Amid the noise surrounding Andrew Wiggins as the top pick of the 2014 National Basketball Association to the Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver surprised the basketball industry when the announced that the league would be making a draft pick and has selected Isaiah Austin of the Baylor Bears.
Silver's announcement would have been met with the same round of applause accorded to the expected draft picks if not for the fact that the center from Fresno, California had made his own announcement last week that he will not be playing professional basketball anymore due to a genetic disorder.
Forbes said that Austin recently discovered that he is suffering from Marfan syndrome, which negatively affects the body's connective tissue and can be life-threatening in most cases.
Austin's agent Tony Dutt told the magazine, "At the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, Dwon Clifton mentioned that he got a call that there were some issues with [Austin's] heart and that they needed to do more testing, and so he actually stayed in Chicago a couple more days,Then they asked him to come back to finish and do some more testing and more blood work, which we did. We pushed to have the tests as quickly as possible so we could get it to the teams before the Draft, assuming he was going to be fine. After he left Chicago the first time, they gave him the okay to workout. We thought we were on the right track. About three days ago I got a call from Dwon [Clifton] and he said the tests came back, and the bad news was that [Austin] has Marfan syndrome."
Austin welcomed the news with positivity that he did not view the disorder as the cause to shatter a lifelong dream. Forbes said the former player has created a campaign to further educate the public about his condition and the others who has it.
Dutt said that Austin's positivity was welcomed by the NBA, who has since been beleaguered with the drama about Donald Sterling and the Los Angeles Clippers sale. The entrepreneur appeared to have not given up an already losing fight to retain control over his former sports team.
"Isaiah got a call from Adam [Silver] saying they wanted to invite him up to New York, which I thought was awesome. I knew they were going to honor him in some way, I just didn't know the extent. It was such a whirlwind the last three days," Dutt said.
When Silver announced Austin's name, everyone who saw the moment on television might have joined majority of the people in the event who were moved to tears.
