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The Mikey Williams Blog: Kobe tattoo, Overtime series, Drake, CA scoring champ and more

2023 star Mikey Williams paid homage to Kobe Bryant with a custom tattoo, planning an 81-point game

Mikey Williams is widely regarded as the No. 1 player in the 2023 class with the “next big thing” buzz that accompanies such an appointment at an early age. Williams is easily the most known high school basketball player in the country, regardless of class, with 1.4 million followers on Instagram, including Drake, Kevin Durant and LeBron James. Despite him being just a freshman, Williams, a point guard at San Ysidro (San Diego), leads the state of California in scoring, averaging 32 points a game. Now, Williams has agreed to give Sports Illustrated access into his world by chronicling his life on and off the court in a blog.

What’s up world, this is Mikey and this is my new Sports Illustrated blog; just wanted to give you a look at what my life is like on and off the court.

I’m excited about my new series with Overtime which is kicking off on Saturday at 3 p.m. (PST)!

We’ve been filming for a while so I’m excited to see the final product.

You can see it at Overtime’s YouTube page, and I’ll be posting the link in my bio so everyone make sure to check it out!

Well, it’s still hard to believe that Kobe is gone.

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I’ll never forget I was sitting on my couch and my mom texted me telling me, but I was hoping that she was wrong or somebody put a rumor out or something. Then I went to Google and there it was.

Man! That hurt.

I immediately hit my tattoo guy up and told him that we should do something dope for Kobe and he was down. I asked my mom if I could get it and she said yes, so I got it done.

I’d never met Kobe in person, but I’d met his daughter.

I’d heard through different people that he’d said good things about me and that he wanted to work with me at some point. I know that, at some point, I would’ve worked with him; I know I could’ve learned so much from him.

What I take from the whole situation is to really enjoy life. People say that all the time, but it’s just more real after this. You can be gone just like that, but the great thing about Kobe is that he really lived life and accomplished a lot.

It just motivates me to appreciate everything in my life more on and off the court.

Speaking of that, my season is going good so far; we’re turning things around.

We started off slow, but we were losing to really good teams. I feel like we’re coming together and playing better as a team.

Right now, I lead the state in scoring (32 ppg.) so my individual goal is to finish the season as the scoring leader and win Freshman of the Year. I had the 77-point game earlier this season, and I may try and go for 81 to honor Kobe, but it’s hard when you’re up big in the fourth quarter with a running clock.

I may try and get that before the playoffs start.

We’ll see.

As for my recruitment, my offers are from San Diego State, USC, USD, Arkansas, Arizona, Arizona State and New Mexico.

I haven’t taken any visits or anything like that, but I may try and catch a San Diego State game soon. They’re having a really good season.

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My ultimate goal is to get to the NBA, so whatever has the quickest path there is what I’m focused on. College seems like a great experience and I don’t know what rules will be in place when I’m a senior, but I just focus on my goals.

I try and set my goals high in the classroom just like I do on the court and right now I have a 3.4 GPA. I’m shooting for that 4.0 though. I need that!

I really like all of my classes.

A lot of people ask me about all of the attention that I get and things like that; I’m blessed to be in this position and I just have fun with it. I think I was most excited about Drake following me on Instagram; him and Kevin Durant. Bron following me was cool too because we developed a close relationship.

I just try and keep tunnel vision with everything though. I interact with followers sometimes, but mostly I get on Instagram to post things.

I just block out any drama and stay focused on getting better. That’s how I handle it.

I listen to a little bit of everything like Meek, Roddy Rich, Da Baby, Quando Rondo, Lil Baby, NBA YoungBoy, Splurge, all of those guys.

I think people would be shocked to know that I can cook!

Just the other night I made tilapia and it was great. I don’t know what my best dish is, but I really put my time into it when I cook.

OK guys, I’ve gotta hit these books, but I appreciate you reading!

Make sure you check out my new series with Overtime at 3 p.m. on Saturday (PST) and check back here soon because I’ll have another blog coming soon.

Don’t forget to follow Mikey Williams:

Instagram: mikey