Cory Higgins, the player his father fired from the NBA

Higgins throws despite Thompkins' opposition, in the Cup final, Emilio Cobos / Europa Press

Cory Higgins broke his calm and imperturbable image for once after culminating in the WiZink Center the performance that won him the award for the most valuable player of the Cup. Squeezed by Mirotic, loudly and clashing hands with Jasikevicius, raising his hands. Trophies, his and the one that identified Barça as champions, the 31-year-old Californian forward enjoyed one of the high points of his career, the best since he dressed as a Barça player.

After scoring 20 points for Real Madrid, in line with what he did the previous days against Unicaja and Baskonia, ecstasy arrived, the moment to jump with happiness with the Barça-colored shoes customized for him, Mirotic and Calathes, with the word

friends

on the tongue.

Madrid coach Pablo Laso had foreshadowed it the day before: “Nobody talks about Higgins, but he is being the best player in this Cup”.

The effusive celebration and tribute from the Barça star and coach demonstrate Higgins's quiet charisma.

One sentence sums up his mood: "I don't have nicknames, I'm a simple guy."

• "We had a champion mentality"

Since arriving at the Palau from CSKA Moscow in July 2019, he has shown the technique, vision of the game and efficiency that have earned him unanimous recognition.

However, during his first season, under Svetislav Pesic, he did not play at the expected level.

In addition, he ended the bad taste in his mouth of missing the last shot in the League final, a triple that spit the iron and that left the title in the hands of Baskonia.

This season, with the arrival of Jasikevicius, the coach who insists that no one is above the team to the point of verbalizing that basketball is not tennis or golf, Higgins has felt more comfortable and has taken a step forward, say the Barça technicians.

Especially coinciding with the mess that ended with the dismissal of Heurtel and the absence of Mirotic in several games, the 22nd Barça player has finally fulfilled the expectations that accompanied him when he arrived at Barcelona after four seasons with CSKA.

With the Moscow team he won two Euroleague.

Apprentice to the stars

But his career is inextricably linked to his hallmarks.

Whether he wants it or not, he will always be accompanied by the hallmark of being Rod's son, a forward who played 13 seasons in the NBA and, above all, that of being the godson of the legendary Michael Jordan.

Whatever you win and whatever you do, now too, the shadow of Jordan and his father Rod is captivating.

“I started playing as soon as I could catch a ball, I don't even remember, maybe since I was three years old,” he explained to EL PAÍS in an interview in 2019. “My father taught me practically everything.

It is the reason why I play basketball, where I get my fundamentals and my intelligence on the court ”.

In addition to his father and Michael Jordan, he had the opportunity to train alongside figures like Stephen Curry during a summer campus.

“I have worked with several

hall of famers

(players that appear in the Hall of Fame).

It is a blessing to work alongside them.

You should try to take everything you can from those experiences and add them to your game. "

His father met Jordan for one season when he made his NBA debut with the Chicago Bulls.

One day in 1985, twenty-something Jordan's car broke down in the Chicago Stadium parking lot.

Rod took it upon himself to take him home.

It was the beginning of the friendship that led to Jordan sponsoring Cory.

When the legendary Bulls player became the owner of the Washington Wizards, he hired Rod as general manager.

"I was a ball boy when he played his last two seasons in Washington," he recalls.

When Jordan acquired the Charlotte Bobcats, he was also joined by Rod Higgins.

And they signed Cory, who after studying at the institute, including the subject of Spanish until the age of 16, concluded his university stage in Colorado, where he received a degree in sociology.

It had not been

drafted

by the NBA.

After a season and a half and just 44 games for the Bobcats' No. 11, he got a call from his father.

They had to make room in the team for Jeff Adrien, a player who also did not settle in the NBA and who now plays in Saudi Arabia.

"Son, you're fired, you're leaving the team," Rod told Cory.

"It is difficult to succeed in the NBA and it is common to have to look for life abroad," Corey agreed with resignation.

After being cut off by his father in Charlotte, he began his European pilgrimage, in 2013 at Zenit in Saint Petersburg and, later, at Gaziantep in Ankara.

"One, when you play in the United States, you think that everything goes one way, but when you compete in Europe you realize that you have to learn again many aspects and details of the game," concludes the great protagonist of the Copa del Rey.

Sergio Rodríguez: "Finish like Tony Parker"

Sergio Rodríguez, who yesterday celebrated the victory in the Italian Cup with Armani Milan, played with Higgins for two years at CSKA Moscow. In 2019, they won the Euroleague, in Vitoria. “Cory is a shy and quiet guy. He is very loyal on the court and you know that he will always show his face. Although his style is not the typical one of the Americans ”, the canary analyzes. “He is a very good defender and very effective in the finishes. He has a very good last step and is very skilled, a bit in the style of Tony Parker ”, he compares in relation to the French point guard, four times NBA champion with San Antonio, and retired in 2019 in Charlotte.