S2 Episode 1: Not Supposed to Be Here

can go, Oh yeah, there's Edwards. Look here that fuf Man and the University of Kentucky's Tyres Maxie, arguably the most energetic, hardest working player in the draft. Draw fast, this is your first game? Are you for Christope, Chilly? You got a star. Anthony and Tyree's will mike themselves up as they prepare for the draft and tell their own stories, giving us a wrong, honest look and what it takes to go from childhood dreamer to college star to being chosen as one of only four hundred and

fifty NBA players in the world. And this season we'll go even further behind the scenes with unprecedented access to their agents, Clutch Sports Group founder and CEO Rich Paul. Somebody can say, what do you think about a hundred million dollars and only ten million of it is guaranteed? So what are you talking about? And their new head of basketball Omar Wilkes the Warriors, asking if the Wolves have said anything, what Charlotte's thinking? Are there trades? It's

all a game of chess. We'll hear the inner workings behind the multimillion dollar decisions. As it look, the money's dried up. There's definitely not seventy million dollars out there for you, and so that's a miss opportunity, if that was even real. We're joining these players and their agents at a truly unprecedented time. The college season and the n C Double A Tournament were canceled because of the coronavirus.

This is the first year the tournament wasn't held since its inception in nine For months, they couldn't participate in scrimmages or even pick up games, and the NBA Draft was postponed, not once, but twice. Like all of us, they adjusted, But when you're a potential NBA lottery pick, your new normal looks a little less normal than what the rest of us experienced were one not down. Well, that's all we got, sick. Let's do it. Let's do

it man. This is where we find nineteen year old Anthony Edwards, just a week before his life is about to change forever, in the god Be Road gym on the tough south side of Atlanta, working with his longtime trainer, Justin Holland. Seven days, maybe a seven day come on and Lord Ford knock it down, good good. Anthony is being talked about as a top five pick and the potential number one overall player in the draft. But the truth is he shouldn't be not because he isn't the

most exceptional talent. He is, come number one, come lumber one. He shouldn't be here because what it took for him to get to this moment in this gym seems impossible. Not just your job, it's literally your job for nine and yet you've been doing it. Literally, get exit to the deal whenever you want. Anthony didn't grow up with unlimited gym access or many of the other resources available to some prospects, and the odds of any child's NBA

dreams coming true are already staggering. About the same as a kid wanting to become an astronaut and actually ending up in zero graphy Roger on the next page, update, Out of every ten thousand high school varsity basketball players, roughly three seniors make it to draft night. Thousands and thousands of incredibly talented athletes with strong support systems can't get there, and Anthony faced more daunting challenges and bigger obstacles than almost all of them. So how do you

do it when so many others can't? Why Anthony Edwards and not them? Here we go? It was what Whitney leaf everything is the video game I met Justin when I was in ninth grade. That's Anthony talking. He was trying to this this dude who my uncle was cool with, and he told him like, come to Justin. He's gonna put you in a blender or something whatever. So I came in here. I came up here the first day and we worked out, and I was tired, and I was like, I'm not going back, and my uncle was like, well,

that's good, We're going back. That's basically the basketball version of forcing Anthony to eat his vegetables. It's good for him, but he sure doesn't like it. And so we just started working out then, man and Justin just we was just in the gym like every day, all all day, all night. And then we just got better, got a relationship. And he's still ugly though, but you know, we got

a really good relationship now. In nineteen year old guy culture, insulting the people you care about is a sign of affection. That's how you tell someone like justin their family, and that bond is evident whenever they mock each other or clown around in the gym. We're Anthony Now recounts an impromptu one on one game from his time at the University of Georgia, playing without the right shoes and shorts.

I went on and I was trying to play with like one on one, and then I told her I ain't gon to play with because Crane wanted me to get it into five o five, but I ain't have that was out there. I'm getting we really go out that the marn I don't know. I don't know what different, but I don't know what works. Skin of Jesus lords, little little think a pet kidding me in my seat slide, I said, I can't move. Yeah, I might go out there.

Those two people laughing our pillars. In Anthony's basketball family, Justin and his uncle Drew. My name Andrew Banks. I go by Coach Drew, Uncle Drew. Oh they was ain't called me? Now how I fit into his life? We can go back a decade. I just want old kids just always well specially I always stood out. Around the age six or seven, Anthony joined Coach Drew's youth football team and only later did Coach Drew turned into Uncle Drew. So when he got there, you know he I tell

people truth, he hated it. He hated the grind part to praise, you know, hey man, sweat and yelling, you know, you know old school Oklahoma drill, you know, run run, run, battering ram and people who coach my hard man. He took a lot of hits. He took a lot of pounds. Because if he didn't come through that, that gauntlet at the young age, I don't think he could be the kid eve right now in the basketball court of that that has a lot to do with it, I mean

a lot. I think he didn't play football. I don't think he will have a dog in him now that like he got in basketball court, like on the basketball court is you know, the filth hall of the Mother Party. I think it's nothing to him being a six ft five two and twenty five pounds shooting guard who attacks the basket like a battering ram. It's part of what

makes Anthony's game unique. Scouting reports, he described his game using football to chnology a running back exploding past and through defenders, a downhill scorer, powerful physical player who opposents just bounced right off of. Nobody will break him on the basketball court, and just something mental even like when we praise on I'm working out widow and stuff. Just on a block band. He's gonna be a problem in there's elf because it's just something mintm. You know, I

just tell the truth. You know, I've been there besides its immediate family, brothers, and so I've been alone with anybody, so I really know. I know what's going on. I know the key, I know they about, you know, I know the dude, the dunks and the wheels and the wants. I know. But the push I know him. I know him like you might. You know, I kind of raised like you might, have got two kids of my own. I treat him no difference, So I know where he is who and what is Anthony Edwards. That's a question,

and BA executives are less clear on. Teams don't always want a football player on a basketball court. Some doubt hisort on defense, his decision making with the ball, his ability to help teams win a week out. LaMelo Ball and James Wiseman are also being talked about. Is going first overall to Minnesota. There still isn't a clear cut number one pick right now, and because of that, the team's picking near the top of the draft want individual

workouts with Anthony before making their multimillion dollar decision. So Anthony prepares with Justin and Uncle Drew at the god By Road. Jim, We'll be right back. I gotta work out, want to war? Wait when you should? When you when you show well, I'll go see Rody. His first workout it is with the Golden State Warriors, a team that's played in five of the last six NBA Finals and

the possessor of this year's number two pick. So on the prescribed day, Anthony works out for coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors, giving them a private glimpse into his potential. I just worried out for the Warriors. Came in about like ten thirty and I got some shots up my front of him Joe and my abilities and stuff. I feel great about it. Yeah, Anthony told reporters he thought he shot the ball particularly well that morning and didn't shoot the ball well. This is Anthony's agent, Omar Wilkes,

head of basketball for Clutch Sports Group. Obviously everything's relative, you know when you have Stephen Curry and and Clay Thompson on your team, But that wasn't what they were there for. An is so gifted that like how he shoots, it's important. Obviously he can continue to work on and improve it. But they wanted to see just how hard he pushed himself, and so I think he realized there's

another gear he could go into. And the Warriors were very open and candid about that, and they're like, hey, we would like to see you at another gear, like we know you have it, and he does and you know, so freakishly gifted that he's probably been able to get by at times without having to tap into that that higher gear. So he really learned from that, which was

encouraging and and took the constructive criticism. Anthony is the only player Omar is representing this year, and despite having NBA All Stars and players chosen in the top ten, Omar has never had a number one overall pick as a client. But there's even more at stake here than the extra millions a number one pick could bring. He

recalls the first time they ever met. I was attending Steph Curry as an elite camp every summer, went to camp, sat down next to Stephen and his friend Chris and his younger brother Seth, and I was like, who's the best player at this camp? And They're like, there's this kid, Anthony Edwards. He is the best kid here. Like, isn't on any of the ranking boards? We the best player? And I watched aunt and literally three plays later, I

was like, Oh, he he is for real. It was the year after a sophomore of high school, so he was going to be a junior in high school. So it was fortunate enough to keep plugging away, locked my targets in on him, and just recruited him about as hard as anyone I've recruited. So it was kind of serendipitous the way it all came together. And you know, I've just from the moment I saw him, I knew

he was destined for great things. Omar, Justin and Uncle Drew invested years into his success, and they all tell a similar story, not of a hurt teenager from a rough neighborhood who suffered through tragedy, but of seeing a kid they knew could do something special, a kid they felt compelled to help escape his circumstance. It's hard not to be overly invested in him, especially with his story, and want to root for his success. And I mean, it's corny when people say it, but it truly takes

a village. And that's kind of what we were working with there. Now that he's done with the Warriors, Anthony has gout scheduled with the Minnesota temper Wolves, who hold the number one pick, and the Charlotte Hornets with pick number three within the next few days. But first, a much more important matter. What you're going chicken? Hey Drew, what you're going around? Sis three? Chicken? Anthony, Justin, Uncle Drew, and the other core members of Anthony's circle sit down

for lunch following the Warriors workout. Like everyone else, they want to know where Anthony will be playing this season. You know why I'm not worth whatever was pulled to happen and go happy. Whatever was fouled happen, whatever, whatever the best situation you're gonna have. It always does in life. None of your life ain't happen that they's called in. If you never look, you know what's crazy? What I

won't never happen. I think it's two different Like I think it's like if you go with the Wolves, I think and I think it and go every twenty when we're good a year, we gotta make playoffs. I think you're they stay up to Like after I midday stay, I felt so much better once they they stay. Though, because Anthony is only nineteen years old, Justin knows how important it is for him to go to a team offering the right fit and coaching is a big part

of that. Here's Justin again talking about the staff of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Yeah. They they Coolly Saunders, the coach, you know, like the like the staff, the hat, the front office, like everybody, like everybody's like they're young and all. I know. This is why I'm telling I'm not worried, but you've got two angels. I ain't come to tell. It took me. It took me about it. I ain't

thinking this out to about a year ago. We're talking about how weird, how Minnesota about first, we were talking about this first. As here I've been, I've been trying to tamp people that though Drew Drew, Drew been realized though, that everything that happened to me is a good thing. And Anthony is unflappable optimistic demeanor makes it easy to forget he's so young and that he's already been through more than most people twice his age. You would never

see me worried. I say what every time my wants something, he it It never happen. Speak about this, right, if I go to Minnesota, right, we played the Warriors, got to go. I'm not nobody else, don't cry. But if I go to the Warriors. But if I go to the Warriors, you gotta put your best defend on Ferria all time. You can't leave him. Then you got a sniper. Anthony is talking about playing alongside Warriors all stars Steph Curry and Clay Thompson, two of the most accurate prolific

scorers of all time. I ain't never seen Clay sho I don't seen step shooting that moment. But this ain't hitting them, but the knick they're like issue like that that sounds real, thought sound real? NBA players workout. Curry is unreal. Like he unreal? Brough bro it like he's just doing this. Yes if he miss, if he miss, he's only gonna missing one, Like you know, I might miss two, one and row three in a row. He's

gonna miss one, you know? Isaly how he missed? After that, I'm gonna like brow how are you only missing one in a row? Brout. In the hyper competitive world of pro sports, where everyone fights to be the alpha dog, it might sound odd to hear the potential number one pick and his trainer, his coaches and friends gushing about another player. But Steph Curry is actually that good at

shooting a basketball. He made almost five hundred more three pointers than the next closest NBA player last decade, while still being the sixth most accurate of all time, effectively making him the greatest three point threat ever. Here's Anthony continuing in Awe, no warm up, Stepoy came up? Buy out, buy out? You're thinking, man shooting tennis balls? He shoot like, I don't know what about to say that. Ain't you

ever seen about to shoot the ball like them. See ever again, I know I can shoot, but like them, like I can imagine why play workout? Bro, I would be hes like, oh my god, you know if the one drop was shocked. Anthony isn't exaggerating. Clay once scored sixty points against the Pacers while only touching the ball for ninety seconds. He dribbled eleven times the entire game. It's the kind of performance that changes the way top

prospects work out for your team. Drew. The folks said, come here and try all we're talking about the like since I'm like, go to being around you were like, good people don't look good. So at the We're going state came talking and they were like, but you had a good workout, man, But you know, seeing seeing other guys shoot, we're spoiled looking at tepnically every day, like you know, you had a good work out of day. But we just use some people not missing the road.

We feel like what is going on in their life? They must be going through so good. Only a few people in the world can shoot a basketball like those two the way. Only a handful of people know what it takes for somebody like Anthony to reach the cusp of arguably the most exclusive major sports fraternity in the world. We'll be right back. Here's Uncle Drew again. I'm the sacrifices everyone at that lunch table made to get Anthony to this point, to give him to what he had

to be. It was a lot to go into it to give him now, so not the tooth my own home. But he knew that deep down inside that I did what I had to do and went though did before all the rankings came there, before he became the starter he is now, you know, behind the clothe Colonel Death coach Justin. He did her because Justin did a lot. He's still doing a lot, and he's still doing anything. Like I said, his wife she did. She had to do.

She had to take care because just got a little boy too, so she did, she had to do take care of his name, Chase. She did a thing to uh. A lot of people did a lot. I'm just speaking on the people that I can speak on that I ain't that I can really vouce for so because Jordan's did a hell of a job too, So you know, I ain't trying too nobody hard him this. I'm just telling the truth, and sometimes you tell the truth, it sounds like you're two people home. But this ship went't easy, man,

it was not at all at all. I mean at all. You gotta sacrifice. There's the only way, there's only way he gonna be great in life. Man, this ship is gonna be given to you gotta be You gotta make some a major, amazing major sacrifices, and you gotta cut certain sh off. So I cut a lot of stuff off, you know, the dude I had to do to get him down. People like Justin and Uncle Drew often get

lost in the story of a teenage basketball prodigy. It becomes about the prospects game or his potential, his work ethic, his strengths and his weaknesses, and those do matter. But Anthony's journey would not be possible without these critical people. Again, here's his agent, Omar Wilkes. These guys have been with him for years and years, since he was in middle school.

In a lot of ways, you know, it's unfair because you see Anthony, he gets credit, and I guess people that dig a little deeper, like oh, his agent, you know, I get some credit. But it's those people have been in the trenches with him for a long time and like they're thinking me, but I'm like no, no, no, thank you guys, like you got him to this point. Like you know, an ansent a unique story. You know, he's not supposed to be here, like he wasn't he

wasn't born on third base. He was There's no silver spoon to be found. He wasn't set up for success. He was loved on by his mother and grandmother and tragically losing them at such an early age. You know, a lot of people in the community were able to kind of rally around him, but he wasn't supposed to have this success. He did, and that's a testament to him and the people around him. He was only in eighth grade when he lost the two closest people in

his life. And since that point, there would be no story about Anthony Edwards without his team off the court, without Justin and Duncal drew siblings, his closest friends, or that Jim at god b Road. Throughout this whole process we worked out at the gym that we started it. That's Justin again talking about the seemingly endless months of

training to prepare Anthony for draft. You know, whereas other guys, you know, they flew out the l A and Miami and even you know, downtown and Bucket Atlanta, but we actually stayed on the South side of Atlanta where we all started it. You know, it's it's not it's not the best neighborhood in America, but you know, it's it's where we're from. College Park, where the gym is located, has the second highest crime rate in the state and almost a third of the residents live below the poverty line.

And it's where the Charlotte Hornets scheduled their workout with Anthony, with a former legendary player termed Owner coming to watch. It doesn't get any bigger than Michael Jordan when you're talking basketball. So um, you know, we were excited and uh, Michael Jordan, he came to that gym on the south side of Atlanta in College Park on Gottby Road, and I'm pretty sure he probably didn't know where he was, but uh, that was like the biggest thing. I'm like, Yo,

we brought Michael Jordan. The work that we started putting in in this gym is the work that got Michael Jordan walk in this gym. The same gym that nobody cared that we were working out in. Michael Jordan is coming to see you, and on some level, he's coming to see all of them, to watch Anthony play, to see every dribble, drive and shot representing the thousands and thousands of hours they've all put in together. People do understand. You gotta have a little look on your side. You

gotta be blessed. You gotta have a talent because I know a lot of I know a lot of good people, a lot of good athletes that didn't make something went wrong along the ways. It's so easy to get in trouble handing down him, and it's it's so easy, so many good athletes in the streets out here that didn't make it, Like, well, hame to that kid, Well hame to that kid. But ship they said, what happened to

that kid? He made it? And I always told him, like, listen, you gotta understand, bro, between everybody in your circle, your family, your coaches, if you don't make it, we don't make it. They're gonna say if you didn't make it, he would mess around with the wrong people. So I always try to tell like, if you don't make it, they're gonna laugh at us. It ain't about you, man, about everybody. You know. If I embarrassed myself, I embarrassed you. You know you don't you don't want to be a part

of obs. So we gotta make it man. You know, so there was to drive ahead. We just we gotta make it. No matter what, we gotta get there. We don't make it that close. We gotta get there now. After everything they went through, all the late nights and early mornings, all the heartache, sweat and tears, the college season getting canceled, and the draft moving twice, after eight long months where Anthony couldn't play in a real game or scrimmage. Now at last, they're only one week away

coming up this season undrafted. I want to be someone that doesn't have any what ifs. I don't want to be at the end of my career when say, dang, what if I just worked a little bit harder. So our goals every day for they reasons and make over two thousand shots. Let's put in the world NBA stands for no boys allows. If you're a child, if you're immature, you won't last there. Kyle turns to me and said,

you're not ready. The other guys on our team. I said, John, get ready to play forty minutes because he's he's not ready to play. The money's dried up. There's definitely not seven million dollars out there for you. And I'm not sure if that was even real or not. In his workouts when I'm near to watching workout, I always had a chip on his shoulder. No no no no no no no no, don't run real like you want to run, come pushing on a field like a little baby ship.

I think some of them were just stunned, like stunned, like one in the world. It's crazy because people ask how different it is, but this is all we know. This is all I know, Like this is the only time being in the draft process. My goal is for them to be ready to play, because NBA ready is completely different. You can take my basketball career away, oh everything, fame, but you can't take my happiness away. Drafted is a production of tree Fork Media, Clutch Sports Group, and I

Heart Radio. The executive producers are Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman, Eric's a Lot, Sean to Tone l Kie, and me Keegan Michael Key. The series is produced and written by Eric Winer. Jared Brom is our coordinating producer. Trey McCain is our associate producer. Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer. Mixed and edited by Steven Johnson and Jasper Leek, additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hailey Mandelberg. For transcripts of the show and more information on Drafted,

go to tree Fort dot fm. For more podcasts. For my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.