Chris Washburn and Ron Chepesiuk, "Out of Bounds: From Broken NBA Dreams to Redemption" (WildBlue Press, 2025)

About this episode

Chris Washburn shares his journey from NBA dreams to overcoming addiction and finding redemption.

Highly promising basketball player Chris Washburn was selected third overall in the 1986 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. But a chance encounter with famed basketball player Len Bias introduced him to crack cocaine. Soon, the overwhelming temptations of fame, fortune, and drugs derailed his promising career. And by 1989, after failing his third drug test, Chris was banned from the NBA. His life then spiraled into addiction, homelessness, incarceration, and near-death experiences. Yet, in 2000, a turning point came when he lost his father. This loss fueled Chris's resolve to change. With incredible strength and determination, he fought back from the depths of addiction. Today, Chris is a beacon of hope and resilience. He is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and advocate, inspiring others with his journey of recovery from addiction, and redemption. From speaking to youth groups and drug rehab centers to sharing his powerful story with the NBA, Chris is now making a positive difference in the world. Co-written with bestselling author Ron Chepesiuk, Out of Bounds: From Broken NBA Dreams to Redemption (WildBlue Press, 2025) describes in dramatic, heart-wrenching detail…

People in this episode

Guests: Chris Washburn, Ron Chepesiuk

Topics covered

• basketball
• addiction
• recovery
• motivation
• redemption

Keywords

• NBA Draft
• crack cocaine
• motivational speaker
• entrepreneur
• resilience

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Out of Bounds: From Broken NBA Dreams to Redemption

Books & works: Out of Bounds, From Broken NBA Dreams to Redemption, The Knicks of the Nineties, Ewing, Oakley, Starks and the Brawlers That Almost Won It All, Moses Malone: The Life of a Basketball Prophet

More episodes of New Books in Drugs, Addiction and Recovery

• David Petruccelli, "A Scourge of Humanity: The Origins of Interpol and the End of Empire in Central and Eastern Europe" (Oxford UP, 2025) · May 31, 2026 · 1h 3m
• Benjamin Robert Siegel, "Markets of Pain: Opium, Capitalism, and the Global History of Painkillers" (Oxford UP, 2026) · May 12, 2026 · 37 min
• Kenneth Anderson, "Sanitariums, Hospitals, and the Belladonna Cure: Volume Three of the Untold History of Addiction Treatment in the United States" (The HAMS Harm Reduction Network, Inc., 2022) · April 29, 2026 · 1h 8m
• Kaitlin P. Reed, "Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California" (U Washington Press, 2023) · April 27, 2026 · 1h 24m
• Am Yisrael High: The Story of Jews and Cannabis · April 20, 2026 · 1h 8m
• Kim Embrey, "Coca and the Victorians: From Botanical Curiosity to Regulated Drug, 1835–1912" (Transcript Publishing, 2025) · April 12, 2026 · 25 min