It took a freak injury for Joel Freeland, pictured, to give up his football dreams, a broken leg and two weeks in hospital was enough to turn the teenager away from one game into another.
He was 17 when he picked up a basketball for the very first time, ploughing the pocket change accrued from a part-time job in his local Sainsbury's into supporting his new habit and a regular commute to his nearest club in his native Hampshire.
Fate proved kind. Eight years later, the Great Britain internationalist will make his bow in the NBA tonight for the Portland Trailblazers, mixing with the very best of the best. His new team took a remarkable gamble when they drafted the little-known centre six years ago when he was a raw prospect.
Furthering his career in Gran Canaria, and then in Malaga alongside the Scot Robert Archibald, Freeland matured into one of Europe's most sought-after talents.
He arrives in the NBA not as the typical fresh-faced rookie. The Olympics provided a further insight into what lies ahead. But he has had to acclimatise to this new world. "It's been a tough transition because the game is different to how it is in Europe," he said. "There are a lot of things I have to learn over here."
Fortunately, the initiation rites have been minimal. "A little thing that all the rookies had to do the other day was dance in the fan fest," he revealed. "That's a tradition that each player has to go through, which is quite amusing."
Freeland will be one of two British players in the league, joining his Great Britain team-mate Luol Deng, of the Chicago Bulls.
Having battled to reach this stage, the hard work now begins. "I have a chance to do something special," he declared, "and I am really going to take advantage of it."
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