LOS ANGELES – Stop about 40 miles into the 100-mile Texas drive south on I-35 from Waco to Austin, then hop on US-190 west for another 20 miles.
That’s where the journey, almost inexplicably intertwined, began for Royce O’Neale and TaShawn Thomas, two high school rivals from the military town of Killeen, who became college rivals, then rivals in Germany and, finally, teammates at Summer League with the Clippers in Orlando.
“It’s just crazy,” Thomas said, finally able to reminisce on his unlikely path with O’Neale while at the Clippers’ team hotel in Winter Park, Fla. “To think about how we went from the Boys and Girls Club, to middle school, to high school, to college, then overseas playing each other in every level of basketball…it is crazy.”
Their parents knew each other growing up in Killeen, long before the city’s rapid growth brought the population to around 140,000. Even as it grew, it remained small enough that the city’s best athletes knew each other - and there were talented ones.
Cory Jefferson and D.J. Stephens, now 25 years old, went on from Killeen to NBA careers. Two years behind them were O’Neale and Thomas, who sought out the same dream while attending rival high schools – O’Neale at Harker Heights and Thomas at Killeen.
Given their talents, their personal rivalry grew quickly.
“Off the court, just like anybody – cool,” Thomas said. “But at or after the game, sometimes we wouldn’t talk to each other.”
O’Neale averaged 16.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game his senior year, and his Harker Heights squad got the best of Killeen while going on to a 28-6 record; but Thomas made his presence felt all season with 21 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks per game, earning District 8-4A Most Valuable Player honors.
Had that been the last time crossing paths on a basketball court, no one would’ve thought twice – especially considering O’Neale went to college in Denver, while Thomas stayed closer to home at Houston.
Instead, both players transferred. O’Neale spent two years at Denver before heading to Baylor. After three standout years at Houston, Thomas was looking to do the same.
“When he was transferring from Houston, he was going to come to Baylor,” O’Neale said. “We kind of had it planned out.”
NCAA restrictions got in the way. Thomas said he was told he couldn’t stay in Texas if he wanted to transfer. He appealed, but eventually was forced to go out of state and chose Oklahoma, where the friendly rivalry resumed.
It worked out for both Killeen stars, who started for their respective teams their senior years.
Thomas quickly got his high school revenge the first time their teams faced off, posting 24 points and eight rebounds in an Oklahoma win. He earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors, averaging 11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 assists per game in his lone season in the conference.
Over at Baylor, O’Neale averaged 10.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game for Baylor his final year, shooting better than 43 percent from behind the arc for the second straight season.
Neither player ended up getting drafted despite fruitful college careers; once again, that could’ve marked the end of the rivalry.
They joined different Summer League teams, and then faced decisions on where to continue playing. For Thomas, the next move was overseas to Germany of the Basketball Bundesliga, the country’s top professional league.
It didn’t take long for O’Neale to follow – of course, on a different team.
And, as it turned out, in a much different living situation.
“I was extremely jealous,” Thomas said.
Thomas played for Mitteldeutscher BC, averaging 12.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 blocks per game in the town of Weissenfels, where he needed help from his German teammates to get around, since he didn’t speak the language.
A city of about a fourth the population of Killeen, the experience wasn’t what Thomas initially expected.
“My agent came to Killeen before I signed… and he only got a little bit of a taste of it,” Thomas said. “When he was telling me the team I was going to, he was like, ‘It’s like Killeen.’ I’m like, ‘OK, cool.’”
It was nothing like Killeen.
“Way different,” Thomas said. “Killeen’s a military town, so it’s real diverse, a lot of different people. They have to have some type of entertainment, something like that. There (with Mitteldeutscher), nothing. They had, like, maybe one grocery store in the whole city.”
The nearest movie theater, as Thomas recalled, was about 45 minutes away. His English couldn’t get him far, but he felt better for having gone through the experience and the culture shock.
O’Neale, meanwhile, lucked out.
“Mine was way better,” O’Neale said with a grin.
He went to MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, about 15 minutes outside of Stuttgart and two and a half hours from Munich, easily able to get around using English and with entertainment never far away. O’Neale, who averaged 8.4 points and 4.5 rebounds between the BBL and Eurocup, didn’t have a hard time adjusting.
Their teams ended up playing each other, with O’Neale’s Ludwidsburg squad getting the best of Thomas and Mitteldeutscher, despite nine points, seven rebounds and six assists from Thomas.
If it didn’t hit them then, two kids who grew up together in Texas facing off in Weissenfels, Germany, they had time to reflect on the long odds of their circumstances after getting called to Orlando to play together, finally, on the same Summer League team.
“We just think how far we came, and then how much Killeen has grown – not just us, but players up and coming,” said O’Neale.
Like Jefferson and Stephens before them, O’Neale and Thomas hope to pave the way for the next generation of Killeen stars. And, as they try to make an NBA roster, they finally get to do it as teammates.
“I’ve got somebody I can go talk to about anything,” Thomas said.