‘It’s just cool to tap into something different’: Iman Shumpert on going from hoops to ‘Dancing With The Stars’ (2024)

The NBA had plenty of veterans return to the league on 10-day contracts during the spike in COVID-19 cases earlier the season.

Iman Shumpert was not one of them.

It’s not that the 31-year-old guard doesn’t want to play basketball or doesn’t love the game. It’s just that he has too much going on. Too many things he loves that he’s free to enjoy. Nor does he want to disrupt life for his two daughters just for a few days with a team and no guarantees beyond that. He hasn’t stopped enjoying the cheers from fans, it’s just shifted to something else.

That something else includes being a part of the Dancing with the Stars 2022 Tour, which has stops in more than 50 cities with Shumpert appearing in half of the dates.

Not to mention he’s acting. And making music. And providing a platform for upcoming musical artists, producers and fashion designers. For the 2016 NBA champion who played 10 seasons in the NBA, life is pretty good. He’s based in his hometown of Chicago, diving into his interests and raising his daughters with his wife R&B singer, dancer and actor Teyana Taylor.

Shumpert is at artistic peace these days and dedicating his time to being able to express all sides of his creativity. Shumpert teamed with dance partner Daniella Karagach to become the first NBA player to win “Dancing with the Stars” last November and the dancing continues on the tour.

“The main joy that I have with being with ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is not having to hide myself, not even a little bit,” Shumpert told The Athletic. “They’ve done an incredible job with telling my story in bits and pieces, of course, telling the story of what I’m into, my family, why I like certain songs. I think it’s helped people sort of break away from judging it like I’m an athlete and judging it for what it is. I think that’s the coolest part. I’ve never really received energy from people that wasn’t from scoring the ball or getting a stop.”

Shumpert’s date on the tour concludes this week in Southern California, and for Shumpert and Karagach, they’ve continued their success from the show with live audiences across the country. The venues generally hold 2,500-3,000 fans, depending on the city.

“It’s so fun,” Karagach said. “Any room he enters, everyone has the best time. he’s just a good human being. Being around him creates a lot of positivity in the room. and if you’re not necessarily feeling well and then you see him and he’s doing his Iman thing, it just puts you in another mood. Honestly, it’s like touring with your best friend. It’s been so much fun and he’s just the best partner.”

Shumpert said the highlight has been getting to know Karagach and her family. As they became better friends, they became better dance partners. Shumpert added that has made being on tour easier, calling it a “smooth transition.”

Karagach is a professional dancer who was in her second season on the show after placing third in season 29 with rapper Nelly as her partner. Over 10 episodes of the show and 15 routines, she and Shumpert began to find their stride.

“When the show sort of became more about the improvement and the ability to be from a different background and really commit to trying to give a performance through ballroom, we sort of found that niche,” Shumpert said. “If there was a dance style that involved lifts, we’d make people feel a way about our performance every time. And when we found that niche, I think it went hand-in-hand with me and Dani’s friendship.”

Shumpert loves the environment created by the fans as it reminds him of his background playing basketball in front of large crowds. A showman at heart, he now feels the admiration from supporters in a new environment.

“This Dancing With the Stars audience is crazy with the amount of energy that they have,” Shumpert said. “But to hear them, how excited they get to hear that we’re performing … It’s really cool because I’m so used to a pro basketball audience and how different it is to give a show in a choreographed way. But they still give me my moments with the mic where they just let me be myself, which is very cool.”

Karagach said the fans give “confidence” to her and Shumpert. It also provides fans who might doubt their work as a tandem or Shumpert’s dancing a view of their hard work. There are skeptics, even though they won the last season of the show. Karagach and Shumpert were considered underdogs after receiving low scores early and questions about whether the height difference was too much to overcome. Karagach is 5-foot-2 and Shumpert is 6-foot-5.

“Watching the show on TV is one thing because a lot of people think the steps that we do are fake stunts or all on strings, but it’s not,” Karagach said. “So for them to see it live it’s ‘Whoa you guys are actually doing it. Iman is actually dancing well, it’s not just a camera angle hiding him, he’s actually a great dancer.’ The audience absolutely loves him. When we come out they go crazy and it’s just so much fun, it just makes you want to dance your best.”

Karagach said the friendship also grew as they struggled to nail the choreography at times. Sometimes things would not gel until the day of the show, she said.

“That feeling of acing the choreography was just the best feeling,” Karagach said.

Shumpert isn’t just dancing these days, which is one benefit of not playing in the NBA. Being a professional athlete can be restricting because the expectation is everything goes into your sport. Outside interests are easily labeled distractions. When’s the last time someone thought it was a good idea for their shooting guard to be in the studio recording an album? There’s little patience for an athlete who is perceived to not be putting all 24 hours of the day into the game.

“I think my whole life I had everybody encouraging me to do everything around me to give myself as many chances to be whatever I wanted to be,” Shumpert said. “Once basketball sort of took the lead with recruiting and everything, it was amazing to hear everybody then sort of switch to hey just focus on school and ball. And then it’s like you get to the pros and everybody’s like just focus on ball. Everything extra is like a bad thing and a lot of my early career was me suppressing other sides of myself to say nah I wanna play ball, I’m committed to this. And now all those others things that I knew I liked to do it was like nah, I’m making my commitment to ball and right now I don’t have a contract so its right that I don’t lie to myself like I don’t enjoy doing other things. and I’m just taking the challenges and saying yes to everything.”

That means, music, fashion, acting and obviously dancing are central parts of Shumpert’s life. He last appeared in the NBA for two games with Brooklyn during the 2020-21 season. He’s not holding his breath for another NBA call. Rather Shumpert has discovered he loves storytelling, something that’s common with his family. Finding the platforms to tell stories after years of suppressing that aspect of his personality.

“I do it with podcasts, I do it through my music,” Shumpert said. “And with the acting stuff, a lot of time what I’m doing is I’ll sort of read whatever the character is and take it in, read through the lines and the script and figure out where my delivery is going to come in. And when I think about delivery I start thinking about mannerisms and people that in that type of space I can say that reminds me of this person and I can sort of lean on creating their mannerisms to bring out a true character so it doesn’t feel like I’m watching myself.”

Shumpert is finalizing the release of his latest album. At the P.O. box listed on his Instagram, aspiring designers can send him clothes, which he can then wear to help support their art. He also wants to allow up-and-coming music producers and musicians the opportunity to hone their craft. But he’s truly enjoying the chance to act. Shumpert has appeared in the Showtime series “The Chi” and the BET series “The Twenties” recently.

“I think it’s just cool to tap into something different,” Shumpert said. “I’m just trying to take on as many different roles as I can. Everybody on my team and on my side, as they see those roles, they see opportunities that can vary where I might get a chance to show something different. They always look for those auditions and try to get them and it’s been so far, so good as far as booking jobs.”

In the DWTS final, Shumpert and Karagach earned two perfect scores (40 out of 40). The first came with a cha cha and foxtrot fusion dance to “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire. They capped off their night with a medley of Missy Elliott’s hit “Lose Control” and “Bounce” by DJ Clent, a freestyle that won over the judges. Singer and social media star JoJo Siwa and pro partner Jenna Johnson finished second. Actor Cody Rigsby and pro dancer Cheryle Burke were third. TV personality Amanda Kloots and her partner, Alan Bersten, finished fourth.

Karagach said the friendship started the first day she and Shumpert began practicing for the show. She said Shumpert relied on his basketball background of remembering plays to remember all of the choreography.

“It takes two to tango,” she said. “He was a great sport. He was in it to win it from the beginning and he put his heart and soul into it. He trusted the process, he wasn’t scared of looking weird. a lot of people are egotistic and he wasn’t one, he was just so down to do whatever it takes to win and it showed, I think it showed a lot.”

Shumpert still has more to show away from the dance floor. He’s just getting started with all of his interests.

(Top photo: David Polston / ABC)

Jason Jones is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Culture. Previously, he spent 16 years at the Sacramento Bee, covering the Sacramento Kings and Oakland Raiders. He's a proud Southern California native and a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley Follow Jason on Twitter @mr_jasonjones