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NBA San Antonio Spurs' backup center Luke Kornet has begun to stretch his writing legs again on his blog. Mark Blinch / NBAE via Getty Images OKLAHOMA CITY — When the locker room opens after the game, writers come flocking in seeking inspiration for the next story. A single quote can spark an idea or bring another full circle. Typically, it’s the reporters coming in to write about the players. But in the San Antonio Spurs locker room, there is a prolific writer hiding in their midst long before the media arrives. Advertisement A little more than a month ago, The Athletic sat down with San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet to learn about his past life as a church blogger. It turned out to be perfect timing. “Well, I haven’t participated in it in a few years now. I actually wrote stuff yesterday, believe it or not, ” Kornet said. “I was thinking about revamping it, so I might come out with a revamp soon. ” A few weeks later, a user on Medium named Luke Kornet, whose bio reads “Professional Athlete Dabbling in Writing, ” dropped the sequel his now 509 followers had long awaited. He immediately addressed the “controversy” over his several-year absence from writing, conceding that he is a “weak-willed, noncommittal sham of a writer” and that a blog centered on church architecture was “a bit overzealous. ” But that blog was more than just random musings of a joyful genius. Kornet, 30, has long been a creator trapped in an NBA player’s body, dating back to his first NBA stop in New York, when he went on Mitchell Robinson’s Block Party show on the Knicks’ You Tube channel and taught his old teammate how to juggle. As a member of the Boston Celtics, Kornet did everything from hosting a podcast to making satirical smear campaigns about Derrick White in partnership with the team’s You Tube channel and local broadcaster, NBC Sports Boston.     A post shared by NBC Sports Boston (@nbcsboston)

But he was brewing something of his own, building his church blog as a passion project that spoke more to who he was outside of work. He launched his blog on Medium called “Don’t Pass the Rock” on June 11, 2023, shortly after his Celtics’ attempt at coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the Eastern Conference finals to the Miami Heat was thwarted when Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle early in Game 7. Kornet warned his readers that this blog would not be about basketball, but would analyze the various churches he has come across in his NBA travels. He planned to evaluate the churches on five pillars: beauty, universality, community, tradition and sustenance. Advertisement The long-term vision was an NBA Catholic’s church guide, helping those who share his faith easily find accessible churches while on the road. From the VOUS Church in Miami, with its pastel walls, to the vast St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, Kornet has been cataloging the various houses of worship that have brought him peace and inspiration on game days. Recognizing how fortunate he is to travel the country for a living, he sought a more authentic way to connect to the cities he visited. The teams stay at five-star hotels, isolated from the reality of the city in many cases. Finding a local church that piques his interest is his way to find something authentic. “Frankly, going during the weekdays, and not just Sundays, you see a lot of people who are there because they know they need to be there and want to be there, ” Kornet said. “It’s a cool thing where everyone can be their own, but you’re also very united with these people who are just there on a Tuesday in Salt Lake (City). ” These churches helped him feel like he was at home with his faith and his community, even when he was away from his family. As he continued to blog about the decor and construction of them, he realized the sense of community was what felt real. It didn’t take long for the blog to hit pause. Ask those around him, and they’ll all tell you that Kornet does things with intention, even when it borders on, or leaps past, absurd. Kornet’s hiatus was spurred by a need to find inspiration, recognizing that he was less an architecture buff and more of a storyteller. But what was his story? “I (tried) to take some time to find out what that actually is, ” Kornet said. “Because when you’re writing something that’s not actually what you care about, it just dies out pretty quickly, forcing it where it’s not fun. ” Advertisement If it’s not fun, it’s not Kornet. Everything around him has a hint of irreverence. It ingratiated him with the locker room in Boston and has made him a fixture in San Antonio, his new home after he signed as a free agent last summer. “I think Luke Kornet is one of the most creative minds that I’ve been around in basketball and he creates a lot of joy in our locker room, ” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And, um, yeah, I’ll leave it at that because I’ll keep the family business in the living room. But he is a joy to have. ” While the Spurs have been the ideal next chapter for his career, Kornet’s decision to leave Boston was not easy. Brad Stevens, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, believed in Kornet enough to keep him around as he slowly developed. Kornet eventually evolved into one of the better backup centers in the league by the time Joe Mazzulla was head coach. Over the past few seasons, Kornet went to Mass with Mazzulla and Kornet’s development coach, Craig Luschenat, when the team was on the road. That was where he learned the type of people his coaches were when the context of work was stripped away. It helped him understand the intense Mazzulla at a deeper level, while also seeing the consistency of his principles. “Joe is who he is, and I think that’s what allows him to be that way and not be so fluctuating, ” Kornet said. “He’s a lot more rooted in what you’re doing. ” Though Kornet is originally from the Dallas area, Boston helped him grow a thicker skin and hone his priorities in life. He grew to appreciate the direct, blunt nature of communication in Boston, contrasting it to the warmth and charm of the Southern culture where he was raised. He learned to understand that he is there to take care of the people he cares about and focus on what’s within his sphere. “You’re frankly letting your word be what it actually is, and therefore not overpromising things just for the sake of perceived warmth to people, but it’s not actually really real or authentic, ” he said. “You can joke and actually know what you’re standing on. It’s a real contrast of things. That was something I realized in Boston. You care for the people you’re there to care about, and you also kind of know who’s not your responsibility and you don’t care about that because it’s, like, not your duty. “I can’t be everybody’s everything. ” Advertisement That realization helped him find a broader, yet more direct version of Don’t Pass The Rock. This time around, it wouldn’t be locked into the church review concept. Posts have ranged from a play-by-play of the team’s plane troubles to a dissertation on why God took away his shooting ability. When Kornet wrote an extensive Christmas letter for his family and friends, he felt his love for writing reviving once again. While his family puts together a card every year, he adds in a letter to provide a deeper message, writing in the smallest font he can muster just to fit everything he possibly can. Any time Kornet gets asked a question, he often goes on a stream of conscious monologue that meanders into the surreal and absurd. He can talk in grand loops through his convoluted mind, producing moments of comedic brilliance that often disrupt the interview when everyone struggles to keep a straight face. Writing gives him a place to hone these thoughts, even if they still take some work to follow along. “I enjoy writing a lot of parentheticals, ” he said. “You’ve got to put your effort in to read this thing. ” The blog has reemerged as a vehicle for Kornet to express a more refined and open version of the person he shows the public. He never has trouble starting sentences, but often gets so lost in his thoughts that bringing the answer full circle can be a journey. The presence of the microphone seems to push him away from true openness, as is the case with most athletes. The beauty of writing is having the time and space to hone your thoughts. Your words come out exactly as you wish. He writes like he talks, winding through bits to find a way to express his feelings with a veneer of comedy to alleviate the vulnerability. As he wrote in his second post, he’ll die on the hill that the best ability is vulnerability. When the team was stuck on a plane grounded by a blizzard in Charlotte, inspiration struck. The combination of boredom and frustration had the words flowing out of him. Advertisement “With hearts aflame and spirits lifted, the distant runways of San Antonio International Airport seemed just beyond the hills, ” Kornet wrote. “Sadly, the crossing of those hills was marked with the malfunction of a component and the subsequent incapacity to maintain cabin pressure. And that’s when I realized, airplanes are just like us. You want to be able to keep the pressure up for the full 48, but sometimes you can’t sustain it. Next Plane Up Mentality. ” The “next plane up mentality” line made him just say to himself, “Awesome. ” It’s the feeling a writer is always chasing, that one line that they can’t wait to share with the world. It was the same feeling he would get when reading late-night show host Stephen Colbert’s 2007 book “I Am America (And So Can You! ), ” which was one of his great inspirations for his wit and satire. It’s the same feeling he displays when he throws down a dunk and screams to the heavens, or strikes a pose so comical it ends up on a T-shirt. LA fashion has reached a new level pic. twitter. com/Tg Ju Cd Vqk I — Jared Weiss (@Jared Weiss NBA) December 11, 2025 Kornet is a showman, someone who leans into silliness to complement the seriousness. He didn’t make it from the fringes of the league to a valued piece of multiple contenders by goofing his way to the, well, middle of the pack. He can see himself joining the media ranks one day. He won’t know until he hangs it up whether he wants to go coach, write or focus on another passion. But the one thing that will never end is his journeys to churches around the world, jotting down notes on how the lighting fills the stained glass windows and the parishioners welcome him with open arms. “Something that faith enables, ” Kornet said, “is that you realize what you’re ultimately really doing stuff for. ” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Jared Weiss is a staff writer covering the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama for The Athletic. He has covered the Celtics since 2011, co-founding CLNS Media Network while in college before covering the team for SB Nation's Celtics Blog and USA Today. Before coming to The Athletic, Weiss spent a decade working for the government, primarily as a compliance bank regulator. Follow Jared on Twitter @Jared Weiss NBA