Pacers Legend Reggie Miller Has Found A New Sport

“You see so many retired football, baseball, basketball players turn to golf. That’s their vice,” he said. “Mine is cycling.”

The 6-foot-7 UCLA product, who grew up in Riverside, California, and now lives in Malibu, spent all 18 of his NBA seasons with Indiana. Although he never won a title, he did help lead a loaded Pacers club to the 2000 NBA Finals.

“The endorphins that are released when I’m riding, I kind of equate it back to when I was in high school and you’re in the backyard and you’re just shooting [basketballs] all by yourself,” Miller said. “You’re thinking about a whole bunch of things. That’s what you do on the bike.

“You’re out there for two, three, four hours. Your mind wanders and you get a chance to just think about life,” Miller said.

After Miller called it a career in 2005, he quickly pivoted to TV broadcasting for TNT. This season, he'll join Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Jamal Crawford, Mike Tirico, old playoff nemesis Michael Jordan on NBC.

“I initially started cycling to look good in my suit on TV,” Miller said of his cycling habit. “And then the passion started once I got into racing,”

“He’s just Reggie Miller the mountain bike racer.” friend Tom Spiegel, a three-time member of the U.S. downhill racing team, told Baxter. “People just treat him like a mountain biker and he treats everyone else like a mountain biker.”

"You know everyone has a life book and everyone has unbelievable chapters," Miller reflected. “Some are longer than others and I’m enjoying this chapter of my life.”

Still one of the most prolific 3-point shooter of all time, Miller boasts career regular season averages of 18.2 points on .471/.395/.888 shooting splits, 3.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals per.

“I am nowhere near the best out here,” Miller said after a recent race, where he finished 15th of 82 competitors, but came in second for his age group. “But I want them to see I know their pain and suffering. And I want them to know that I’m suffering with them... That’s the beauty of being a cyclist.”