Sacramento Kings Draft Pick Thomas Robinson And His Heart Of Gold

Despite having the fifth pick in yesterday’s NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings again had luck grace their selection, having a potential top two player fall to them in-part to some iffy drafting in the 2-4 slots. But elite game aside, the Kings’ Thomas Robinson is everything you’d ever wish upon your franchise – hell, he’s everything you’d wish for your son to be.

Tom Friend of ESPN had a tear jerking piece on Robinson back in November of 2011 which could shake even the coldest soul to his core. Dealing with not only the loss of his Grandmother and Grandfather, T-Rob had to deal with the loss of his Mother, all within a month’s time frame. To make it even worse, Robinson’s eight year old sister was Mother-less and alone, far away from Robinson who was finally excelling at Kansas.

"They found Thomas slumped on his bed, surrounded by teammates. When Self entered the bedroom, the players cleared, and the coach asked Thomas: “What can I do to help? Is there anybody you need to talk to tonight?” Thomas had been sobbing uncontrollably. But he stopped, dry-heaved and looked up at Self. “Coach, you don’t understand. I don’t have anybody. All I have is my sister. All I have is Jayla.”"

Thomas had made a promise to his mother – one that had little to do with basketball. And last night, that promise became fulfilled. I wont ruin the story for you, but I will say, you’ve missed out if you don’t take the ten minutes to read it. To say it puts life into perspective is quite the understatement.

Many who didn’t know the backstory couldn’t understand Robinson’s overwhelming display of emotion last evening, but after reading Friend’s piece, it’s hard to see how he maintained any composure at all.

H/T Aykis16 for the story