Sessions’ NBA path a story of plenty of twists and turns

A display set up at the Myrtle Beach Sports Center during Ramon Sessions’ annual youth basketball camp tells much of his NBA story.

On a table in the lobby of the complex sat eight jerseys paired with matching sneakers. They were laid out in chronological order of the teams he’s played for in his nine-year NBA career.

There were jerseys from Milwaukee, Minnesota, Cleveland, the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte, Milwaukee again, Sacramento and Washington.

Indeed, the Myrtle Beach native has covered quite a bit of distance during his NBA career, having been traded four times and now entering his third trek through free agency.

“I think mentally he’s in a place where his career has prepared him for pretty much anything. It’s made him the ultimate professional. Nothing really rattles him,” said fellow Myrtle Beach High School alumnus Trello Galloway, a close friend of Sessions who plays professional basketball overseas. “He’s had that phone call where he has to go off to another team in the middle of the season. He’s accepted it and he’s flourished in that. Ramon’s done a great job of taking advantage of every opportunity he’s been given.”

Still, the act of moving to a new city nearly every season – and sometimes more than one in a campaign – isn’t easy.

Akeem Hemingway, Sessions’ cousin and personal trainer, often is left picking up the pieces.

“He knows all about it firsthand. He’s always the guy that’s with me,” Sessions said. “I get the call, I end up having to jump ship and leave ASAP and he has to kind of control everything where we’re at. But it’s one of those things that once you’re traded, in less than 24 hours you’re gone. You’ve got to pack whatever bags you can pack and the rest of the stuff gets there when it gets there. So it’s one of those things that we kind of grew used to it. It’s not easy, but it’s something that we grew used to, grew accustomed to.”

For Hemingway, it’s a longer process.

“I always have to stay back and pack up the furniture and clothes and everything so I’m staying back probably a week and a half, two weeks behind,” Hemingway said. “It’s bittersweet. Sweet because he was going to a better situation at times, and bitter because we’d made so many connections in that city and we had to up and leave. It’s the nature of the business, though.”

There are perks, however. While the NBA season naturally requires a lot of travel, there is little time to enjoy the different sites because of quick turnarounds between games. Living in some of those cities throughout the years has presented the duo with unique opportunities.

“A lot of places I never thought I would live at – Minnesota, Milwaukee, Cleveland, the list goes on and on. But it’s places that I’ve enjoyed and friendships that I’ve built throughout these years, people that I still stay in touch with,” Sessions said. “I mean, we still get Cleveland stuff at [the youth] camp. You know, I get different stuff from some of the teams I’ve played with.

“It’s cool, though, because, you know, me right now not having a family, me and Akeem just jump up and go city to city. It’s been fun but hopefully I can find some stability in this thing before I’m done so we’ll see what happens.”

Hemingway looks at it as a unique opportunity, especially considering their upbringing.

“Coming from where we’re from, man – our community, our Racepath community – everything’s exciting when it’s a new city,” Hemingway said. “I think we kind of view it as ‘Well … a new city, a new place.’ So we were kind of wondering what it would be like – the ins and outs. It’s different when you’re traveling in for a game and then you’re leaving the next day. But when you have to actually go there to live, you want to learn more about the city. It was an excitement to learn more about the city and of course to win games and see how people will accept you and everything.”

As free agency opens up at 12 a.m. Friday, Sessions and Co. will be busy on the phones, working to secure his next contract and landing spot. Where that will be is uncertain. As is how long he will remain there in the long run.

Sessions and Hemingway know that when February rolls around – along with the NBA trade deadline – they had better be ready, just in case.

“Mentally, truthfully in the past, around the trade deadline we always communicate, Ramon and I say, ‘OK, here it is again,’ ” Hemingway said. “So it’s almost kind of expected at times, you know, because we understand the nature of the game and the business side. I just kind of prepare myself for it. If it happens, it happens.”

While Sessions has grown accustomed to the uncertainty, he hopes this time around he’ll find a more permanent landing spot.

“This is Year 10 for me, which sometimes I look back and try to figure out where all the other years went at,” Sessions said. “But it’s been a blessing. In the meantime, in Year 10 it’s one of those things that hopefully I can find a team where I can at least go be there for a few years. It’s not bad getting traded, but when you find a home it’s a better feeling.”

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Sessions’ NBA path a story of plenty of twists and turns."