Ricky Davis played 117 games in a Timberwolves uniform over two seasons before being traded to Miami in 2007. His time in Minnesota was brief, and he never envisioned putting down roots here once he retired from basketball.
"Not at all," he said, chuckling. "I thought it would always be LA or Miami."
Imagine the surprise then, when Minneapolis North announced last August that it had hired Davis to be head coach of its storied boys basketball program.
The reaction within the local basketball community was universal — Huh? Ricky Davis? The guy who played for the Wolves?
Yep, him. And there he was on the visitor sideline at East Ridge last week, drawing up a play in the final minute of a game that his North team would eventually lose in overtime.
"This is the next chapter," he said afterward outside the locker room.
The apparent randomness of this chapter turned out to be not so random after all.
Davis played his 12th and final NBA season in 2010, followed by several years of international basketball at various stops that included China, Turkey and France.