Chris Washburn’s story isn’t just one of unrealized potential — it’s a portrait of pain, perseverance, and ultimately, personal redemption.
A once-dominant big man at North Carolina State and a top-three NBA Draft pick in 1986, Washburn’s journey through basketball fame and addiction has been as public as it has been painful. Now, with a new book on the horizon and a clean bill of health after 24 years of sobriety, he’s telling his story — all of it — in his own words.
“The book is about Chris Washburn’s struggles,” he says plainly.
“Some of the bad decisions that he made; some of the bad decisions that other folks made for him… The main thing is that it was a party for one night — and that ‘party’ lasted for me 14 years.”
A Star in the Making & The Wolfpack Years
Washburn’s collegiate days were as electric as they were turbulent. A high school phenom, he joined a stacked NC State squad that included Vinny Del Negro, Nate McMillan, Lorenzo Charles and Spud Webb.“I played with Spud my freshman year… during those 10 games we went 10-0,” said Washburn.
“I got suspended for those little stereo pranks that I did and then they lost the next 7 games,” Washburn recalls. “Fast forward to my sophomore year, now we have Nate at the point guard, we have Vinny at the 2… me and Shackleford were the same size, so a lot of times he would guard the center and I would guard the forward… I really never watched sports on tv, I never knew how loaded we really were.”
Drafted Into Darkness
He left NC State without ever truly seeing the ceiling of what he and that Wolfpack team would have achieved. The NBA came calling soon after, and the Golden State Warriors made him the third overall pick in 1986. But the glamour of the pros quickly gave way to something darker. “The lifestyle was kind of fast for me,” Washburn admits of San Francisco.
“The NBA gave me a kind of security blanket to go through the projects and through the ‘hood… I was already starting to experiment with drugs… I was really setting the stage for myself to start finding a place to go out and get drugs.”
Even before his first NBA paycheck, Washburn says he was at rock bottom.
“When I walked those NBA doors,’ he recounted.
“Because I mean, before I had an NBA dollar I was at my lowest. All the NBA did was give me more money to dig in deeper… The NBA just gave me an opportunity to keep burying myself.”
A trade to the Atlanta Hawks in theory should have been a fresh start. It wasn’t.
“I just got out of rehab,” he said.
“But I called one of my homeboys to pick me up from the airport. First mistake, you know? We were sitting in the projects in a Porsche all night smoking crack… when the team met me, I was already high, you know?”
Rock Bottom, The Climb to Redemption & Giving Back
What followed was a spiral that ultimately led to Washburn being banned from the league. In his words, a series of missed chances and misunderstanding the business side of professional basketball sealed his fate. “I had no one around me to actually explain the NBA to me,” he said.
After being banned and battling addiction, his life hit a dire low point: pawned cars, foreclosed homes, living in crack houses, and run-ins with the law across state lines.“I maybe stayed in Atlanta for six months or so,” he said.
“The Georgia Bureau of Investigation picked me up and took me to the bus station and told me to get out of Georgia. I stopped off in Philadelphia, Mississippi. I’m there stealing sardines and fajitas because I’m hungry… They put me in jail… and the police are sitting right outside the cell… Sometimes I can say that God takes care of babies and fools and that time I guess at that time I was a fool!”
Eventually, he found a path out of that darkness — not instantly, and not without setbacks — but a path that led to sobriety and a mission of service. “I have been clean for 24 years,” he said.
“The book actually comes out. July 22nd, 2025.”
Washburn isn’t just telling his story to relive it. He’s turned his experience into a platform.
He now runs C.W. Enterprises TAC (Thoughts, Actions and Consequences), a speakers bureau where he works alongside other former players like William Bedford, Lloyd ‘Sweet Pea’ Daniels, and Luther Wright to educate and uplift youth.“If it’s a place that I can’t go, I recommend these guys to go in my place… we speak to kids,” he said.
In his hometown of Hickory, North Carolina, he also runs Park & Go Karts, a shuttle service that operates on tips to keep it accessible for everyone. “Do I make a lot of money on that,” he said.
“No I don’t but I’m also giving back. This is a form of my way of giving back.”
Chris Washburn’s tale is more than a cautionary one. It’s about the long road back, about recovery, about honesty — and above all, about purpose after the pain.
