Thirty years ago, an undrafted forward named Richard Coffey played the last of his 25 career NBA games for the Minnesota Timberwolves — you might say he had a cup of coffee in the league.
While Richard’s NBA career was unspectacular, he was laying the groundwork for a new generation of Coffeys in professional basketball with his two daughters Sydney and Nia and his son Amir. Richard was the driving force for early morning workouts as he preached that “basketball was the way to go”, according to Nia. All three kids worked to follow in their father’s footsteps: Amir started playing basketball in second grade, Nia as a fourth grader and Sydney a little older.