When I jumped in a year ago to take over NBA Big Board from Chad Ford, the draft was coming quickly — so I barely had a chance to introduce myself.

Before March Madness gets going, I wanted to sit back for a moment and reveal more about my unique journey to this point. How did I end up here? 

I hope you will enjoy these brief stories from my life — how I scrapped and turned a longtime dream into a rare opportunity.

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Chad Ford

It was July 29, 2021 — NBA Draft day, the first time I met Chad in person. We had done a few podcasts together since we were both on the Locked On Podcast Network, but had never officially met. 

A few months prior, Locked On’s founder, David Locke, had reached out and asked me if I were interested in being a host on the network’s NBA Draft Live Show from a television studio in Dallas. 

“It will be you and Chad Ford …”

I was stunned and amazed. I don’t remember exactly what was said over the next 5 to 10 seconds. After all, Chad is a pioneer who blazed the way for draft enthusiasts like myself to believe it was possible to make a living providing info, insight and opinions on NBA prospects. 

Hours before the draft, Chad and I went to grab food at Jack in the Box a few blocks from SMU’s campus, where we shared stories about our families, our backgrounds and our love for the draft. I learned about his journey from a small website to ESPN and then launching the NBA Big Board newsletter at SubStack.

I felt as if I had gained a mentor and a friend in Chad. But I had no idea what was going to happen next.

NBA Big Board

I was sitting in my tiny Airbnb in Athens, Greece, last February when I received a shocking call from Chad. 

My plan had been to spend the entire 2021-22 basketball season traveling through Europe with my wife — we got married in October 2021 — and evaluating international prospects for the next three draft classes. 

But a month earlier, in January 2022, my wife and I had found out we were expecting our first child — which was not part of the plan! — and we ultimately decided it was best for her to return to Dallas. It was considered a high-risk pregnancy, and she was comfortable with the doctors back home. We agreed I would spend three weeks each month in Europe and one week in Dallas so I could attend every doctor's appointment.

“I’m retiring,” Chad told me. “And I’d like for you to take over NBA Big Board. 

“But you should check with your wife,” Chad continued. “Because it’s a commitment.”

Even though marriage was new to me, I realized that Chad was right — my wife would ultimately need to approve. When we talked right after that, she agreed that this was a life-changing opportunity.

Like most first-time fathers, I was worried about finances and concerned about balancing fatherhood and living out my dreams. Now Chad was offering my small family a path.

And Chad did more than that. Not only has taking over at NBA Big Board provided additional income to support my growing family, it has opened doors and given me access to front-office executives and agents who didn’t know my name a year prior.

My Dream

Long before I knew Chad, I had this dream of starting my own NBA Draft website. My former college roommate designed websites for a living, so I shared my ideas with him. I wanted hundreds of individual player profile pages and a layout with large pictures and videos. But he said the cost would be in the neighborhood of $15,000. I knew I needed another plan to fulfill my dream.

At the same time, I was really struggling. I didn’t have a car and I couldn’t afford my studio apartment. Everything seemed to be going wrong. 

My college classmates were starting families, building houses and driving late-model cars. Everyone’s life looked so complete on Facebook and Instagram. I cherished some of the same things, but wanted to do it my way — by making a living covering the NBA Draft.

Near rock bottom, I reflected on my steps to that point. Recounting those steps could fill a book, but here are a few highlights and lowlights:

• Joined the Jackson State University basketball staff, primarily handling game film.

• Moved to Dallas and worked briefly for the Mavericks’ D League team, the Fort Worth Flyers.

• Lost my house in the 2008 mortgage meltdown.

• Moved to L.A. and did a bunch of odd jobs while gaining an internship with the Clippers — only to lose it over a minor paperwork issue.

• Moved back to Dallas for an opportunity with the G League Texas Legends, starting as an unpaid intern and working my way up to paid roles as part of the broadcast team.

• Started a youth basketball program in Dallas, which led to new opportunities.

• Became a skills trainer for Chris Douglas-Roberts during his successful attempt to get back to the NBA, and documented his efforts in a series of online videos — which connected me to others in the NBA community: scouts, trainers and players.

• Added NBA clients as a trainer and videographer because of my success with CDR.

But as valuable as these experiences were, they were stopgaps, or stepping stones along a longer path.

What I wanted desperately was to produce my own content — as an NBA draft analyst.

I was 36 years old, with more self-confidence than money. I had a ton of experience, and had gained maturity. But as the bills piled up, I was straddling the thin line between having faith and looking foolish.

Paris and Istanbul

In May 2016, I was asked if I would be interested in filming a documentary about members of my father’s church taking a trip to Paris to celebrate the church's 30th anniversary. Understanding I wouldn’t get paid — although my flight and hotel would be provided — I believed a trip to France would be a nice escape from my reality as a financially strapped dreamer. 

Upon arrival, I immediately fell in love with Paris: the energy, the architecture, the fast pace.

To my small Twitter following, I wrote: “I need to live in Europe. Gotta make it happen before I become a family man w/ kids..”

A short time later, I received a call from a player agent inquiring about my desire to live abroad. He asked me multiple times if I were serious about living in a foreign country for an extended amount of time. 

“I’m dead serious,” I replied. 

The job was to document Ekpe Udoh’s second season playing for Fenerbahçe Basketball, a powerhouse club in Turkey. Though his agent, Brandon Grier, had vouched for me, Ekpe wanted to sign off as well. He asked me how I planned to spend my free time in Istanbul when I wasn’t shooting video of him and the team.

I told Ekpe my vision for the website that would become NBA Draft Junkies. And since I couldn’t afford to have one designed, I revealed that was determined to learn how to build the site on my own.

With his endorsement, I boarded a plane on September 26, 2016, at DFW International Airport, headed to Istanbul for the next 10 months, tagging along as Fenerbahçe won its first EuroLeague title. 

It was the beginning of the journey that brings me here today.

My Time in Turkey and Beyond

Over the course of the season, I created and launched my NBA Draft site and traveled to games in many cities — like Barcelona, Tel Aviv, Milan, Athens — to get my first taste of international scouting. 

I never had a moment of regret about my decision. Seeing up-close what I had heard about was eye-opening. I enjoyed the European game, the intensity of the fans and getting to experience countries and cultures within close proximity. 

It was then that I realized I could create a lane for myself — especially as an American black man — by covering the international prospects for my growing YouTube following that was reaching more than 10,000 subscribers. 

Ekpe was named MVP of the EuroLeague Final Four and rewarded with 1 million free miles from Turkish Airlines — which would come in very handy for me.

One incident in Turkey seems funnier in retrospect than it did then. 

It turns out that one of the fastest ways to bring unwanted attention to yourself is to have an American passport and book weekly last-minute two-day trips to different countries. 

I spent a night in a Turkish airport jail reserved for travelers labeled as potential terrorists and was wrongfully accused of overstaying my visa. 

In future years, as my international travels continued, I arrived at airports four hours early, knowing I would have to spend time being interrogated and searched because of all the Turkish stamps on my passport.

But Turkish jail aside, my time in Turkey and beyond was nothing short of amazing.

Using Ekpe’s free airline miles, I traveled to multiple FIBA youth tournaments and had an early look at future NBA players Isaiah Hartenstein, Frank Ntilikina, Alperen Şengün, Santi Aldama, Aleksej Pokuševski, Usman Garuba and Franz Wagner.

When I watched Luka Dončić — then a 17-year-old complementary player for Euro power Real Madrid — I knew he was a hotshot prodigy. But little did I know he would land in my adopted hometown of Dallas and I would be courtside in future years, alongside top journalists like Marc Stein and Tim MacMahon, to see the perennial MVP candidate.

It started with that Paris tweet. But it really started long before that, when I decided I had to get into the game — and when I realized that covering the NBA Draft was the way to put all my skills to work.

Thanks

Just days before Chad called me about taking over NBA Big Board, I saw a tweet in which someone asked his followers how much their lives would change if they had 10 million dollars in their account. 

I mentioned my life wouldn’t change much, and I’d keep the same career because I love what I do. 

Chad shared the message with his wife, and she told him, “That’s your guy to take over NBA Big Board.”

Thank you, Chad, and thanks to everyone who supports NBA Big Board!

With your help, I will continue to bring you my unique brand of NBA Draft coverage.