Putting NBA on hold an easy choice for Providence's Kris Dunn

There is a question that Kris Dunn has been asked a whole lot over the past several months. It is a question that is complicated – Why did you return to Providence for your junior year when you could have been a surefire NBA lottery pick and millionaire? – but his answer is quite simple.

“I get that question every day -- literally, every day,” Dunn told me recently. “It was kind of simple. I already knew I wanted to come back. I never really thought about the NBA. I wanted to go back to school get my degree and be a great role model for my two little sisters.”

There. That’s it. So simple. And so was refreshing for such a big decision to come with so much clarity. Because life has never been simple for Dunn. His family history is complicated. He grew up rough -- in Virginia with his troubled mother, then moving to Connecticut to live with his father and stepmother. At his father’s house, three boys slept in one bedroom. They got by on his dad’s job as a blackjack dealer, but it wasn’t easy. His mother died at the beginning of his sophomore year in college, at age 50. His father and stepmother provided stability. So did Providence coach Ed Cooley, who was then coach at nearby Fairfield University in Connecticut. Cooley first saw Dunn play early in high school, and his eyes bugged out.

“I saw a young, wild colt,” Cooley told me. “That’s what he reminded me of. He needed to be harnessed. He had natural speed, natural strength, but he was developing. He was skinny. To see how far he’s come as a basketball player and as a young man has been incredible. His leadership, his determination. He’s one of the toughest youngest men I’ve ever coached.”

Last spring, after sixth-seeded Providence lost to Dayton in the first round of the NCAA tournament -- after Dunn finally had the breakout season so many had been waiting for through his first three injury-riddled years in college -- he had a decision to make. Ahead of him were millions of dollars in NBA money, financial security that could last a lifetime, a basketball dream realized. For most people, the decision would be complicated but, ultimately, easy. Most people would go and not think twice. Dunn had two shoulder injuries, two shoulder surgeries in his first two years in college, which caused him to be a 21-year-old redshirt sophomore last year. You don’t want to risk getting injured again. You don’t want to risk it when you have a certainty.

For Dunn, he thought of his 13- and 14-year-old sisters. He remembered taking them to movies when he was a high schooler and they were in elementary school. He remembered taking them bowling. He remembered how his sisters would come to the gym with him every day after school, where he’d work on his game with his dad, John Seldon. He remembered how his sisters always looked up to him.

And he knew that he needed to come back to school and get his social science degree. Just to prove to his sisters that an education mattered.

Even though everyone -- from his coach to his father -- encouraged him to leave.

“They’ve seen my process, the lows and the highs,” Dunn said of his sisters. “They’ve seen it all with me. “It was kind of simple. I already knew I wanted to come back. I never really thought about the NBA.”

Now he starts the new season as arguably the best player in college basketball. Dunn is an incredible two-way player. He has elite, NBA-level perimeter defense skills. He’s a point guard who can get to the rim, score and distribute. The only hole in his game is an inconsistent jump shot. NBA scouts are drooling over him, even with the spate of injuries that hampered the beginning of his college career.

“I don’t know if there was a player in the country who’d turn down that opportunity last year, given his two injuries, and become a college graduate instead,” Cooley said. “This was Kris’ decision. If anything I encouraged him to leave. He said he was not ready yet. He wants to become one of the most dominant college players in the country.”

He will be. And he will be a rare thing in college basketball: an elite, lottery-pick-type player with an enormous amount of life perspective from all of his obstacles.

“After my second surgery, I didn’t know if I’d be able to bounce back,” Dunn said. “I never knew if I’d be healthy again. So now I just appreciate the game more. Any time you’re on the court, you should cherish the moment. Because you know it can definitely be taken away from you at any time.”

Follow Reid Forgrave on Twitter @reidforgrave or email him at ReidForgrave@gmail.com.