Derrick Taylor, the Taft High coach, was at an AAU tournament when his son called.
Bryce Dejean-Jones had been the kid in Taylor’s 1988 Altima, riding to school each morning and back to Inglewood each night, for two years. After that, Dejean-Jones had gone to three colleges and had played well for the New Orleans Pelicans, as an undrafted rookie.
He constantly talked about The League. “There was no question in his mind he was going to be there,” Taylor said.
Now Taylor was hearing that Dejean-Jones was dead, shot in Dallas, after he broke down a door to an apartment he thought contained his girlfriend and his son, who was observing his first birthday.