When I picture Sedale Threatt in my mind’s eye, he’s darker than he actually was, his head is so cleanly shaved that one might wonder if it even contains hair follicles, and his hands are like knives, slicing and stabbing away at the ball from absentminded ball-handlers and clumsy clods. Even in my minimal research, it turns out he was referred to as “The Thief.” Threatt was short for a combo guard (6’2”) and spent five of his 13 seasons in a Lakers uniform, but I also associate him with the Sonics where he spent four years. If you want to consider a modern-day Threatt, look to Mario Chalmers; another thieving point guard, but on less offensively aggressive by circumstance, but superior from the perimeter.
Additional Threatt research confirmed my suspicions that Threatt had some infamous off-court issues; namely that he may “have as many as 14” children and wasn’t paying child support.
I struggled about whether or not to include the reference to Threatt’s off-court issues, but ultimately decided on adding them as they make up part of my Threatt-related consciousness. In some cases, this can be problematic as certain athletes have their on-court/on-field personas unfairly overshadowed by off-field activities. As I move through these sketches, I will likely address legal or personal issues on a case-by-case basis and strive to be unbiased.
