Cason Wallace on Thunder’s breakout season: “We’re gonna show everybody we belong”
The Oklahoma City Thunder rookie shooting guard spoke to Yahoo Sports’ Krysten Peek about his adjustment to the NBA and the biggest thing he’s learned from his teammates this season. Cason joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of Panini.
Video Transcript
KRYSTEN PEEK: I'm Krysten Peek here with Cason Wallace, Oklahoma City guard. We're here all-star weekend in the Panini VIP lounge Cason, your first all-star. I know you just played in the rising stars game. How's the experience been?
CASON WALLACE: The experience was great just being out there with all the other guys and being amongst some of the greatest players that came out of the last two classes. It was an honor.
KRYSTEN PEEK: And we're here with Panini in the VIP lounge. What does it mean to be a partner with them and see your face on a playing card?
CASON WALLACE: It's surreal kind of because I used to collect trading cards. So I recently found my binder that had them all in them. So, to have my own card is a blessing.
KRYSTEN PEEK: What player do you have the most of cards-wise when you were young? Who did you collect the most?
CASON WALLACE: Looking at the binder, I think I had a lot of Kobes.
KRYSTEN PEEK: Oh.
CASON WALLACE: Yeah. I don't know how much they're worth now, but--
KRYSTEN PEEK: OK, and your rookie season, take me back to draft night because you see what Sam Presti is building with OKC. And when you look at rebuild, I mean, OKC is doing it differently than anybody else. What is it like to be a part of that and walk into an organization that just has a lot of buzz around it?
CASON WALLACE: We all been talking about, even before I got there, how young we were but how we didn't want that to be a crutch.
KRYSTEN PEEK: Yeah.
CASON WALLACE: And we're just going to embrace it and show everybody how we belong in the league as well.
KRYSTEN PEEK: And you playing behind great guards like Shea, like Josh, what are you learning from them in this rookie year?
CASON WALLACE: One, you got to have patience. I feel like Shea plays with a lot of patience, and that's how he creates his own buckets. And with Josh, being able to see the floor, that's something that I picked up. You know, he's one of the best passers in the league, in my opinion. So just picking up those two from them is good.
KRYSTEN PEEK: Defensively, I feel like that's what you were known for at Kentucky. I know that's what OKC liked about you coming in. Who has been the hardest player to guard, do you think, so far this season?
CASON WALLACE: Besides Shea in practice, I'd say Malik Monk. He got some game.
KRYSTEN PEEK: Fellow Kentucky.
CASON WALLACE: Yeah, yeah. His brother is my agent too, which is kind of crazy. But yeah he's tough. He's tough.
KRYSTEN PEEK: All right, well, Cason, thank you so much. Good luck the rest of the season and have fun at all-star.
CASON WALLACE: Thank you.