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Former Georgetown star battles MS in pursuit of NBA dream

Tommy Birch, USA TODAY Sports
Former Georgetown player Chris Wright is chasing his NBA dream, currently playing in the D-League.
  • MS%2C a disease in which the auto-immune system affects the central nervous system%2C brought Chris Wright to Des Moines
  • The former Georgetown star is a point guard for the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League
  • Wright is trying to show a person with MS not only can play pro basketball but excel at it

The sprints at the end of practice were going just as planned.

Then, with one small movement, in one quick second, everything started to change in Chris Wright's world.

As Wright, then playing for a professional team in Turkey, bent down to touch a line on the basketball floor, his foot gave out unexpectedly.

"I didn't really pay much attention to it," he said. "I thought I just tripped over a line or did something stupid."

What had caused Wright, a former star at Georgetown, to lose his footing was something bigger. It was something many thought would ruin his life and shatter his professional dreams — a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

"Honestly, I didn't know what MS was," Wright said. "I was just kind of like, 'All right, what do I gotta do?'"

MS, a disease in which the auto-immune system affects the central nervous system, is what brought the former Georgetown star to Des Moines. He is a point guard for the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League.

Here, at 23, he's trying to show that a person with MS can not only play pro basketball but excel at it.

Early symptoms hit

The foot was just the start of things on that day in late March.

Later that night, Wright lost feeling in his right hand, right arm, and eventually, his entire right leg.

Each was a symptom of MS. Until he visited with multiple doctors and specialists, Wright didn't know what he was dealing with.

One doctor told Wright his career in basketball would be over.

"I was shaken up a bit," Wright said.

He wasn't the only one. As teammates for Olin Edirne, his team in Turkey, filed into his hospital room, many expressed grief and sorrow. They, too, figured his career was finished.

"It was real weird," Wright said of the scene. "There are so many negative things said about it, so they were thinking about the worst."

Like Wright at the time, his teammates didn't know much about MS. According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the disease affects more than 2.1 million people worldwide.

MS can cause fatigue, numbness and problems with walking, balance and coordination.

Stories circulated on the Internet about Wright. He read how his career was over, how he'd never play professional basketball again. Wright, who researched the disease online, refused to believe it.

"When I initially understood that I had it," Wright said, "my whole mind-set — and this is just how I am naturally — is, OK, what do I have to do to overcome it?"

Fighting back

Wright, small by NBA standards at 6-1 and 210 pounds, was an all-Big East player at Georgetown but wasn't selected in the 2011 draft. So he went to Turkey to begin his pro career.

Energy general manager Chris Makris had followed Wright as a college senior. Makris got in touch with agent Doug Neustadt in August about bringing Wright to Des Moines.

During a phone conversation, Neustadt told Makris about his client's disease.

"I wasn't real well-versed on it," Makris said. "I knew what MS was, but I didn't know necessarily what it meant to a professional athlete."

Dr. Heidi Crayton, the medical director of the MS Center of Greater Washington, D.C., works with Wright. She said MS is often stereotyped as a life-ending disease.

Those stereotypes are what have affected Wright the most, even though he's in remission. At least one NBA scout, which was in contact with Wright about playing in its summer league, backed out at the last minute over a concern regarding the disease.

Neustadt has tried to combat those worries by passing Crayton's contact information to teams interested in Wright.

Crayton said when she speaks to NBA teams about Wright, she can tell that perceptions about Wright's well-being cannot be changed.

There aren't any known NBA players with MS, though Crayton said she wouldn't be surprised if there was somebody who was playing with the disease and concealing it. She thinks the stereotypes about MS could keep athletes from being open about it.

In November, NHL goalie Josh Harding of the Minnesota Wild revealed he has MS. Crayton said she's encouraged Wright to get in contact with Harding.

"It's really just about the label," Crayton said.

Wright receives an injection of Tysabri once a month, something he'll most likely do for the rest of his life. He hasn't had an episode since that day in Turkey.

The Energy work around whatever appointments Wright may have.

He'll visit Crayton every six months for a checkup. The most recent one showed he was responding well to the treatment. "He was absolutely great," Crayton said. "I couldn't find anything."

Things are just as good on the court, where Wright entered Friday's game ranked among the D-League leaders in assists.

While the Energy have struggled to find consistency with a revolving door of players, Wright has been one of the team's few bright spots, averaging 14.8 points, 7.4 assists and 4.8 rebounds a game.

"He is so reliable day in and day out," Wilson said. "He's bringing it every single day."

Said Energy guard Justin Hurtt: "I think he's proved a lot of people wrong."

Positive feedback

Neustadt said he's received positive feedback from NBA teams who have started to open their eyes to Wright.

"I think before the D-League season, he was off the radar a little bit," Neustadt said. "And now, as I've told Chris, things are warming up for him."

Makris thinks Wright will someday suit up for an NBA team.

"It's going to be special," Makris said. "It really will be. I'm going to be happy for him because it's overcoming so much."

Wright, who is expecting his first son with girlfriend Erin Hawkins, said he hopes to use his basketball platform to educate others about MS.

"It was discouraging but Chris never got discouraged," Orlando Wright, Chris' father, said. "It was an interesting dynamic. We got stronger just by how he conducted himself. He never felt that his career was over."

Chris Wright understands if concerns about his disease linger among NBA general managers.

"Teams may back off because of it," Wright said. "That's their loss if they back off.

"If they back off because of the MS, that's just their decision. ... I think showing people that I'm capable of playing and not having any side effects or setbacks from it, I think that'll open eyes to a lot of people."

Birch also writes for the Des Moines Register

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