PHOENIX – Drop 32 points on the Washington Wizards, hop an American Airlines flight to see your sister compete in the NCAA championship game.
It had been an exhilarating 24 hours for Jaime Jaquez Jr. by the time the former UCLA star walked into the Mortgage Matchup Center on Sunday afternoon.
Wearing sunglasses and a UCLA letterman’s sweater in a nod to his college days, Jaquez came to cheer on Gabriela against South Carolina in the end of an incredible seven-year run of Bruins basketball for the family.
“I hope she really cements the Jaquez legacy here at UCLA with a national championship,” Jaime told the California Post while standing in a concourse before the game. “It’s going to be amazing.”
The Miami Heat forward was coming off one of his best games of the season. He scored 32 points while making 12 of 18 shots, adding four assists and three rebounds during the Heat’s 152-136 victory over the Wizards in Miami.
With a break in the team’s schedule, Jaime received his team’s blessing to go see his sister’s final college game. Having packed his bags before the game on Saturday, he left directly for the airport and secured a nonstop flight into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
“Coach Spo [Erik Spoelstra] and the team, they understood how big of a moment this was,” Jaime said. “They told me go on ahead and support your family. It’s one of those things you can’t miss.”
Jaime is about to finish his second NBA season after four years at UCLA, where he became a beloved Bruin. He helped UCLA reach the 2021 Final Four and was selected the Pac-12 Conference’s Player of the Year as a senior – when he overlapped with Gabriela on campus – before becoming a first-round draft pick of the Heat.
Watching sister Gabriela blossom from a freshman who came off the bench to a projected first-round WNBA draft pick has been particularly gratifying.
“It’s been great,” Jaime said. “She’s grown so much from a freshman to senior year, and this is all her hard work paying off. It’s for this moment right here.”
