For some NBA draftees who overcame adversity, making the transition to fame and fortune is no slam dunk
When a young athlete is drafted into the NBA – as 58 players were on June 22, 2023 – it is often seen as a life-changing event. The money makes it so. Salaries for first-round draft picks this year are projected to range from about $2.4 million at the low end to $12 million at the very top. That’s a lot of bread for a young person to handle. The three youngest prospects this year will still be 18 at the time of the draft. Perhaps for some spectators, the big salaries might seem as if they should cushion the young players from whatever economic hardships or social challenges they may have faced growing up. But through research that I conducted with NBA coaches, NBA union representatives and former NBA players, I discovered that it’s not always so easy. “Poverty is a trauma, and there is a lot of data to support that,” one NBA union representative told me. “Men are essentially incentivized to say nothing, be tough, man up, and this mask is what I call invisible tattoos. We...