Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Should you ever see Utah Jazz guards Collin Sexton and Kris Dunn take the court adorned with mohawk hairdos, aggressive facepaint, and spiked shoulder pads, you'll know they probably took head coach Will Hardy a bit too literally.
A couple weeks back, both members of what was then the team's starting backcourt walked into the Delta Center locker room and discovered an action figure on the shelf of his respective cubicle.
Both players were surprised to see the figures, but also knew immediately what they were and how they got there.
"That was coach," Dunn said, laughing. "He wants us to be the Legion of Doom!"
Or "The Road Warriors," as the legendary professional wrestling tag team was originally known, and as Hardy refers to them.
"I'm Animal, he's Hawk!" Sexton said, pointing between himself and Dunn, referencing the late members of the group.
OK … what's the context there, exactly?
"That's who they remind me of," Hardy explained. "When they were starting together, and even now, they've formed this little tag team. They feed off of each other from an energy standpoint — they're always kind of gassing each other up."
The coach said he grew up liking "The Road Warriors," who became crowd favorites in the pro wrestling scene in the '80s and '90s partly on account of their muscular physiques and high-energy style, but mostly due to their cool visual aesthetic based off the post-apocalyptic vibes from the original "Mad Max" film.
Once his brain drew a link between the sports entertainers and his own players, Hardy naturally had to share his revelation with the guards in question.
"I asked them if they'd heard of them; they sort of loosely had. I showed 'em a picture — they got a kick out of it," he said. "And the names Hawk and Animal do sort of fit those two guys' personalities a little bit."
Sexton, who grew up watching the so-called "Attitude Era" of WWE programming with his brother, and who counts Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Mick Foley as his favorite all-time wrestlers, conceded that hearing "The Road Warriors" from the coach didn't initially register — "I hadn't heard their name in forever!" — but that the picture Hardy showed him immediately sparked a memory of the multi-time tag champions, who he remembered more as "Legion of Doom," or LOD.
And, being the excitable and enthusiastic type that he is, he quickly took a liking to the comparison, as well as to the official formalization of his backcourt partnership with Dunn via group nickname.
"'Hawk and Animal' — basically, we're trying to be a tag team," Sexton said of himself and Dunn. "We can be defense and offense. That's my guy, through and through."
Even though Dunn now comes off the bench, he and Sexton still share plenty of minutes in the Jazz's rotation. And they clearly have chemistry working together, though they'll probably have to eschew performing LOD's patented "Doomsday Device" finishing maneuver on any opponents.
At any rate, the connection having been made, Hardy figured he should memorialize the occasion with some kind of lasting tribute.
It did not come easy — or cheap.
"I surprised them with a couple of action figures and just put them in their lockers. Yeah, it's just one of those moments where a joke ends up having a little bit of legs," Hardy said. "The action figures actually were a lot harder to find than you would think."
But the squared-circle teammates remain prominently displayed in the basketball teammates' lockers. What a rush.
