In a league that is growing younger every year, Atlanta Hawks center Kevin Willis has the look of a dinosaur.
He entered the NBA in a draft that included Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton. He was bypassed that year in favor of Sam Bowie, Mel Turpin and Lancaster Gordon.
Yet the stars have retired and are waiting for enshrinement. The busts are long gone and forgotten. Only Willis remains. At 42, now in his 21st season, he has outlasted them all.
“They’re all home chilling out, watching me,” said Willis, the oldest player in the NBA. “Maybe I’ll write a book and call it `The Ageless Wonder.’
“I still won’t concede anything. I know they can’t beat me. If [someone] beats me down court once, he won’t do it again. I work too hard to let that happen.”
Throughout his career, Willis has been passionate about his conditioning and his body. He was an avid weightlifter long before it became popular in the NBA. His body, still muscled and solid, defies his age. It’s one reason he still is playing.
It’s also why he is talking about playing next season instead of talking about this being his last. The jump hook he used 15 years ago still is effective. Unlike big men such as Patrick Ewing, who played until he was 39, and Robert Parish, who played until he was 43, Willis still can run with the young guys.
“He’s a freak of nature,” said Dominique Wilkins, a Hawks vice president who played alongside Willis early in his career and pushed the team to sign him as a free agent last summer. “To see his body, to see the shape he’s in, it just goes to show you what hard work can do for you.”
Willis played 10 1/2 seasons with the Hawks before he started a journey around the league that took him to Miami, Golden State, Houston, Toronto, Denver, back to Houston and finally San Antonio, where he won an NBA title in 2003.
He signed with the Hawks last summer to be close enough to watch his son play his senior year of basketball at nearby St. Francis High in suburban Atlanta and to be close to his business interests, which include a clothing design company.
His son, also named Kevin Willis, is a college prospect and, at 17, closer in age to many of his father’s teammates than he is. They worked out together this summer, sharpening their games against each other.
“It’s meant a lot to me to be close enough to see his games, to be there to offer tips, to pile on top of his head when he slacks off the books,” Willis said. “We run together in the summer. I know if he stays up with me, he’s serious about his conditioning.”
Willis came into this season with career averages of 12.3 points and 8.5 rebounds. He played in one All-Star Game in 1992, but it was long before most of today’s players even were in the league.
“A lot of things have changed,” Willis said. “The focus isn’t totally on basketball anymore. You got guys coming in now with big shoe contracts and big endorsements and record deals and jewelry and tattoos. Back in the day … it was just about trying to win championships.
“If everything lines up right and I stay healthy, I could be back next season, maybe with one of the contenders. The pool of players has changed around me, but I still know how to play this game.”
