On June 17, 1986, the Boston Celtics, the reigning NBA champions, selected Len Bias as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft at Madison Square Garden.
Although he was just 22 years old at the time, Bias had everyone on the team excited about his arrival. According to then-Celtics head coach Red Auerbach , that enthusiasm even reached the legendary Larry Bird.
“Larry Bird was so excited, he said he’d be coming up to rookie camp,” Auerbach recalled after the Draft, per SJI.
The next basketball superstar?
As the name suggests, “rookie camp” is for NBA debutants only. The fact that a superstar like Bird, an eight-year veteran at the time, wanted to attend says a lot. Most rookies wouldn’t have caught his attention, but Bias was far from ordinary…