Most basketball players have a routine that they like to go through prior to stepping up to the charity stripe for a free-throw attempt, right? Some like to position one foot directly behind the nail (a small marker on the middle of the charity stripe), while others like standing to the left or right of it. Some like to dribble or spin the ball a certain way before taking a foul shot.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Iman Shumpert can be counted among those players who have unique on-court tendencies. “Shump,” as he has came to be known, is one of the more light-hearted and funny characters on the Cavs’ roster, as most fans of the team know. His big smile can be seen all the way from Loudville. In a recent interview with USA Today, the former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket revealed that he can often be heard singing during games.
“I sing during the game,” Shumpert said. “There’s literally times when we’re sitting on the free throw line and I’m singing a song and the other player’s about to shoot a free throw and is like ‘Shump, seriously?’ And I can’t help it …
“Hey, my teammates don’t mind it. Sometimes LeBron, sometimes (Kyrie Irving) would be singing it with me.”
Both Shumpert and his wife, Teyana Taylor, have been under the influence of song for most of their lives. Teyana is an extremely gifted singer and performer who appeared in Kanye West’s Fade music video, and Iman, who is more talented with bars than you might realize, has released a couple of EP’s of his own over the years.
“Me and Teyana’s dynamic is very creative,” Shumpert said. “We feed off each other. It’s one of those things there’s a lot of people that you start to catch a vibe and you start doing something and the attention comes and everybody comes and swirls around it and people back off. But with Teyana and me, it’s the only time I could zone out … it’s just one of those vibes that I know if I’m with her, I can get there on that vibe.”
With the start of the 2017-18 NBA season approaching fast, Cavs fans won’t have to wait much longer to see (and hear) Shumpert on the court.