In the garage of her apartment building in downtown Minneapolis, Sheila Roundtree has New Jersey plates on her gray 2010 Audi A6.
She has them even though the car has been in Minnesota for the past five years and Louisiana for one year before that, when her husband, Rudy, was the primary driver.
The black leather interior, with a small tear on the driver’s seat, is mostly empty. Among the few things in the car are dozens of Rudy’s compact discs ― Al Jarreau; the Notorious B.I.G.; Earth, Wind & Fire, and … the Police.
“Like, who listens to the Police, really?” Sheila said.
Four graduation tassels hang from the rearview mirror. Three belong to the Roundtrees’ two sons, while the fourth, green and white with “2018″ from northern New Jersey’s Roselle Catholic, belongs to Timberwolves center Naz Reid.
“His boys,” Sheila said.
Naz, or “Nazy,” as he’s called in New Jersey, helped power the Timberwolves into the NBA playoffs with a breakout season that could win him the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award.
And yes, he offered to buy the Roundtrees a new car many times.
“Even if I would have surprised [Rudy], he’d be upset that I surprised him. He’d probably say, ‘I’m sticking through thick and thin with my Audi,’ ” Naz said. “Sheila is the same way.”
About 10 years ago, the Roundtrees became a second family to Naz, with the approval of his mother, Anashia. Rudy would drive Naz in that Audi from their home in Newark, N.J., to Roselle…
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