Not all rookies have the same kind of first season in the NBA. Some deliver near All-Star level performances, some struggle to find their footing, while others don’t get enough minutes to make a statement. Still, nearly every player has that one defining “welcome to the NBA” moment. NBA veteran Langston Galloway shared his during an exclusive interview with The SportsRush’s Adit Pujari.
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The moment in question can be good, bad, or a mix of both. In most cases, it’s the realization that they’re now rubbing shoulders with some of the best in the league. For Galloway, it involved James Harden, who at the time was at the peak of his powers with the Houston Rockets.
Fortunately, Galloway’s memory isn’t unpleasant. He was simply daunted by playing against an established superstar like Harden. When Adit asked him about his “moment,” Galloway took a trip down memory lane and spoke about his second-ever NBA game against Houston.
“You know, my second game, yeah, my second game we played against the Rockets. And so we had James Harden. And I remember my friends had texted me before the game was like, yo, don’t get crossed up tonight,” Galloway explained.
In his debut game with the New York Knicks, Galloway finished with 7 points on 2-of-8 shooting—a respectable outing for a rookie, but one he knew he could improve upon. What truly stood out, however, was the mental challenge of guarding Harden. “The Beard” was, after all, a scoring machine.
Galloway remembers laughing off the comments from his friends and taking the challenge head-on. “And I remember like in my head laughing like, oh man, like I really could get on the island at one point in this game, and I really got to put on put on my shoes. So, but yeah, no, it was a once-in-a-lifetime game for me. I played well, but we still lost,” he said.
Galloway wrapped up his second-ever NBA game with 19 points in 30 minutes. Most of it came during garbage time, as the Rockets cruised to a 120–96 win, but he made the most of the opportunity and put together a solid outing. Still, it wasn’t the performance that stuck with him. It was the matchup. That’s what made the moment memorable.
“But the chance to play against, like I said, like Harden and the guys on the Rockets at the time, you had Dwight Howard, you had Josh Smith, you had all those guys on the team at the time. And I mean, it was just a dream come true. There really wasn’t like a moment where I got put on ice or anything like that,” Galloway added.
That’s a good thing, too, because some NBA players are forced to live with an embarrassing “welcome” moment for the rest of their careers. Just to name a few: T.J. McConnell got torched by Isaiah Thomas in his rookie year, prompting a quick sub, while Victor Wembanyama was posterized by Kai Jones in his first-ever Summer League appearance.
These moments can hit fast, and if a player isn’t ready, they can get caught slipping. But Galloway? He was prepared. If anything, he was more starstruck than shaken. And who could blame him? He was up against James Harden, Dwight Howard, and Josh Smith—all icons for his generation. Nerves were inevitable. Facing childhood idols on an NBA court? That’ll give anyone butterflies.
