The air in Chicago's Wintrust Arena hummed with a specific, predatory energy. It wasn't the roar of a crowd or the squeak of a meaningful game. It was the low thrum of evaluation, the silent, calculating gaze of a billion-dollar industry assessing raw human capital. The NBA Draft Combine was a meat market for the most gifted athletes on earth, and Kaleb Wilson walked into it knowing he was a different kind of commodity.
He stood out immediately, and not for the reasons of years past. At a hair under 6'3" in shoes, with a lean but not explosive frame, he didn't turn heads in the lobby. The physical freaks—the guys with wingspans stretching toward seven feet and vertical leaps that defied physics—drew the crowds of scouts. Kaleb moved through the throng with a quiet focus, a grey hoodie pulled up, his mind already several steps ahead.
