Julie Trice, as the rest of her family, is very happy. The major reason for that is the fact that her sons, Travis and D'Mitrik Trice, are playing together in the 7DAYS EuroCup for the same team, Slask Wroclaw.
Trice family dream coming true at Slask
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Travis Trice – four years older than D'Mitrik – joined the Polish club on October 18, 2021, right before the start of the EuroCup Regular Season. It is the point guard's second stint in the competition, after having played with Leonessa Basket Brescia for three games in the 2019-20 season. His younger brother started his professional career this season in the French League with Fos-Provence in his first season out of university.
Slask started looking for some point guard depth behind Travis, who ranks 15th in the EuroCup in scoring (14.5 ppg.) and fourth in assists (6.7 apg.). Trice felt comfortable enough at a meeting with head coach Andrej Urlep to offer his own option.
"As we were talking, he told me what they were looking for and my brother checked all the boxes. So I told him to take a look at my brother, and he said he would. Coach liked him and we signed him a few days later," Travis said, referring back to February 9, when D'Mitrik was signed by Slask.
"I was super happy. It really didn't hit me until I picked him up from the airport that we were going to get to be on the same team," Travis said.
D'Mitrik was thrilled to hear the news.
"It's always been a dream of mine to actually be on the same team as my brother and now that it's actually happening in my first year out of college is a dream come true. I love every moment of it," said D'Mitrik, who had been averaging 5.2 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 18 minutes per game in the French League.
And Travis had been paying attention, too – even was back in the United States working ou, before he signed with Slask.
"When I was back home and he was playing [in France], I would have to try to sync up my workout, schedule-wise, so I could watch him play in the middle of the day," Travis said in an interview earlier in the season. "But it works out perfect now... I'm definitely locked in on every game."
So is the brothers' family in the United States – after having had to watch and follow two teams before D'Mitrik's arrival in Slask.
"I was super happy. It really didn't hit me until I picked him up from the airport that we were going to get to be on the same team."
"My mom is ecstatic. But my entire family is happy because now they can watch both of us at the same time rather than trying to watch two separate games at once," Travis said.
And D'Mitrik said: "Our mom always joked and talked about us trying to play on the same team together and we always jokingly said, yeah, we will try. But we knew how small of a chance that would be. Now that it's happened it's a crazy feeling. I know my entire family is loving it."
D'Mitrik says maybe there was a higher power at play, too.
"When Trav first called me and said it's a high possibility, my mom and family immediately starting praying that if this was meant to be then it would happen. The next day I was packing my bags to fly out to Poland. She spoke things into existence for sure," he said.
Once again, mother knew best.