Photo courtesy of Dave’s Joint.
By David Cordova
In this edition of The City Game, we will be going over the performance Nahshon “Bones” Hyland, who is in his third season in the NBA and plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, at Nike Pro City this summer in downtown Brooklyn.
Last summer, at Hostos Community College in The Bronx, the Nike Pro City tournament hosted close to a dozen NBA players, including the infamous game with the three New York Knicks players – Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and Obi Toppin – who played for the New Jersey-based Hoopsville Elite against the Bronx-based Ave Life, an epic game that got plenty of publicity by nationwide outlets, including ESPN’s “Jalen & Jacoby.”
This summer, the tournament found a new home, the Steinberg Wellness Center on the campus of LIU Brooklyn in downtown Brooklyn, by the Nevins Street train station and around the corner from the famed Junior’s Restaurant. The evening of July 19th was a good one inside the gym, as it was a normal Wednesday night during the summertime. Prior to that day’s action, it was announced that there would be a “guest” coming through. For safety reasons, it wasn’t stated whom was coming through. It was one of those things were, if you were a true summer hoops fan, you would have to come through in person to see the action.
The nightcap had Hoopsville Elite going up against another Bronx-based squad in R2K. And the guest that came out was none other than Nah’shon “Bones” Hyland, who had just finished his second season in the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers after being traded in midseason from the Denver Nuggets. Bones was a typical flashy player that made the crowd interested with his ability to drive to the basket and also hit jumpers.
A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he was a rising star from a state which produced players such as former NBA player and UCLA alum, Walt Hazzard, and current pros such as New York Knicks guard Donte Di’Vincenzo, Atlanta Dream forward Bentnijah Laney, Washington Mystics forward Elena Delle Donne, and former high school All-American Trevon Duval, who is currently playing professional basketball in the Dominican Republic.
Hyland was a star at St. George’s Tech High School in Middletown, Delaware, where he averaged 26.8 points per game as a senior and won Player of the Year for the state of Delaware. He then took his act to VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) in Richmond, Virginia, where for two seasons, he made a name for himself as a scorer. As a freshman, he made the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team. As a sophomore, he made the conference’s First Team, scoring 19.5 points per game. His performance led to him being made the No. 26 overall pick (first-round) to the Denver Nuggets in the 2021 NBA Draft.
In his two seasons, despite starting a total of five out of 111 games, he still managed to average at least 10 points per game before being traded on Feb. 9th of this year to the Clippers, where he only played 14 games, and finished averaging 10.8 points per game.
On this July night, from the moment that the ball went up, he was determined to put on a show. He played as if he were still on the playground back in Delaware. The leader of the Tress Gang (a crew of hoopers from his home state) threw down dunks, shook the opposition, made and-ones and showed that he belonged on the court with many of New York City’s finest pro-am players of today. Yet, the game was still close throughout. Although the other players on Hoopsville got theirs as well, most of the game was Bones holding it down with the clear out and putting in work on the floor.
Despite his offensive prowess, it would be former Manhattan College guard Kidani Brutus who would have the last say in how the game would be decided, as he hit a game-winner that sealed the deal, with R2K winning, 95-94. However, the story of the night would be Hyland, who would score 44 points. After the game, he posed for pictures with a group of youths, and also did interviews with outlets such as Ball Street Journal and Ballplayers. It was definitely a great performance worth watching. However, it would not be his last onslaught in a summer event.
On August 3rd, at the Rumph Classic at the Community College of Philadelphia out in Philly, he scored 56 points for Checkrock in the city of Brothey Love’s annual summer hoops pro-am.
Now in his third season in the NBA, he plans to make an even stronger impact. After the first two games of the season, he’s the third-leading scorer on the Clippers at 14.5 points per game behind two NBA All-Stars in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. It’s no secret that in time, the world will know who “Bizzy Bones” is. Right now, we’re all just witnesses to his work.
Footage of Bones Hyland at Nike Pro City:
Look out for our next article in our series, “The City Game,” as we will talk about the famed announcers on the streetball and summer leagues in New York City and surrounding areas of the Empire State.
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