Malik Moore’s rebound from professional basketball to Nantucket coach

Written by Brian Bushard

Photography by Kit Noble

Professional basketball was always the dream, and reaching the NBA seemed like a layup. Moore, a 6-foot-4-inch point guard, had the skills, but luck wasn’t on his side. After a stand-out high school career, Moore was recruited to play down the street at Division I Temple University. He got play time during his freshman year, until then-coach John Chaney decided to bench him. Moore sat out for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Temple advanced to March Madness, but lost by 30 points to West Virginia in a first-round upset. In that one game, Moore didn’t see any time on the court.

It was part of the ups and downs that come with the game. Without seeing any playtime during March Madness, the game he loved had started to weigh on him. Moore decided to give it up entirely for a pharmaceutical job at SmithKline Beecham. “I was just going to geta job and start working, and then my grandmother told me, ‘You’re going back to school,’” he said. It was the push he needed.

Moore dropped down to Division II, where he would receive play time. In three years at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts, Moore was able to turn the program around to one of the top Division II schools in the country and was named first-team All-American. “I just wanted to play, and if I went to Division II, I didn’t have to sit out a year, I could just play,” Moore said.

AIC coach Art Luptowski brought Moore around to Division I schools across New England. “So of course I went there and dominated,” Moore said. “Coach and I got back in the car, and he was stunned. He said, ‘Those dudes couldn’t do nothing with you.’” Suddenly, Moore was getting attention again. He played summer ball with Allen Iverson and Paul Pierce in Philadelphia. Scouts from the Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz came to watch him play during his senior year—something rare in Division II basketball.

When it came time for the 2002 NBA Draft, Moore watched two of his good friends, Ronald “Flip” Murray and John Salmons, get drafted into the league. Moore, on the other hand, didn’t receive a call that night. A few weeks later, he was driving up to Springfield when he did receive a call— from his AIC coach. “He said, ‘Seattle’s coach Nate McMillan is going to call you in a minute,’” Moore remembered. “He asked what’s the closest airport, and I said, ‘Hartford.’ He said, ‘Alright, are you good to fly out here tomorrow morning? I want to bring you down for the workout.’ He got me a ticket, and I drove to buy a pair of sneakers.”

But just as things were looking up, it all came crashing down. Moore was coming down the middle of the lane during a training camp exhibition game. The center came to block his shot and collided with him. Moore fell to the ground and bruised his knee. “I asked coach to give me a couple practices off and see how it goes,” Moore said. “Then it really started with the swelling so I got an MRI and that’s when I found out.”

The torn ACL was an 8-to-12-month recovery. He broke down crying. The Seattle SuperSonics invited him back to training camp the next year, but he didn’t make the team. Without a clear path to the NBA, he boarded a flight to China, playing a year for the Beijing Ducks. His sights were still set on the NBA. But it was a waiting game. Moore bounced around to the Continental Basketball Association for a season in Great Falls, Montana, and then to the NBA’s Development League in Roanoke, Virginia. He played for a few seasons in Germany with the Paderborn Baskets, traveling back for summers to visit his then-girlfriend who became his wife. He went to Finland, where he played with three different teams and even hit the winning layup in the championship game one year. He learned enough German and Finnish to communicate with his coaches. He bonded with other basketball expats. And he kept up his game, still hoping to make it to the NBA. “My Euro step became me,” he said.

On one of his trips home to visit family, he was riding his motorcycle when he got into an accident and broke his collarbone. As luck would have it, the very next day, the New Jersey Nets called him, asking him to try out for them. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” he said. “I just broke down. I really had a chance to make that team.”

“I came home, was waiting and nothing ever came about,” he said. “I’m wondering if I should keep waiting or get a job. I can’t keep sitting around waiting. I decided to shut it down. My oldest son had just turned 11, so I decided to come home and start spending time with him.”

After over a decade of traveling around the world playing professional basketball, his dream of making the NBA had come to an end. But things have a way of working out. That’s when his wife landed a job on Nantucket. His youngest son was starting to play basketball, so Moore signed up to coach him through the Boys & Girls Club. After five years, he applied for the boys basketball coaching spot at Cyrus Peirce, where he now coaches with Sean Oberly.

This year, the team went 7-1, including a 70-point win over Mashpee. Part of Moore’s goal is to redevelop Nantucket’s once-powerhouse basketball program, starting at the Boys & Girls Club and the middle school, where Moore’s son Malikai is on the team. Meanwhile, his oldest son now plays Division I ball at Loyola University Chicago. “Coaching is a little different,” Moore said. “I see myself more as a trainer than anything. I love the game, I get the guys going and they like me. If you tell them todo something in practice and keep working on it, then you see it come together—that’s nice."