CV NEWS FEED // A successful basketball player joined the Knights of Columbus three years ago amidst several large struggles in his life—and found that his love for God, his family, and basketball significantly increased through giving back.
In a recent interview with Columbia Magazine, NBA player Luke Kornet described his journey to professional basketball and how that affected his relationship with God. Kornet played basketball in college for Vanderbilt University, which was the beginning of his career as a professional basketball player. However, Kornet struggled to balance his love for basketball with his spiritual life in college.
“[B]asketball became an identity-consuming thing for me in college; it was very difficult to find a balance,” he said. “For example, we had games on Saturdays, and I remember a lot of times during Sunday Mass being consumed thinking about the game.”
Kornet said that after he graduated in 2017, he signed a contract with the New York Knicks. Until December 2018, he played well and basketball quickly became a key aspect of his identity.
At the end of 2018, Kornet got hit in the face during a game, which broke his nose and later began to affect his shooting. He began playing with the Chicago Bulls in 2019, but said that his performance gradually began to deteriorate due to his injury.
“I had spent my whole life primarily as a 3-point shooter, which was the main source of my confidence and identity as a basketball player,” he said. “And then I couldn’t shoot anymore. As 2019 went on, it became embarrassing to shoot in front of people, because I really didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Kornet added that he sustained an ankle injury shortly afterwards, which made that era of his life a “very difficult and challenging time.”
“It led me to face a lot of spiritual and personal things that had been pushed to the back burner,” he said. “I was just so consumed with riding this career wave that when it all cratered, there was a moment of having to be honest with myself: ‘What if this is all my worth, and it’s gone?’”
“With this came a profound sense of loneliness,” he continued. “But Christ actually met me in that and healed a lot of things for me and helped set that hierarchy of faith, wife, children, and then career and work, which for a lot of my life had been inverted.”
Kornet said that during this time, his wife, Tierney, and a 90-day spiritual challenge known as Exodus 90 helped him accept his situation and find peace amidst his struggles. While living in Chicago, a parishioner at his church invited Kornet to join the Knights of Columbus.
“[H]is joyful persistence eventually led me to say yes in August 2020, and then to participate in some of the council’s events,” Kornet said. “It’s very difficult to be an active member with how much I’m on the road and other things. But I feel it is very necessary, especially in this time, to feel bonded and yoked with other men wanting to serve God and their communities and to strengthen each other.”
“A lot of times, we have this desire to serve, but we don’t really know where to start. The Knights provides a great place for us to focus that effort and energy. Having men from all different walks of life unified under the cause of Christ and serving their community is a unique thing,” he continued.
Kornet said that his struggles and the setbacks he faced while playing in the NBA actually helped him realize what his priorities are and have changed the way he plays basketball.
“In a weird way, those injuries made me a better player and a better teammate,” he said. “Though I still work to try to shoot at the level I once did, I really do play a lot more joyfully now. I care about my team, and we can give glory to God in our pursuit of an NBA championship. But our hearts are made for a whole lot more. This can’t be my god, the No. 1 thing.
“What really matters is the family God has entrusted to me. My order of priority is God, then spouse, then children, and then work and everything else. If I don’t love God well, I can’t love my wife well. If I don’t love my wife well, then I can’t love our kids well, and if I don’t love all of them well, then I can’t do my work well,” Kornet said.
