By Antonis Stroggylakis/ astroggylakis@eurohoops.net
On March 16, 2024, Zach LeDay felt his whole world getting shattered.
That day, Ricki Vincent LeDay, Zach’s father, a former football player and Gulf War veteran, passed away at 62 in Dallas, Texas. His death was a devastating blow for the American forward who was overwhelmed not only by the grief that comes with the loss of a parent but also feelings of crippling depression.
“For the first time in my life, I was defenseless. I was powerless,” LeDay told Eurohoops. “It rocked me to my core. Made me think about everything. Made me think about basketball. Made me think about life. Made me think why do I even play basketball. It made me think about if I still want to play basketball.”
With the help of his family and loved ones, LeDay managed to overcome these dark emotions and returned to Europe to finish the season with Partizan Belgrade. His sorrow was converted into fuel that propelled him to transform the entire mindset with which he approaches the game, his life and his career. He hired the right people and experts that would elevate his training to new heights. He got fully committed to becoming the best person and player that he can be and realize a promise he made to his dad.
Almost a year after his father’s passing, Zach LeDay is playing his finest basketball ever.
LeDay is averaging a career-high 16.2 points plus 4.4 rebounds per game in the EuroLeague season at the time of February’s break. He’s making buckets on a stunning 70.6 percent True Shooting. He has stepped up as a leader, carrying an injury-plagued Olimpia Milano to big wins, almost single-handedly in multiple occassions. He’s one of the just three players (along with Olympiacos Piraeus forward Sasha Vezenkov and ASVEL Villeurbanne guard Theo Maledon) this season to win MVP of the Round three times or more.
That’s pure All-EuroLeague material from LeDay in his sixth year in the competition.
In a very candid interview with Eurohoops, LeDay opened up on the death of his father and how it affected him, conquering sadness and turning it into inspiration, his desire to become great and more.
Eurohoops: After Milano‘s most recent EuroLeague game where you scored 26 in that win at Zalgiris, you said that it’s a blessing to step on the floor and prove that you’re the best in Europe.
What does being the “best” mean for you?
Zach LeDay: Being the best is different for different players. For me, I’m someone who gives my all as a warrior. On both ends. I give my body to my team. Whether it’s guarding Edy Tavares for example in one game, or whether I get switched and I’m guarding a point guard in another game. Whether I have to chase Sasha Vezenkov or chase Nigel Hayes-Davis. Or when the team needs me to score 30 points. It’s about all the things I do. The little things I do in the game and don’t show up in the stats sheet. I feel these things catapult me.
Also, improving my consistency in everything. The work that I put in the offseason. My mentality. The stretches, the places my teammates have put me in to shine and highlight offensively what I have to show. The things that make me who I am. But mostly, the toughness and the things that don’t show up in the stats sheet are what can push me on forward to another level. Which is being the best. I think these are all winning qualities. No matter wherever you are. If you are in Milan… or playing anywhere on the planet.
For my team, I want to be known as a winner. As a needle-mover. When you sign me you know what culture you’re bringing. That this guy doesn’t want to put up and deal with just laying down and losing. I’m bringing a certain toughness, energy and grit to whatever team it is. To whatever is there. I’m bringing this wherever I’m going. Be the best version of myself to help the team win.
That’s what pushes me and keeps me going every day. Seeing everybody around the league doing what they do. It motivates me to continue, keep going, putting in extra shots, putting in work on my body with my trainers. Work on my mind with my mental coaches. Continue to push myself forward to take it to another level.
EH: Making the jump from “good” to “great”?
Z.L.: When you are good, everybody knows you as good. It’s cool. It’s nice to be known, you get recognized. But there’s a difference between good and being great.
Vassilis Spanoulis, for example. He’s great. Sarunas Jasikevicius. He’s great. There are players you know and when you speak their name, you are like, “wow that’s a whole different level.”
When I buried my dad last March, I said… I told him that I want to take it to another level. Be great. Whatever I have to do. I put my body and my mind through the wringer. Literally.
I knew that in returning to Milan, I had to come back on another level. This is why I try to stand on everything I said and trying to deliver. Deliver what I promised my dad, myself and my family. To achieve the goals I have for myself and the team. For everybody.
EH: You addressed the passing of your father that happened last March. You also mentioned it this season after you guys beat Barcelona on the road and you registered a new career-high 33 points. You said that your dad was with you that night.
It obviously had an immense impact for you.
Z.L.: It did. Let me give you some perspective first. Once I decided that I was going to be a professional basketball player, I decided to jump into this life and be obsessed with basketball. Be obsessed with growth. Be obssesed with what I need to do for teams. To be great. What I need to do for these demanding coaches. Be the best version of myself for them. For the club I play for. To be able to win.
This is my eighth year in my career and I’ve been playing in the EuroLeague for high-demanding coaches for several years. It’s pretty crazy when you think about it.
When my father died, it really rocked me to my core. When you’re playing basketball and when you make it to the highest stage and you get to a certain “celebrity status” or something. You get things that come with being part of the job. Playing with all these big clubs, doing what you love. It’s all a blessing.
But then something like that happens, all of a sudden. And there’s no amount of money that can bring him back. No amount of fame that can fix it somehow.
We had played a game and then my mom called me. I played the game at Barcelona – I had said I’m going to play another game hoping that my dad was good.
And I got there and my dad was on a tube. I didn’t get to talk to him. We didn’t get to laugh together one last time. Nothing. He was just on a tube and he was fighting.
We tried to do everything. And there was nothing I could do. Everybody was looking at me. Because I guess I’m this big guy that made it out of the struggles that we overcome as a family. And where we come from. It’s not easy on that part of the city of Dallas. So everybody is looking at me and there’s nothing I can do.
For the first time in my life, I am defenseless. I am powerless. That rocked me to my core. Made me think about everything. Made me think about basketball. Made me think about life. Made me think why do I even play basketball. It made me think about if I still want to play basketball. And I love basketball. It’s my whole life.
I never, ever thought like that. I had never ever had these dark feelings. Never, ever went through these emotions.
Throughout the whole year my family was having some issues in general. Different things. They can obviously affect a player when they go to the floor and have to deal with that mental stuff.
But this… that truly rocked me to my core. It brought me all the way to the bottom.
And I’m someone that… if somebody isn’t doing what they are supposed to do, I’ll do it. I’ll do this and this. That’s how my mind thinks. The warrior mentality. What my grandfather and my father and my uncles raised me with.
It rocked me to my core. There were a lot of things that I didn’t get to talk about with my dad.
To get to that bottom point is when you get to the bottom you got to literally start rebuilding. There was nowhere else to go. I couldn’t go down any further. That’s just the honest truth.
EH: You really had thoughts of stopping playing basketball?
Z.L.: The thoughts I had were so bad… I don’t wish them on anybody. I don’t have any enemies but if I had, I wouldn’t wish that to my worse enemy. Basketball is my whole life. My whole family’s life. Everybody loves it. Everybody’s obssessed with basketball ever since I started playing in high school.
The first thing that I feel that makes you a good player is your mind. You are away from your family. You don’t get to see them. I’m in Europe, my parents are in the States. You’re coming over here and essentially you’re like, what is all this for? All the games, back to back. It’s a lot. And you get paid for that of course.
You are preparing your body and your mind for this. But you are like why I’m doing this? What am I chasing?
You ask every question there is. Do you want to keep going? Do you want to stop? Do you want a family? Because I’m a big family person, I love my family.
I was at the ultimate low. After getting to this dark place, to get out of that, you have to fight through a whole another level of cobwebs. A whole another level of obstacles. And restarting and being able to build up that house again, that burned house. It’s a testament to my family. A testament to everybody around me.
So it’s restarting literally from ground zero. No, under the ground. It’s like a house being built. And the house is knocked down. All the way. Nothing you could do. It’s burned down. I don’t know if you still got both your parents, I pray you do…
EH: My father died a few years ago. It was kind of a similar situation. What screws you up is the feeling of helplessnesss. That you’re standing there and everything is beyond your control.
You can’t stop wondering what you could’ve done differently.
Z.L.: That’s exactly the thing. My dad wasn’t the best with his body, wasn’t the best with his health. And I always tried to talk to him. You get to beat yourself up inside. Why didn’t he listen to me? Did I do enough? Did I use my resources to help avert this? I was at the ultimate bottom, under the ground. I was like a house burned down. I was nothing.
With that being said. With him being so young. There were so many things he didn’t get to experience. Things we didn’t get to experience together.
So it was about rebuilding. I wanted to come in. Getting to finish the season.
EH: Was there any particular moment, incident or talk when you realized that you want to go back and return to playing basketball? That helped you escape those dark thoughts?
Z.L: It was before I got to a plane to return to Belgrade and finish the season. We had a big family meeting. They had never seen me so emotional. Because I’m this big strong guy, right?
That family meeting was very emotional. A lot of crying. My mom is my rock behind me. All the family, we all came together and I give credit to my family for sitting down and talking to me. It was similar to the family meetings in key moments in my life. When I first left Dallas for the first time. When I first went to college. When I first came to Europe. They told me that I have to do it. “You got to go do it. You are the rock. You are the guy.”
It was like everybody was looking at me when my dad had all these tubes coming out of him. And everybody was looking at me on what we’re going to do. We talked. Like I said, I was at the ultimate low. And it was time to come back and rebuild. Rebuild what was lost. Rebuild the house that is me. The house that was burned. And I realized that to do that, I need to jump to another level.
I’ve always been grateful and blessed for being able to play the game. When you go through something like that it makes you even more grateful for the little moments.
For example, we’ve been on the road for a week . Three straight road games. Germany, Lithuania and then Sardinia. I realized that we’ve been gone for a week. Traveling. I wake up and I’m grateful for experiencing this. I just said a prayer and I’m grateful. Grateful for the little things. The opportunity to learn. Whatever lesson I needed to learn yesterday. Whatever medium. Super grateful. You take some things for granted.
Little things that brings you back to yourself when something happens that rocks you to your core. You become more grounded and more grateful. For everything. The whole journey. The whole process of everything.
Going back to finish the season was really about rebuilding. A fresh start for me. With my mind. With my core. How I view the game. Because I’m still a warrior. I still want to be the best. I still want to win a EuroLeague, that’s my ultimate goal in my career. I’ve screamed that from the mountaintops. I want to be a part of EuroLeague champions. I want to experience this. That’s something that I fight for. I’m putting my body and my mind through it every day.
EH: What did you change in the way you prepare during the offseason?
Z.L.: I really started from ground zero. I hired a strength coach, Sebastien [J. Morin]. He’s from France. And he comes to live with me. He just holds me accountable every day, especially on the goals he sets for me. My basketball coaches Barrington Stevens and Tyler Relph. We really got in the gym and really just locked out the doors. Turned out the lights. I had things that I didn’t like. I looked at the percentages, I looked at the little things. Im looking at Synergy clips, I’m looking at everything. And I have things I want to tune up. I have things I don’t like. And we repped things out. Thousands, millions of times.
We got in the weight room. We changed my diet. And this is an evergoing process. A daily process. From when I wake up. Everything. It’s a different level of obsession for me to be great.
Like I said when we started to talk. It’s cool to be good. You are a good EuroLeague player and it’s nice and the fans know you and all. But to become someone like Spanoulis, Kyle Hines, Saras… I can go on and on. Champions. Guys that you know for being great.
I wanted to take it to that level. And I feel that I could do that. Well… nobody’s going to do it except me. It was about me holding myself accountable. Coming in every day. Do what I need to do with my help of my strength coaches and my mental preparation coaches as well. We just get to the point where we medidate and we zone everything out. We lock in. It’s been a beautiful process to get to this point. There’s four months left. I’m looking forward to get through and experience the next parts.
EH: You have been giving shoutouts to your neighborhood back in Dallas sometimes in your EuroLeague post-game flash interviews. How important is the bond you have with the community in your hometown?
Z.L.: It’s funny that you bring this up. When I was a kid, my dad coached me in football. He was a football player. He coached a lot of people in my neighborhood. He coached me and a lot of guys I grew up with. And we all grew up and made it out. Played sports, did things, went to college. So my dad was a real pillar in my childhood. A lot of my friends, everybody was reaching out when it happened because my dad was one of their first coaches. We just remembered those moments. In the neighborhood, playing together. Running to the mailboxes, playing tackle football while it’s freaking hot outside. How he was yelling at us. He was in the military so he was very tough and disciplined.
It built me to be a beast. To be a warrior. He knew what he was doing when I was a kid. When you are a kid you don’t know that. You are “dad why are you yelling at me? Why are you always so tough?” But it was for the best.
Going back in summer, I hadn’t been back to my neighborhood in a while. Every summer, I had been training, practicing, doing workouts and traveling to different places. I was going to the Summer League. But last summer, I’m like “I’m not going anywhere”. I decided to go back to the neighborhood I grew up in. East Dallas. Give back to the neighborhood, to everybody who was around me. My dad always wanted that. He was going to the Pro-Ams We’ve always been talking about what was going on in the city. Guys that are making it. from different areas.
When all this happened I really wanted to give back. I went and played in Pro-Am. I played in SwinCity Pro-Am with some guys that I grew up in my neighbourhood. And we hadn’t been playing together in a long time and they were like man it’s crazy that you are back. My whole summer was commited to the city, commited to giving back to the city of Dallas.
Obviously, it’s a blessing that I was able to play in the Pro-Am. Being able to touch younger people that were coming behind me. I felt that brought me closer to dad even though he wasn’t on the earth anymore. I felt that it was something he wanted me to do. Go back to the neighborhood.
It was the best thing for my mind. For everything.
Being with the people that you grow with… you’re on the same level with them always. it never changes. It doens’t matter that you are pro player. When you are back, you are Zach. “Little Z” from around the way. That’s who I was again.
It was good for me. They see the player i turned out to be and they are proud but it’s going to the streeet, going to the park. scramping your knee, getting thrown on the ground. big older guys. we played against quincy acy. we played against tough guys like that. I re-learned how to be tough. How to get up.
EH: Sounds like it was a very organic, healing process for you.
Z. L.: Essentially that’s what it was. It connected me to my dad. And all the people I was with, we were all connected to my dad. The only thing that we were missing was my dad yellin gat us.
Just me being, the overall journey to the process. To respect that. To be ablet to see where I started from.
My journey was crazy. Two high schools. two colleges. To be able to take the step from being good to being great. to take the next jump. I knew that mentaly I had to take my body and my mind. Mentaly I had to take that jump. Going back to the hood playing with the guys, getting back to the old ways.
EH: Did you also start practicing meditation last summer?
Z.L.: I was doing meditation but differently.
When you are playing in Belgrade for years, you got to have some sort of meditation. To go out and play against Crvena Zvezda, in this kind of games when it’s like a war. But this meditation I’m doing is taking me to a different level. It’s not about just how to prepare myself for a “war atmosphere”. It’s me VS me. Only I can stop myself.
Manifestation. I believe that we’re going to win the EuroLeague. Maybe nobody else does. But I do. So I’m going to manifest it. I’m going to manifest my goals. I’m going to manifest going from being good to being great. It’s another step in the journey of manifestation.
EH: Can you elaborate on that “There’s some point when you’re hitting a wall… you just got to run through the motherf–ker” that you said after the victory at ASVEL? Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty cool to see players express themselves so openly. Being genuine.
Z.L.: That’s part of rebuilding the house. Whatever I do, I’m just going to come, do it and be unapologetic about. Be myself. Obviously, you got to have a professionalism about yourself. At that moment, there were a couple of things I needed to do in the game. The coached had asked me to tighten up. The season is long and you hit a rough patch. You lose a couple of games and you wonder if you are feeling yourself. You want to be better.
Never change Zach LeDay pic.twitter.com/gHitYlWjoX
— Antonis Stroggylakis (@AStroggylakis) January 2, 2025
So that was a moment in the season where I was beating my head against the wall. And I was like, “Man… f–k it”. No more beating my head against the wall. I’m going to run through it. And I did it. I was able to get through that wall. There’s a lot of games in the season. You have a lot of games. The body and mind get tired at times. You’re doing things or trying to help your teammates. You’re trying to cover for somebody, you’re trying to do this, you’re trying to do that. And like I said, I’m trying to be great. Whatever I have to do in helping the team in being the leader. If i have to play for somebody else, be a warrior for somebody else, if I got to take i’ll do it to the point where it may be overexhuastion.
So yeah, I had to run through the wall and I did. That’s part of the mental preparation. Things that I’ve been working on from summer and I do every day. Just holding myself accountable. At the end of the day I feel it’s me vs me. Holding myself to a higher standard. And I have to live up to that every single day.
EH: Maybe it’s just my idea but your reactions seem a bit more animated this season. The way you celebrate big plays during the game, your face expressions, high-fiving the fans…
Z.L.: I’ve always been a charged up player. I was like that at Partizan and Zalgiris. This season, I’m really locked in and try to focus to take it to another level. You can look how I was in all the places I’ve been. I’ve always brought energy. That’s just me being unapologetic and myself.
EH: No disrespect to Milano fans but Partizan fans are kinda better in charging you up. They are much louder, for a start.
Z.L: At the end of the day, maybe it’s me bringing my authentic self to come to Milan and bring it to the fans to charge them up. To bring it to the culture. The coaches, the players. Everyone. I feel that it’s something that moves the needle and that’s something that wins you games. That energy. That focus. That drive. Dedication. Determination. That’s what wins you games in the EuroLeague even if you don’t have your best night. But if you have that dog, energy and fight to be able to come and push yourself to the next level. Obviously with some schemes backing you and intelligence in your game.
EH: How different is the Ettore Messina you found at Milano this season compared to the one you first met in 2020 when you started your first stint with the team?
Z.L.: The first time I was here, I was young. I was 26. I was with Kyle Hines, Chacho Rodriguez. Gigi Datome, all these legendary names. Big names. We also had Vladimir Micov, Malcolm Delaney, Kevin Punter. I was just a young guy. I was one of the youngest players on the team, me and Shavon Shields. Being a young guy, you don’t really get a say in a lot of things. You’re just going with the flow.
I was coming every day and following everybody’s routines. I was watching Kyle Hines. I was watching greatness. How they came in, how they presented themselves, how they prepared their bodies and their minds.
And I also saw how greatness is coached. If Ettore Messina is able to hold Kyle Hines accountable, who am I? If Messina holds Chacho, Gigi, Malcolm Delaney accountable… who am I? I was able to see that, learn from that and understand.
This was also my first Final Four situation that I’ve been in.
EH: One open shot missed and one great shot made away from the championship game.
Z.L.: Exactly. That’s basketball. That’s life. In hindsight, it’s always 20/20. That’s one of my sayings. At the end of the day, it was great to be a part of the situation and be a part of. And we as a team we had nothing else in mind other than the Final Four. That was the bar from Day 1. If you weren’t thinking that way, practicing that way, preparing your body and mind that way, to going to the game sthat wasy.. every single day we were coming in and that’s something that stuck with me.
Coming back obviously from my experience at Partizan. Because I felt I was a part of a Final Four team at Partizan as well. Obviously with the thing with the brawl happening [in Game 2 of the playoffs against Real Madrid] , which was unfortunate.
Being a part of two Final Four teams. Essentially bringing my experience. Being a leader. And at Partizan I was among the leaders. When they signed me and Kevin Punter we came as the leaders. captain and co-captain in a sense. Then we brought Mathias [Lessort] and Dante [Exum] and we all held each other accountable.
Being a leader from a special place and club like Partizan and being coached by Zeljko [Obradovic] every day, being held to a standards that he holds ytou, to come to Milan it was different because I came back as one of the leaders of another team.
It’s different that I just came back as a captain essentially of another team. To be able to come back to Milan and be more veteran and more seasoned. Put the lessons I learrned from Zeljko.
I have a great relationship with Ettore Messina. Growing up in east Dallas, I could easily communicate with all my coaches. Talk and sometimes kid with them. Even the most serious ones.
Now, I can step into Ettore’s system and be able to do what he wants to do for Milan. Essentially, it’s a blessing. Because it’s really just me stepping into my ultimate leadership role. And I’m leading guys that are different from me. That speak different basketball language from me.
Not everybody wants to do things the same as I do.
EH: Not everybody wants to run through the motherfu–ing wall to move forward, right?
Z.L.: They may want to run around it. They may want to take the long way and run around. I want to run through it. But not everybody thinks like me. Honestly, it’s been a blessing. Because I’ve been able to extend my mind and be able to adapt and understand different concepts and how to lead different types of guys. Being able to be intergrated into another group.
Also I want to give shoutout to my guy [Milano assistant coach] Milan Tomic . The first day I came in he held me accountable to the highest standards. Immediately. He said you have the ability to be great. Now I’m going to hold you to a standard. If you are falling off, I’m going to come at you, coach you and tell you the truth. That’s the type of relationship we’ve been able to grow.
EH: You talked about your goal of winning the EuroLeague championship. When people – players, journalists, fans – make predictions on the 2025 Final Four teams, they almost never include Milano.
If I ask you why will Milano be in the Final Four what would you say?
Z.L.: I believe in the team because I believe in the leaders we have here. Nikola, me, Shavon. I believe we’re able to figure it out and just keep on working. That’s the goal. That’s the ultimate goal. That’s why we play.
In basketball, the hindsight is always 20/20. You never know what’s going to happen. This season, things are the most unpredictable I’ve seen so far through my career in the EuroLeague.
I believe in what we’re doing every day. I believe in the energy we’re putting in every day. As players we’re coming in and we are bringing our everything. I believe in what we’re working toward.
Manifestation.
Photos by EuroLeague Basketball, Olimpia Milano and Getty Images