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Former Portland Trail Blazers player Sebastian Telfair sentenced to prison

By Austin Carroll

MEMPHIS - MARCH 14: Sebastian Telfair #31 of the Portland Trail Blazers (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
MEMPHIS - MARCH 14: Sebastian Telfair #31 of the Portland Trail Blazers (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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From basketball star to lost cause, former Portland Trail Blazers draft pick Sebastian Telfair has been convicted on gun possession charges.

It’s June 24, 2004. Sebastian Telfair had the whole world at his fingertips. With the No. 13 overall selection, Telfair would go on stage and throw on a Portland Trail Blazers cap. His natural talent was enough to make NBA scouts swoon, but he could never stay out of trouble. This time, hell be serving 3.5 years in prison for carrying a loaded gun in his vehicle back in 2017.

Joseph Spector of USA Today was the first to break details regarding Telfair’s fate with the law.

This isn’t the first time he’s had a run-in with the authorities either. Back in 2007, Telfair was previously arrested for possession of a weapon in his vehicle. He was driving 77 miles per hour in a 45 zone when he was pulled over. He was later convicted and served three years’ probation and a subsequent three-game suspension from the NBA.

Being a repeat offender likely played a large role in his recent sentencing. This just seems to encapsulate the course of his very unfortunate career in a nutshell.

Skipping the college route and making the jump to the NBA right out of high school, Telfair had every chance to make it big in the NBA. In fact, he was so naturally gifted he would go on to play ten years in the league and make a lucrative $19 million total.

All of this may have been avoided if someone addressed his attitude issues earlier in life. It’s also the most likely reason he played a journeyman role. Never being able to hold down a job within an organization or hold importance to a community. That’s why he ended up playing for eight different teams in his ten year career.

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Over the course of his career, Telfair never once posted a positive Box Plus/Minus on the offensive or defensive end. Truth be told, that’s a statistic far more indicative of his attitude than it his talent, and serves as a grim reminder of what could have been if Telfair had his head on straight from the day the Portland Trail Blazers drafted him.