Reggie Miller is known universally for his contributions to the game of basketball. The NBA Hall of Famer spent nearly two decades playing for the Indiana Pacers and immediately transitioned to the broadcast booth upon retirement, joining Turner Sports in 2005, where he has remained ever since. His passion for the game when he was a player and now as an analyst is obvious. But Miller has an equal passion for another sport— mountain biking.
On Saturday, Miller will take part in the Life Time Tahoe Trail mountain bike race, one of Life Time's 30 annual cycling and running events. The course stretches 62.1 miles and consists of two laps around Lake Tahoe. Ahead of the race, Miller spoke to Sports Illustrated about his passion for mountain biking and why Life Time events appeal to him. Miller also spoke on JJ Redick's hire by the Los Angeles Lakers, how he would feel if TNT lost NBA media rights, and more.
Sports Illustrated: You’ve been with TNT for a long time and signed a contract extension with the network earlier this year. How do you feel about the possibility that TNT loses NBA rights in the next media rights deal?
Reggie Miller: Look, obviously I would be saddened if we don’t have a seat at the table. I’ve only known two things basically in my whole life— 18 years with the Indiana Pacers, one team, and going on 19 years with Turner. Think about that. Almost 40 years of basketball and I’ve only known two things. For us not to have a potential seat at the table, of course it saddens me. We have great relationships with the league and a lot of the current players. My teammates, I feel we put on the best telecast. Whether it’s our Emmy-award winning Inside The NBA with Ernie, Kenny, Charles, and Shaq or some of the best shot-callers in Brian Anderson and Kevin Harlan. Would it be sad? Of course. But life goes on.
But everything I’m hearing, and again, this is way above my pay grade, negotiations are still going on. Until it’s a definitive no and it didn’t happen, I’m gonna keep hope out.
SI: What are your thoughts on the JJ Redick hire by the Lakers, and are there any aspects of the color commentating job that you think could help him as a rookie coach?
RM: Think about it. Other than actually coaching or being an assistant coach, I think the role as a basketball analyst, your job is to break down film, break down tape, break down the game. From our standpoint we see all 30 teams if you’re lucky. You see all these coaches, different schemes, different gameplans. You’re seeing the game at the highest level. On top of that, you’ve played the game at the highest level. I think JJ is going to bring that expertise, having seen all these different coaches and elite teams. He’s a lifer in terms of basketball if you’ve listened to his podcast, was one of those guys who was kind of like me, stayed in the gym and worked on his craft. I think he’s going to bring that mindset.
At the end of the day, it’s nice to have the luxury of a LeBron James and Anthony Davis, two guys that have won championships to lean on. I think at times he’ll probably take his lumps. But he’s hired a very experienced coaching staff. He’s surrounding himself with guys with a lot of NBA experience. Especially Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan. Those guys have been around the block a few times. He’s going to lean on them as well and at the end of the day the basketball gods will have the last say on whether he’s ready or not, right?
SI: Is that a leap you ever considered taking?
RM: No. I don’t think I have the temperament or the patience to coach. I don’t have the patience. I don’t. I know I probably could, but I would invest too much in it. Very much the same in how I invest a lot in my two passions now, being an analyst and cycling. If you’re going to do it you’ve got to go all in. I don’t know if I’d have the patience to do it.
SI: You became a main character again, of sorts, in the Knicks-Pacers rivalry when you called their playoff games this postseason. What was that like for you?
RM: First of all, I love team rivalries. In basketball they like to push the superstars, and rightfully so. But there’s got to be something said about team rivalries. I grew up in Riverside with Lakers versus Boston. Both organizations, teams, cities, states, didn’t like one another! That’s what drove and fueled everything. Yes, they had great players in Magic vs. Bird. But when you get the fanbases involved that don’t like one another… for the Pacers and the Knicks to start a new chapter in this historic rivalry dating back to our 90s battles, it was cool.
At the end of the day, though, I tell people: I was there to do my job until I wasn’t there to do my job. It was all cool, it’s all fun and games. The worst thing is I can’t control the outcome like I could when I was a player. As an analyst you’re there talking X’s and O’s and really you don’t care who wins. I didn’t care if Indiana or New York won. I wanted an exciting game, which it was, and an exciting series, which, seven games tells you it was. It was cool to be part of it. I have a feeling this is not over.
SI: How did you get into mountain biking?
RM: I think my journey is a little bit different than most. In 2000 I was getting ready to move to Malibu. I was going through a life transition. I was going through a divorce, I needed a new change. Fresh start. I lived in Hollywood, in the city, and I needed something fresh. My business manager said I should go to Malibu. She found the place I’m still at, 24 years later. As I was coming in, I was at a restaurant. A guy approached me and he was like, ‘Hey, you should go mountain biking with us.’ I had never mountain biked in my life. Everyone had bikes growing up as kids but I had never really gone on trails or anything like that.
That gentleman was Tim Commerford, bassist for Rage Against The Machine. He had heard my house was on this trail, one of the most famous trails in Malibu. His two friends just so happened to be Laird Hamilton and Don Wildman. Those dudes absolutely destroyed me. Mind you, I was still playing at the time. I was still active in the NBA. I was like, I’m in shape, they’re not going to outride me. And they destroyed me on this ride.
Going up and being on the trails and being lost, that’s what got me hooked initially on mountain biking. I couldn’t do it often because I was still playing and you didn’t want to get in a downhill accident, get your contract voided or anything. By the time I retired in ‘05 or ‘06, that’s when I picked it up a little bit more.
SI: How did mountain biking change for you after you retired?
RM: You’ve got to live the life. When I was a weekend warrior, I didn’t care as much about fitness because I was getting it in the gym and working out. Once I retired, I wanted to continue to look good in my suits for TNT so it’s a good way to exercise and sweat. But I found out, you’ve got to be committed to the cycling life. You’ve got to be committed to the training, to the regiment, how you eat. It’s a little different for me. I wish I could train more than I do, actually, because I’m a family man as well with three younger kids. If you’re serious about the bike, it can take you away for three, four, five hours. I want to be a present dad and father. So it’s a juggling act because on top of that, I work for Turner. I travel a lot. I call games. I gotta leave. Finding ways to ride, to race, sometimes can be a juggling act.
It helps me continue that competitive balance. I didn’t know if I was ever going to have those butterflies, that itch again of a jump ball. Because come jump ball in basketball, you’re so tense. It’s the love of basketball. But I found that love on two wheels in races. The "three, two, one" and the gun goes off? I still get those butterflies. That’s what cycling has allowed me to fill, get my basketball jones back a little bit.
SI: The discipline you describe makes it seem like there are elements to this similar to playing professional basketball.
RM: You get to a basketball gym, you got to put up 500-750 shots. Repetition is key. You’re doing seal sides, 17s. Cycling is intervals. You gotta go up and down hills. You gotta learn how to corner. There’s a lot of similarities, it’s just less wear and tear when you’re on two wheels versus trying to set a cross-screen on Shaq and him going through your whole body. You throw elbows when you’re in a little scrum when there are riders around. Friendly elbows, not the type of elbows Karl Malone would give me, but friendly elbows to carve out space.
I found, and it’s interesting because I’ve been racing pretty much since I was 50, I’ll be 59 in August, the 50-year-old class is just as ruthless, just as competitive as the pros. It is ruthless in the 50-plus division which I love because, again, it gives me that fix that I’ve been missing from basketball.
SI: How did you get involved in Life Time?
RM: I try to race anywhere from 6-10 times a year. Most of those races are in California, locally, on weekends where I can drive an hour or two hours away from my house. During the summer I always try to do 1-2 big events. The last two years my big event was Steamboat Gravel.
How I pick events is, No. 1, the promoter and the event— are they all-inclusive? What I mean by that is, inviting everyone of all genres. Do they have kid races? Are the activities around the event kid-friendly? My big initiative of why I’ve always wanted to be on two wheels and pushing it is I wanted to get more women as well as more people of color involved. Are the races I’m attending, do they have all these attributes? I know a lot of people who have raced the Life Time series and in particular this race in Tahoe and Truckee, it checked all the boxes.
Probably the last two things on the list are, is the course challenging and how beautiful is the course? I never thought anything would top Steamboat, Colorado. That was like heaven on Earth. But being up here, in Truckee, California, being able to pre-ride the course… I think there are different pockets of heaven. This course is definitely in one of those pockets. It’s absolutely stunning here. Life Time, and this particular race, has checked all the boxes in inclusivity– having people here who normally wouldn’t ride. I’m also interested in meeting all the volunteers, the people behind the scenes that are helping us get our bags together and are checking us in. To me those are the lifelines of all these races, the volunteers and people behind the scenes. This race checked all the boxes and I’m excited to be here.
At the end of the day, cycling is a good teacher of how to navigate darker skies and darker times in your life. Anybody who has ridden a bike for an extended period of time knows there will be times where you have to go to dark places. I have a feeling I’ll be going to dark places starting that second lap at Lake Tahoe. I’m excited about it, I feel like I’m ready, but do we ever know if we’re really ready until we’re in the middle of it?
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Q&A: Reggie Miller on JJ Redick, TNT NBA Rights, and His Love for Mountain Biking .
