Who was Michael Jordan’s favorite basketball player, the man he looked up to? That hero was none other than basketball star, David Thompson, aka: ‘Skywalker, also known as basketball’s greatest ever. With 52 wins and one loss over two seasons at North Carolina State, culminating with the NCAA championship in 1974, two-time college player of the year, most valuable player of the ABA All-Star game, most valuable player of the NBA All-Star game, even scoring 73 points in one game, and enshrined in the basketball Hall of Fame, Thompson’s stats are staggering, yet Thompson says he doesn’t feel he accomplished everything he could in his career.
Photo shows basketball star, David Thompson, speaking with The Christian Broadcasting Network about his basketball career and how he found Christ after a life of drugs and alcohol.
Thompson said he was given a 5 year $4 Million dollar contract, which back then was a lot according to today’s standards and with that contract came a lot of pressure, where he became involved in drugs and alcohol and as a result his career started going down a dwindling spiral. Thompson said, “Back then basketball was God in my life. All my self esteem and self worth was centered in basketball. When basketball is No. 1, pretty much ego gets in the way … at that point in my life, God was secondary, basketball was first.”
Watch David Thompson video interview with Christian Broadcasting Network.
From his humble beginnings in rural North Carlolina, David was taught to put God first. He drifted far from the values of his Christian parents. When playing for the Denver Nuggets and Seattle Super Sonics, David earned the reputation as an extremely talented, but extremely troubled man. He became incarcerated for 4 months because of something he did with drugs and it was during that time in jail where reality hit Thompson. After watching Julius Erving from his jail cell, Thompson heard ‘Dr J’ call Thompson one of the greatest players to play the game of basketball. It was there he realized he went from the top to moral and financial ruin.
When a pastor visited David while he was in prison and spoke to him about Christ, David made up his mind to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. It was at that point that his life started to turn around. He was able to save his marriage, pay off his debts and has been sober ever since.
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This is an inspiring story of how he turned his life around.