NBA Lottery pick Robert Swift went from being a millionaire at 18 to a destitute addict by the time he was 27.
The 7-foot-1 center’s decline was so bad that he ended up being evicted from his foreclosed house surrounded by bullet holes, live ammunition, maggots, and dog feces.
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Robert Swift shortly after he was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonicsCredit: Getty
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Swift was a teammate of NBA legend Ray Allen (center) in SeattleCredit: Getty
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Swift poses for a picture in 2016 after he got clean from drugsCredit: Getty
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Swift got his life back and made a professional comeback in Spain in 2018Credit: Getty
Swift was charged with possession of a sawed-off shotgun in 2014 and a year later he was arrested in an alleged home invasion robbery plot
He was sentenced to 28 days in jail in a plea bargain deal.
Local prosecutors described Swift, then 28, as a heavily-armed heroin addict.
“There are still moments where it’s tough, thinking about everything that’s happened, what I would have done different,” Swift told Sports Illustrated in 2016.
“But then I gotta remember that there’s nothing I can do about it now. I gotta move forward.”
It was a drastic decline for the high school phenom who was drafted No. 12 by the Seattle SuperSonics in 2004.
Swift had been a McDonald’s All-American alongside Al Jefferson and LaMarcus Aldridge.
But he lasted just five years in the league, becoming a cautionary tale of the dangers of NBA teams selecting players straight from high school.
Swift earned around $11.5million during his time in the league but he lost it very quickly after helping out friends and family financially, child support for a girlfriend, and a series of bad decisions.
By 2009, he was out of the league having been let go by the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had relocated from Seattle.
He ended up playing in the NBA G League for Bakersfield Jam and then briefly in Japan but his career was over in 2011.
After his jail sentence in 2015, Swift sold off his extensive gun collection and tried to start his life again.
In 2018 and clean from drugs, he made his professional basketball return for a fifth division team in Spain.
Swift relished every second of it.
“Honestly, it’s been amazing,” he told Sports Illustrated.
“It’s better than I could have imagined.”
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