Mychal Mulder’s father says ex-Cat made strong impression with Orlando Magic

According to Mychal Mulder’s father, the former University of Kentucky player did well in a recent workout for the Orlando Magic. “He killed it, in his terms,” Randy Mulder said.

Then came the more interesting part. After the workout, which also included former Kansas star Frank Mason III, the Magic met with Mulder and asked if he regretted his transfer to Kentucky. A former junior college All-American, Mulder largely made only cameo appearances for UK.

Mulder told the Magic he had no regrets, his father said. He pointed out how he got an advanced basketball education from Kentucky and Coach John Calipari.

Orlando officials liked this answer, said Randy Mulder, who described the Magic response as:

“You can make it in the NBA and be the 13th man on the team, but you’re still in the NBA. And we like guys like you who are ready to go and don’t get down because they’re not playing. And you proved in the two years at Kentucky that you can handle that.”

Of course, not playing presents challenges. When asked if it was difficult to handle not playing, the elder Mulder quipped, “For me or him?”

Both father and son struggled. They were used to Mychal being the star of the team.

“He’d get down …,” the elder Mulder said. “It’d wear on anybody. He tried to keep a positive attitude, at least in front of everybody else.

“At the end of game, he’d talk to his dad because I’m his dad, right?”

His son is open to playing in Europe or elsewhere overseas.

“He just wants to keep playing basketball,” Randy Mulder said.

Initially ambivalent about playing in the NBA’s developmental league, Mulder would welcome that opportunity, too, his father said.

His son had spoken to about six other NBA teams about possible workouts, Randy Mulder said.

“Now, he was so encouraged by the Orlando thing, he wouldn’t mind the D-League just to get a foot in the door,” the elder Mulder said. “He’s remaining positive.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2017 at 1:08 PM with the headline "Mychal Mulder’s father says ex-Cat made strong impression with Orlando Magic."