This Injury Almost ENDED My Career
00:00:00.000 | It was supposed to be an easy path, it was supposed to be go to Mizzou for a year, dominate, number one draft pick.
00:00:04.200 | Once I had that first back surgery, the journey was just a little more shakier.
00:00:07.160 | I didn't work out for any team, you know, but then all the teams pulled up to pro day and they were like,
00:00:11.800 | man, despite the injury, he might still go top five.
00:00:14.320 | The night before my back went through another episode, I woke up that morning not being able to get out of bed.
00:00:18.940 | And this is the day I'm supposed to show up and work out in front of the top 10 teams.
00:00:22.400 | But instead, like, I called my agent, I'm like, man, I can't even get out of bed.
00:00:25.140 | Like, he was like, okay, like, we're going to send a doctor.
00:00:27.120 | All the teams are going to send their doctors and they're going to evaluate you.
00:00:30.240 | So I remember instead of working out, I'm laying on the table and all the top teams are evaluating me.
00:00:34.500 | And the report kind of came out that I might not ever play again.
00:00:37.280 | But then the draft comes around.
00:00:38.660 | That was another tough part because I'm seeing all these dudes that I dominated in high school get drafted before me.
00:00:43.400 | And I know I'm better than them.
00:00:44.520 | But I'm sitting in that chair in like a ton of pain, not knowing if I'm going to be able to play again.
00:00:48.540 | But I mean, the Nuggets took a chance on me.
00:00:50.420 | I don't have any regrets.
00:00:51.820 | You know, I got drafted a great program.
00:00:53.400 | My story at this point is about resilience.
00:00:55.180 | You know, nothing about it has been smooth and easy.