From $3 Million To Sleeping In Abandoned Buildings — What Went Wrong CHRIS WASHBURN

Chris Washburn grew up in Hickory, North Carolina, and by 1984 he was ranked the best high school player in the country. After 2 years at North Carolina State under Jim Valvano, Golden State took him 3rd in the 1986 draft and offered a $3 million contract. He played 72 games for Golden State and Atlanta, averaging 3 points a game. On June 30, 1989, at 24, the league banned him for life. This is a ledger of what he gave and what he got back. He priced out his own skipped practices at $10,000 each, spent more than $1 million on a habit he could not stop, and went through a clinic 12 times. A 1989 book printed his 470 entrance score and pointed at the adults who admitted him, and those adults simply changed jobs. Then came abandoned buildings in Houston, prison, and contracts in 6 countries. 2 dates exactly 14 years apart hold the turn of this story, along with a folded slip of paper his mother made him carry. TIMECODES 00:00 — Promised $3 Million, Handed Less Than Half 01:49 — Ranked No. 1 in America by 1984 03:21 — The Third Time No Parent Was There 04:52 — 46 Hours in a Cell Over a Stereo 07:09 — 30 Seconds Apart on the Same Stage 09:29 — Washburn Did the Math on Every Skipped Practice 11:36 — Shut Out at 24, Never Asked Back 13:17 — The $100 Million Washburn Never Earned 15:43 — The Adults Who Signed Off on 470 17:20 — A Giant Nobody Recognized in Houston 21:15 — The Date That Came Back for Washburn 23:23 — What the Kids in the Back Seat Became