NBA draft still haunts Rashard Lewis

t's been 13 years but the scene still ranks among the most notable in the history of the NBA draft. There was 18 year-old Rashard Lewis, a Houston kid out of Alief Elsik High School, hanging out in the famed NBA  "green room" waiting for his name to be among the first called in the draft. After all, the NBA invites only the most elite prospects to the green room-usually the players the league believes will be among the first 15 selected.

The names began to roll off the commissioner's tongue with each pick: Olowokandi first followed by Bibby, LaFrentz, Jamison, Carter and Traylor. But the first round came and went and the name Lewis was never announced. Another high schooler, Al Harrington, was chosen by the Pacers with the 25th pick. The first round was gone and so was the guaranteed money for Lewis. It was shocking to the young basketball prodigy who, according to his own account, excused himself from the room and began to cry.

Finally, with the third pick of the second round, the Seattle Supersonics took their chances with Lewis. Lewis then made it his mission to prove that each and every team that passed on him was wrong. And over the years, he's done just that. During his thirteen year career Lewis has twice been an All-Star and has earned well over $100 million. Yet he has never put the 1998 draft night completely behind him.

"All the time. Every draft," Lewis said when asked if he still harks back on that evening. "Every year around this time I think about sitting in that green room. It's something that I will never forget my whole life."

Lewis, now a member of the Washington Wizards, is with his third NBA franchise. While the 1998 draft experience ranks as perhaps the lowest moment for Lewis, getting traded from the Magic to the Wizards wasn't exactly a highlight.

"I was committed 100 percent to try to help (the Wizards," Lewis said. "But I was injured which stopped me from performing the way I wanted to perform. Not only that, but you come from a team that made the Eastern Conference finals and back on track to try to win a championship and you wake up one morning and you're traded. It makes it tough. The night before I was playing in Orlando in a totally different arena and the night after that you're learning a whole new system, new players, new team. I think my mind wasn't in the right place at the time. I'm glad the season's over. I can re-focus and I'm ready to get back to work."