Magic Bubble showcases club program’s current standouts and alumni

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CORONA, Ca. – One of the upper-tier grassroots programs in basketball puts it current and former players – as well as its stance on the multitude of social issues of our times – on display Saturday during the “Magic Bubble” event.

Five “pick-up games/scrimmages” were held, involving currents Compton Magic-affiliated players – notably Class of 2021 members Malik Thomas (Damien), Reese Dixon-Waters (St. Bernard) and Isa Silva (Jesuit in the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael) and superb sophomore-to-be Mikey Williams (San Diego San Ysidro) – as well as some notable “alumni”. No scores were kept.

Among the alumni (who formed the “opposition” in three of the five 24-minute affairs) were 6-foot-10 Richard Solomon (Bishop Montgomery/UC Berkeley), 6-8 Joe Burton (West Valley/Oregon State) and 6-9 Cameron Oliver (Sacramento Grant/Nevada-Reno), as well as guards Shannon Sharpe (Corona Centennial/University of Colorado and Cal Poly-Pomona), Victor Joseph (Rancho Cucamonga/Cal Poly-SLO), Gabe York (Orange Lutheran/University of Arizona) and Dikembe Martin (JW North/UC Riverside).

Sharpe, an assistant coach at his high school alma mater, and Oliver seemingly had a dozen dunks between them; Solomon and York, as many 3-pointers as Sharpe and Oliver had dunks; Burton schooled the high schoolers with his low-post savvy and Joseph and Martin broke preps down off the dribble on numerous occasions.

The last of the scrimmages pitted the Compton Magic’s 17s and 16s squads.

Each would – minus the COVID-19 pandemic – would have among the best during the adidas spring and summer circuits.

The older squad was led by Thomas, Dixon-Waters and Silva – who’ve already committed to USC (Thomas and Dixon-Waters) and Stanford, respectively.

Along with Williams (California’s top freshman last season), the 16s squad also included two players from Windward who are among the region’s – and nation’s – best from the Class of 2022, KijanI Wright and Dylan Andrews.

The 6-9 Wright and another player from the Class of 2022, 6-8 Max Allen (who was at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman as a freshman, Heritage Christian in Northridge last season and now attends Sierra Canyon), were matched, head up, most of the game.

To use boxing vernacular, “Wright was ahead on points” when the game was over.

Along with Williams, other Class of 2023 players of note Saturday night were guard Darius Carr (St. Bernard) and forward Curtis Williams (Etiwanda).

Also showing out was one of California’s top players in the 2024 Class, 6-5 Carter Bryant (Fountain Valley).

Magic founder (1995) and CEO Etop Uma-Ema address the gathering (along with players and Magic coaches, mostly family members) before and after the scrimmages, stressing the theme of “Equality . . . Peace . . . Justice . . . Change” and encouraging all eligible voters to do so for the Nov. 3 general election

Also addressing the gathering were other Magic alumni, including current L.A. Police Department officers Sterling Byrd and Genesis Maciel, who played at Centennial High in Compton and Long Beach State and the University of Hartford, respectively, before going into law enforcement.