Chapter 54: Chapter 51: The 2001 NBA Draft

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June 27, 2001

New York, Madison Square Garden

Yu Fei and his three companions arrived at the green room, where other potential lottery picks were also present.

Warmly greeted by Kwame Brown, who had already received the Wizards' first pick promise, "Frye, over here!"

The Brown family was much larger than Yu Fei had imagined.

Around Brown were about a dozen people, including seven siblings; he was the youngest child, then there was their mother, Joyce, who had single-handedly raised them all—unsurprisingly—along with some older adults, some about the same age as Joyce and others even older, likely aunts and uncles, or relatives of that sort.

They all came from Brunswick, a small city with just 15,000 people; it was both beautiful and filthy, with the contradictory charm of the Old South.

According to Brown, their family of nearly ten lived in a small, A-frame wooden house with torn screens and collapsing sofas.

But after today, that life would come to an end.