Ex-NBA legend Chris Washburn shares devastating stories of addiction, self-doubt, and the epic battle to reclaim his life through candid, insider interview.
The former No 3 overall NBA draft pick opens up about addiction, homelessness and redemption in a candid memoir revisiting basketball’s cocaine era
Chris Washburn was drafted by the Golden State Warriors with the No 3 pick in the 1986 NBA draft. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive When the Golden State Warriors drafted Chris Washburn with the No 3 pick in 1986, it should have been a dream come true. Instead, it might have been the worst thing that could have happened for the 6ft 11in NC State prospect.
“I put on a smile because they were paying me to be out there,” Washburn, a former three-time high school All-American, tells rhe Guardian. “But I felt alone. ” Oakland was just about as far as you could get from Washburn’s hometown of Hickory, North Carolina.
There was hope the team could help. He was on a roster with the likes of Sleepy Floyd and Chris Mullin. In the preseason, the rookie Washburn scored prolifically.
He had a starting role on the team. Everything was going well – until it wasn’t. Related: ‘Drugs were everywhere’: the rise and fall of the NBA’s cocaine era “But drugs took a toll,” Washburn says.
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