Taj Gibson: Your guide to the OKC Thunder’s secret weapon

He’s only been with the Oklahoma City Thunder for two short months. Still, Taj Gibson is already earning his place in the hearts of loyal Thunder fans. Here’s an in-depth look at the NBA veteran and all he brings to Oklahoma City.

According to Taj Gibson, there’s a homeless man somewhere in Queens to thank for his dunking skills. “I went to a park,” he told Mark Bazer of Chicago Magazine. “And this guy says, ‘You’re not jumping right.’ We were at it for at least a couple hours. Then he said, ‘All right, little man, be safe.'”

He may have learned to dunk in Queens, but his basketball roots go way back.

Taj Gibson was born in Brooklyn in 1985 to a carpenter and a stay-at-home mom.

In Gibson’s New York neighborhood, having both parents in the home was unique. Longtime family friend, Greg Watson, told Bazer: “Where we grew up, Taj’s was the only family that had a mom and dad.”

As a result, Gibson’s mother, Sharon, was known to open her home to neighborhood kids who were experiencing difficult times.

It was his parents, too, who encouraged Gibson to work hard. After years of playing ball (and getting into fights) with neighborhood boys, Gibson went on to join several elite youth basketball camps, like the Amateur Athletic Union’s Gauchos.

As a result, Gibson found himself at his first Five-Star All-American camp when he was only 14 years old. At that point in his young life, there was no looking back.