On one play he snatches an opponent’s tear drop shot right out of the air. Another time he finishes off his attack-the-hoop dunk with the elbow of his crooked arm resting atop the rim. And then there’s the on-the-run, ball-between-the-legs, one-hand slam that again reminds you of Obi Toppin and his break-away Arena rocker against George Washington in his last game as a Dayton Flyer.
- Finally, there’s a highlight reel from the Border League East Showcase against Glenelg Country High in Maryland where he mixes midrange left-handed jump shots with trick passes through the defense and an assortment of Cape Canaveral blastoff dunks that leave the crowd roaring.
And yet none of that eclipses the clip of his most impactful performance.
It was one that had the crowd collectively oohing and aahing, nodding their heads and snapping their fingers in approval, before finally giving him a standing ovation send-off from the stage.
That day in 2015, Thomas was just nine years old and dressed all in black when he stepped in front of a large crowd at the NBA All Star Youth Summit in Harlem and delivered a rhythmic, cadence perfect, voice rising, dropping, then soaring again recitation of his poem “My Dad.”
A few feet away, his father, Etan Thomas – the former Syracuse hoops star and 10-year NBA veteran turned author, poet, ESPN radio host, activist and motivational speaker – stood in quiet support, the pride and joy first showing in his eyes and smile and finally seeming to fill his entire 6-foot-10 frame.
In a poem that delivered political punch and social sensitivity with earnest delivery, Malcolm told how his dad set a no-excuses, stand up for what you believe, be mindful of others example for him to navigate through life and blossom beyond the basketball court.
Without much trouble, you can find other poetic offerings online by a young Malcolm that address everything from the Tulsa Race Massacre and Colin Kaepernick to a poem entitled “Toys R Us Kids,” about the loss of childhood happiness and innocence.
“I am more than just a basketball player,” Thomas told me a few days ago when we spoke in an empty room above the Flyers’ practice court at the Cronin Center. “I am a poet. And I like to write… I’m a lot of things.”
First and foremost, he is his father’s son. As the old saying goes, the acorn has not fallen far from the tree.
But with him there’s also plenty of influence from his mom, the former Nicole Oliver, who was a hoops standout herself at Syracuse, and also did some modeling and acting, before becoming a nutritionist and health coach.
Malcolm – who has two younger sisters, Sierra and Imani – was home schooled until he went off to DeMatha.
“My wife and I were able to create a much more well-rounded curriculum for him than he typically would have had in school,” Etan said of those pre-high school days. “Nicole handled the math and science, and I handled history and English.
“From a young age, I used to give him written reports to do on topics from books and movies. He learned about history and culture in a way that just doesn’t happen in most regular schools.
“I also took him with me in my speaking engagements and often he’d open up the sessions with one of his poems.”
Etan told how his son spoke at churches around the country and at several universities, including Syracuse, Maryland, Howard and Southern Cal.
Malcolm also addressed national conferences like the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP.
He shared the stage with Chris Broussard, the veteran TV sports analyst and former sportswriter, who is the Founder and President of The K.I.N.G. (Knowledge, Inspiration, and Nurture through God) Movement, a national Christian organization that seeks to strengthen men in their faith and lifestyle.
One of his more captivating deliveries came at the First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Upper Marlboro, Maryland when he spoke about the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.
That subject was in the news recently.
Last month, Linda McMahon, the bigtime wrestling chief who Donald Trump named as the U.S. Secretary of Education and gave the mandate to dismantle the agency, testified before the House Committee on Education and Labor.
In the course of the questioning about what was appropriate to teach in classrooms, she was asked about the Tulsa Race Massacre and seemed to have no clue what it was.
“Aaah, I’ll have to get back to you on that,” she said.
Pressed further if she’d ever heard of it, she sidestepped again: “I’d like to look into it more.”
Too bad this wasn’t a tag team event.
She could have reached for Malcom and sent him into the ring to flex his knowledge.
His dad grew up in Tulsa and had taught him about the two-day long siege by mobs of white residents – some of whom had been appointed as deputies and armed by city government officials – in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, which at the time was one of the wealthiest black communities in the United States and known as “Black Wall Street.”
The event is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history.
The attackers burned and destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the neighborhood. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals, at least 39 were killed and as many as 6,000 black residents were interned in large facilities, many for several days.
While Malcolm can address myriad topics, proof he is more than just a basketball player, he’s a Dayton Flyer because of his hoops, even if it’s now based on his potential, not actual college playing time to date.
He spent last season as a redshirt at Villanova after starring at DeMatha High, the preps powerhouse in Hyattsville, Md. that has produced dozens of celebrated basketball players including Adrian Dantley, Sidney Lowe and Danny Ferry.
Malcolm drew numerous college offers, whittled his picks down to five – Xavier, Vanderbilt, Florida State, Cal and Villanova – and chose the latter.
But from start to finish last season, the script at Villanova was not what he expected.
Soon after he committed, Wildcats’ star Eric Dixon unexpectedly decided to return for his fifth college season rather than turn pro. That meant Malcolm would get significantly less playing time than anticipated and it was decided he would redshirt.
Dixon – who would end up the nation’s scoring leader last season (23.4 ppg) and would finish his Villanova career as the school’s all-time career scorer with 2,314 points – took him under his wing and mentored him all season.
Not only did Malcolm’s game improve – “100 percent,” he said – but he added close to 25 pounds thanks to work in the weight room and conditioning.
After the season, Kyle Neptune, the coach who had recruited him, was fired.
That sent Malcolm – and five other Nova players – to the transfer portal.
And the first team he talked to was Dayton.
More than an athlete
Etan and Nicole met their freshman year at Syracuse.
She was a finesse guard on the women’s team. He was an aggressive, give no quarter big man for the men.
“Most of my family, even my dad himself, will tell you my mom was the better player of the two of them,” Malcolm said with a laugh. “She was really big coming into college, but unfortunately she had some major injuries.”
Etan was the two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year and ended up the No. 12 overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft.
Although chosen by Dallas, he was promptly traded to the Washington Wizards. He spent eight seasons there, though he was sidelined for one when a routine physical revealed a leaking aortic valve and he underwent open heart surgery.
He returned and played a year before a pair of trades took him from Minnesota to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a season. He ended his career with the Atlanta Hawks.
His working class mother who raised him on her own had spoken to him about athletes who had come a generation before him – specifically beacons like Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul Jabbar – and used their platforms to both speak out for people who didn’t have a voice and shed light on issues that needed reexamination or change.
Etan tapped into those pillars of the past and today, at 47, remains one of the best voices to come out of the NBA in quite a while.
He speaks at schools and juvenile detention centers. He’s protested wars and police brutality and sent $30,000 to Haiti for earthquake relief.
He’s especially known for two volumes of published poetry.
In the forward for the first book – a collection of 34 poems entitled “More Than An Athlete” – fellow poet and activist Abiodun Oyewole wrote that Thomas’s poems are like “bare knuckles, no gloves to soften the blows.”
Etan’s father left the family when he was 6 and that has driven him to be a different and present dad in his three kids’ lives.
His book “Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge,” discusses fatherless children and rising to the challenge of being a dad. It includes essays penned by other high-profile fathers, including athletes like Dwyane Wade and Amare Stoudemire.
Along the way he has not shied away from being critical of people and cultural trends that are popular. At times he has drawn a bead on everybody from NFL icon Jim Brown and his former coaches Jim Boeheim at Syracuse and Doug Collins at Washington to many of the themes of gangsta rap.
“He’s always been a person who speaks out on what he believes, no matter what it is or who it’s going to upset,” Malcom said. “I’m proud he stands up for what he believes.”
He said his mother’s influence has been similarly strong – “she’s the rock of our family,” – and together, with his dad, they’ve instilled the beliefs he holds about sports and life:
“Basketball is everything to me, just as it was for my dad, but my parents made sure I knew it was a pathway to so much more, too.
“It’s not the be all to end all thing in my life. And limiting myself to being just an athlete is such a disservice.
“I have more gifts and talents than that.”
‘It just felt right’
The first day Malcolm entered the transfer portal, he spoke to the coaches from UD and from the start the whole family felt a connection, especially with Flyers head coach Anthony Grant.
“Dayton was the first school we spoke to after our Zoom call with (new Villanova coach) Kevin Willard,” Etan said.
“Within the first, I’d say, 15 minutes of talking to Coach Grant, it just felt right. He came off as honest, sincere and trustworthy.
“He was knowledgeable about Malcolm’s game and expressed a vision for him. He explained how Malcolm could fit the profile of players they had had like Obi Toppin, Toumani Camara and DaRon Holmes.”
Although Malcolm knew of those players, especially Toppin – “Obi was one of my favorite players in college,” he said – he admitted he knew little about Dayton until he spoke to Grant and his interest was piqued.
“Once I got to know what the Dayton culture is and what Dayton basketball means to the community, it made it an easy decision for me,” he said.
Although he said dozens of schools had reached out to him, he took no other visits and promptly signed with Dayton.
“We’re excited as a family about this opportunity for Malcolm,” Etan said.
Malcolm feels the same: “First of all, I want us to have success as a team. I want us to win the conference and go far in the tournament.
“And for myself, I want to be like those guys who have developed here and gone on.
“I know there’s a blueprint for that success here… and I want to be the next one.”
As he thought about his son’s embrace of all things Flyers now, Etan had one sidenote that made him chuckle:
“Coach also added that if Malcolm had any thoughts of keeping the No. 1 he wore in high school, he was going to have to call Obi Toppin himself and get permission.”
He said Malcolm understands: “He knows that’s a special number for Dayton.”
He knows there is no more beloved Flyer right now than Obi Toppin.
Because he seems to see the bigger picture of what an athlete can do and mean to a place he also understands that sometimes, no matter how good your rhyme is, it can’t always dunk on good reason.
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