When the Hawks approached the 2023 NBA draft, they wanted to select players that embodied what the team calls its “DNA.” On Thursday, the Hawks found that player in 15th overall pick Kobe Bufkin.
“So with the Kobe Bufkin when I first saw him this year, I texted one of our guys, one of our scouts and was like, ‘this kid is pretty interesting,’” Hawks general manager Landry Fields said. “And he agreed. And I think it got serious when one of our intel sources said something along the lines of ‘there are guys who love the game. And then there’s guys who are in love with the game.’ This is a guy that is in love with the game. And I’ve mentioned before about Hawks DNA. Hawks DNA is about being in love with this game.”
For Bufkin, he fell in love with the game from an early age. His family has weaved the sport into the fabric of what makes up Bufkin, a 19-year-old native of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His family revered the late Kobe Bryant, and Bufkin has tried to approach the game as the five-time NBA champion did.
NBA fans know that Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality” helped propel him to become one of the great players in the sport. An 18-time NBA All-Star, fans know Bryant never stopped chasing greatness.
Bufkin has adopted that mentality like many basketball players before him. But he isn’t trying to be someone he’s not. But being in love with basketball has propelled him to internalize constant improvement in everything he does.
“That’s really what I’ve been trying to do, not chasing somebody but chasing myself in a sense,” Bufkin said.
His mother noticed that her son had fallen for the sport in elementary school. After a tournament loss in the third or fourth grade, Bufkin set up cones in his driveway as soon as he got home. He spent the next two hours dribbling through them.
“He’s just always had a very strong will-to-win mentality and to work hard and just constantly getting better,” said Kimberly Camp, his mother. “So I noticed it in elementary (school) that he was special and that it was something that I had to support and be willing to sacrifice the time to help him reach his goals.”
While sacrificing some time played a large role in helping Bufkin attain his dreams, Camp and the rest of the family had to make sure they set the right foundation. They helped him strike the balance between a healthy hunger – as opposed to obsessive love – for the game.
Camp reminded Bufkin that though basketball could take him plenty of places, and it could introduce him to a lot of people, he shouldn’t let it consume him.
“In high school, he would get up and go to training before class, go to class successfully, you know, and then after school still have practice,” she said. “So it was never something that we had to force. That made it a lot easier for me.”
The Hawks rookie credits his mother for telling him since he began playing 12 years ago to “play like the world is watching.”
Bufkin acknowledges that he would push his mother’s mantra to the side when he was younger like many kids often do. But as he matured the words really started to sink in.
“So, basically play like the world is watching, which is on and on and off the court,” Bufkin said. “I mean, it applies to both. You never want to do things off the court that you wouldn’t want the world to see. And then you also want to play on the court like everybody’s watching. So, I mean, it’s a great saying, and I just kind of live by it.”
Now, Bufkin will have to stand on that solid foundation on his own in a new city for the first time. After years of school in Grand Rapids, then two years in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, Bufkin will live outside of the state for the first time in his life.
He’s ready to get to the basketball knowing that fans in his new home will be watching.
“Just the competitive nature,” Bufkin said. “I’m a different person when we get in (the gym), inside these lines so, but off the court I feel like, I like to think I’m a good dude. I think Atlanta will appreciate it.”
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