Basketball is part of Alas family culture

Kevin Alas at the SportsIQ booth.

BASKETBALL is one topic that never escapes the Alas family conversation.

“I was just 7 years old, and my dad was already an assistant coach in the PBA,” said NLEX guard Kevin Alas, son of Alaska assistant coach Louie Alas. “He’d bring us to a lot of his games, no matter what team he was part of. Basketball is really in our [family] culture.”

Alas is the second of four siblings, all of whom play the game in top-level competition.

“When Papa talks to me at home, it’s more on what to improve in my game and random stuff about Alaska, NLEX, about (younger brother) Kenneth,” said Alas in an episode of SportsIQ, which airs every Thursday on Inquirer.net and Radyo Inquirer. “Even my mom (Liza Platon Alas) talks basketball. Basketball really runs in our blood.”

Alas admitted that on the other side of the coin lies basketball’s tendency to cause a little family friction.

“When [Louie Alas] was coaching me in Letran, our father-son relationship would get affected because our player-coach relationship would reach the house.”

Both Kevin and older brother Kristoffer played for their dad with the Knights.

But watching his soft-spoken yet firm father dote on their youngest son Kieffer, who is starting out basketball in the kids level has made Kevin appreciate Louie Alas even more.

“Looking at how he is with Kieffer, it makes me realize just how proud he is of me,” he said. “The things he does for Kieffer, he did for me when I was starting out. And I see how proud he is.”

While Kevin may be the most successful of the four thus far—he says Kieffer may turn out to be the family superstar—he admits that it was playing against Kuya Kristoffer that pushed him to be who he is now.

“When we were kids, I could not beat him. And that challenged me to be better,” said Kevin, who owns career-highs of 43 points in the NCAA and 21 in the PBA.