My first day at Liberty Ballers was June 27, 2013. It was the day of the 2013 NBA Draft, and I had just been brought on as a staff writer. I was a bright-eyed, 16-year-old kid who tried to use his love for basketball and the Sixers to make up up for his inexperience.
On that night, new Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie traded Jrue Holiday for the draft rights to Nerlens Noel and a future first, and selected Michael Carter-Williams with the 11th overall pick. Those moves clearly signaled a shift in the franchise’s direction, but little did I know how drastically that night would impact the team, the NBA, and inadvertently, my life.