., Blacks from two-parent, middle-class families.” He draws on his own privileged, upper-class background to refute any association between the derogatory “Uncle Tom” label, Duke, and, by extension, himself.
The spat with Rose was resolved within a week, and the whole ordeal, Hill notes, brought them closer together than they had ever been. Throughout his autobiography, Hill emphasizes how he is always conscious of race and how it shapes his relationship with basketball. Just as he implicitly did in the Times op-ed, here he contextualizes this discussion in relation to his parents and family members who overcame structural racism and prejudice through their individual work ethic and education. He credits his lengthy basketball career to hard work combined with flawless execution, an ethic instilled in him by his parents, a former NFL running back and politically connected Washington D.C. insider.
A considerable portion of the book details Hill’s experiences at Duke from 1990 to 1994 playing for Mike Krzyzewski. Affectionately (and pragmatically) nicknamed Coach K, he retired at the end of the 2022 season after forty-two seasons at Duke where he led the Blue Devils to thirteen Final Fours, five national championships, and a record-setting 1,202 wins. Hill was a central part of three Final Fours and Duke’s back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992. Coach K and his most famous teams continue to be the subject of numerous books including sportswriter Ian O’Connor’s recent Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski (2022) which covers much of the same ground as Hill. Game becomes another part of the celebration of Coach K’s historic career, this time from his most renowned player.
Throughout his autobiography, Hill emphasizes how he is always conscious of race and how it shapes his relationship with basketball. … here he contextualizes this discussion in relation to his parents and family members who overcame structural racism and prejudice through their individual work ethic and education.
Hill draws a clear link between Coach K’s motivational skills and his sustained success. He details different strategies and techniques the coach used both at the abstract and quotidian levels to keep the team playing at an elite level. Following disappointing losses, Coach K would often put players through exhausting workouts (a practice later banned by the NCAA). He kept the team motivated after their successes as well. After Duke’s first title, Coach K demonstrated the “ability to cultivate and nourish the unyielding faith.” (75) That season, following a close loss to their hated rivals, the University of North Carolina, Coach K treated the players to a dessert bar. Hill explained that although seemingly counterintuitive, Coach felt that the team needed a rest after losing their first game in months. But later that season, after a loss to Wake Forest, Coach K yelled at the team, calling Christian Laettner “a prima donna.” Instead of standing up for his maligned teammate, Hill gushes, “For a coach, it was genius to send a message to a team by getting after its best player.” (90)
Despite behaviors that were borderline abusive, Hill credits Coach K with empowering his players in both major and seemingly insignificant moments. In the 1992 NCAA Tournament Elite 8 match-up against Kentucky, with Duke one point down in overtime and only two seconds left, Coach K asked Hill whether he could make a full-court pass to Laettner. For Hill, “The question empowered me with ownership.” (100) Laettner’s successful two-pointer became known simply as “The Shot,” and one of, if not the single most renowned plays in college basketball history. Duke went on to defend its title by beating Michigan and the Fab Five, including Jalen Rose, in the final. Hill reinforces the mythology of great coaches by only having laudatory things to say about Coach K in his memoir.
Despite behaviors that were borderline abusive, Hill credits Coach K with empowering his players in both major and seemingly insignificant moments.
Hill frames “The Shot” as another example of Coach K’s unflappability, regardless of the situation on the court. He recounts a rumor that Coach K asked student managers to film him on the sidelines during games, later studying the footage, “ensuring that he continually modeled a steady demeanor.” (100) Particularly in relation to many of his coaching contemporaries, Coach K always exuded relative calmness, something which directly impacted how players like Hill responded. Although Hill admits that he did not know if the rumor was true, he nonetheless “prints the legend” as it fits his broader narrative of Krzyzewski.
After being drafted third by the Detroit Pistons in the 1994 NBA Draft, Hill entered the league with tremendous expectations. He found success and popularity in his first year, including leading the All-Star voting and being named co-Rookie of the Year. When Nike mismanaged their pitch to him, Hill signed a massive shoe deal with Fila, the Italian fashion brand looking to break into the U.S. market. After debuting his signature shoe at the All-Star game, the sales surpassed even Fila’s expectations, selling over 1.5 million pairs in his rookie season, the most since Air Jordan I. Offers from other companies kept coming in and, following Michael Jordan’s footsteps, he became a spokesman for brands including McDonald’s, Sprite, General Motors, TAG Heuer, and Kellogg’s. Although Hill discusses his various interactions with Jordan, he unfortunately does not share his thoughts on being anointed the “next Jordan” and the expectations that may have come with that label. Hill’s professional development continued when he was named to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics men’s basketball team that steamrolled the competition on the way to winning the gold medal. Holding his own against established stars like Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon in practices provided him a more meaningful challenge than playing other teams. Despite this positive momentum, Hill was continually riddled with self-doubt and a lingering feeling that he did not fit in, something that plagued him for much of his career.
While Game provides a nuanced perspective on African American masculinity, its omission of any references to women’s basketball is at times striking. For example, the book’s discussion of the 1996 Olympics makes no mention of the women’s team which similarly dominated their competition to win gold. It was led by Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer who holds the record for most victories in women’s college basketball history. The WNBA was formed in 1996, building on the success of the women’s Olympic team. Its absence from the book is jarring since the WNBA had teams in Detroit and Orlando at the same time Hill played for those teams, and both shared their respective arenas with the Pistons and Magic. This omission upholds conventional understandings of female athletes as subordinate and less interesting than men like Hill and the teams he played on.
Holding his own against established stars like Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon in practices provided him a more meaningful challenge than playing other teams. Despite this positive momentum, Hill was continually riddled with self-doubt and a lingering feeling that he did not fit in, something that plagued him for much of his career.
The promising start to Hill’s NBA career was derailed by lingering injuries that were misdiagnosed by team doctors first in Detroit and then in Orlando. Game provides detailed insight into the physical and mental impact of persistent injuries on players. Hill recounts how his ankle nagged him for months with the Pistons, requiring more time and treatment just to get on the court. His injury issues worsened after joining the Magic in a sign-and-trade deal in 2000. Arriving as a marquee-free agent, Hill felt pressure to produce right away. Despite continuing issues with his ankle, he fought to stay on the court and play, even though he had not been medically cleared and there was no rehabilitation program in place. Ultimately, he was only able to play four games in his first season with the team and just forty-three over the next two. Over the course of three surgeries, Hill contends that his recovery was hampered by a lack of communication between the organization and the doctors who best understood his progress.
In March 2003, Hill returned to Duke for a fourth procedure, this time to correct his extremely bowed leg which was diagnosed as the cause for the pain. After issues arose with closing off the post-surgery incision, Hill developed a life-threatening staph infection. He ended up staying in Durham for six weeks, missing the entire 2003-04 season. Even after his near-death experience he thought of his Duke coach, recalling, “Coach K told us to focus on the present. My present was here, recovering, and I was grateful to be alive in it.” (307)
After six seasons with the Magic, where he was continually limited by injuries, Hill was once again a free agent. He received sizable offers from numerous franchises (including the Pistons), signing with the Suns in part because he hoped their venerated training staff could extend his career. Along with his new teammate Steve Nash, Hill explored the science of sports recovery and rehabilitation. The detailed medical attention worked for him, and in his second season with the Suns, Hill played in all eighty-two regular season games for the first time in his career. No longer belabored by lingering injuries or what he felt were communications issues with team doctors and officials, the Suns represented a “palate cleanser” where he could be healthy and add value to a franchise. (339)
Following a short thirty game stint with the Los Angeles Clippers, Hill retired and pursued interests across the fields of entertainment and business. He co-founded a private investment fund and ultimately invested over $150 million in commercial real estate transactions. Hill had begun working on television while still playing when invited by ESPN to work as a studio analyst for the 2007 playoffs after the Magic were eliminated. Although he never envisioned himself in television, he co-hosted a relaunch of NBA Inside Stuff and served as both a studio commentator and color analyst for NBA and college games, including the NCAA tournament. Along with his television work, Hill become a public figure in ways less typical for a former NBA star. He became involved in politics, campaigning for John Kerry and later Barack Obama. Hill even learned that his mother had mentored Michelle Obama, further illustrating how well-connected his family was. Hill expanded his collection of African American art, an interest that he directly links to art gallery visits he took as a kid with his father, who encouraged him to build his own collection. He explains that he “sought pieces that reminded me of my cultural inheritance,” including time spent with his family, and “beauty crafted from an often-painful history.” (296-97) As he describes his collection, it is easy to see the connections between the artwork, basketball, and the injuries he endured.
Game provides detailed insight into the physical and mental impact of persistent injuries on players. Hill recounts how his ankle nagged him for months with the Pistons, requiring more time and treatment just to get on the court.
Combining his love of basketball and interest in finance, Hill sought to become one of the rare athletes who moved into team ownership. After the owner of the Clippers was forced out, Hill was part of a consortium that attempted to purchase the team in part by leveraging his status as a former player. Although they were outbid, Hill joined a different group that purchased the Atlanta Hawks. He explains that Michael Jordan and Robert Johnson were the only two Black people to have ever been majority owners of an NBA franchise, and notes with pride that only two years removed from playing he was vice-chairman and co-owner of the team. The book concludes with his selection to the Hall of Fame as a player in 2018. While Hill achieves one of the greatest individual accolades in the sport, his daily aches and pains serve as a constant reminder of the physical toll of his playing career. Although Game may lack the scandal and drama of other basketball autobiographies, it is an important story that allows readers to appreciate Hill’s unique basketball skills and accomplishments as well as the ways he successfully navigates the often-contested worlds of Duke and the NBA.
