The best rags-to-riches story at this year’s NBA Draft was a Fresno native who strode to the podium at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, dressed in a black suit with a black shirt buttoned up to the top and a diamond necklace.
Compared to the vibrant hues and unique patterns worn by many of his fellow draftees, Cedric Coward’s color choice showed something.
It showed he means business.
“He’s not a real flashy guy,” explained Shanel Moore, Coward’s mother.
Coward’s journey from Central East High to his selection Wednesday night with the No. 11 pick by the Memphis Grizzlies, who acquired his rights in a draft-night trade with the Portland Trailblazers, is the most unlikely odyssey in this year’s draft and one of the more remarkable for an American-born player in recent memory.
NBA first rounders don’t materialize out of nowhere as Coward seemingly did. Not in 2025. They are identified as grade-schoolers, placed onto travel teams, ranked by scouting services, showcased at AAU tournaments, recruited by major colleges and feted by fans and the media.
Coward got none of that special treatment and attention, partially by design.
Because academics took priority in his family, Coward didn’t play varsity basketball until the 11th grade. Even though he grew to 6 feet, 5½ inches by his senior year and was a two-time all-league selection at Central, he received no Division I offers and scant interest.
Taking the road less traveled, Coward began his college career at Division III Willamette in Salem, Oregon, before transferring to Eastern Washington for two seasons and then one at Washington State, where a shoulder injury limited him to six games.
Granted a redshirt year, Coward committed to play at Duke next season. But that was before the 21-year-old turned heads at the draft combine in May, followed by a series of individual workouts with NBA teams that boosted his stock from fringe prospect to consensus first-rounder.
Consensus enough for Coward to receive an invitation to the draft green room, the staging area in front of the podium where players, their families and agents await NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to announce their names. Joining Cedric in New York were his mother, Shanel Moore, stepfather Willie Ray Moore Jr., sister Lauryn Moore and girlfriend Inani Madden.
“You wouldn’t think I would be here,” Coward told CBSSports.com on the eve of the draft.
Oh, but he is.
Gold-medal winning grandfather
Coward’s burgeoning NBA career is a testament to his own talent, hard work and upbringing. Genetics also played a role. His maternal grandfather is Fresno County Hall of Fame inductee Maxie Parks, a member of the gold medal-winning 4x400 relay at the 1976 Olympics.
Cedric was close to both his grandfathers growing up but particularly the 75-year-old Parks, who schooled his grandson in athletics and what it takes to achieve major life goals.
“They trained together. They talked sports together. Cedric identifies his grandfather as his best friend,” Shanel Moore said. “They speak three or four times a week, still.”
Despite his athletic bloodlines, Coward was not allowed to focus solely on sports. He was on the honor roll every year of high school and twice named a National High School Scholar. He served on the Black Student Union, the Principal Advisory Board and the Fresno County African-American Leadership Conference Board.
In the summer of 2019, rather than play AAU basketball, Coward helped “Poppa Maxie” build a house for a fellow church member as part of a Habitat For Humanity project. For weeks and weeks under the scorching Fresno sun, 15-year-old Cedric hammered nails, shoveled dirt, framed walls, placed drywall and installed roofing.
“What did he learn? That he did not want to do construction,” Moore said with a laugh. “He learned the meaning of hard work and what it means to take nothing and build it into something.”
Not unlike how Coward built himself into an NBA first-round pick from unassuming beginnings.
Greg Streets, the former coach at Central, remembers meeting Coward when Cedric was in the 7th grade. Even though Coward was short and had a slight build, something about his personality and work ethic stood out.
“He’s a smart, intuitive kid who really understands the game of basketball,” Streets said. “He’s very studious and extremely coachable. I’m just amazed at how far he’s come since high school.”
Fresno’s NBA first rounders
In an area more known for producing football and baseball talent, Coward is the eighth Fresno product (i.e. someone born here or who attended a local high school) to become an NBA first-round pick this century. He follows DeShawn Stevenson (2000), Chris Jefferies (2002), Brook and Robin Lopez (2008), Quincy Pondexter (2010), Jalen Green (2021) and AJ Johnson (2024).
NBA teams value Coward for his measurements including a 7-foot-2 wingspan (nearly 9 inches longer than his height) and a 32.5-inch standing vertical jump. His shooting stats also leap off the page: 38.8% on 3-pointers and an incredible 72% from inside the arc.
Yes, some of that had to do with the level of competition. But Coward more than held his own against bigger-name prospects during the pre-draft process. And when NBA teams got him inside their facilities for workouts and interviews, Coward’s skills and mental makeup stood out.
“Cedric is a rare talent and person,” Streets said. “I didn’t coach anyone like him during the 17 years I was at Central.”
What can up-and-coming hoopsters learn from Coward’s example? The No. 1 takeaway, according to his mother, is perseverance.
“Stay the course,” Moore said. “Cedric’s had some twists and turns on his path, but never lost sight of his goal. Stay the course. Don’t give up. Take what’s in front of you and make the most of it.”
“He’s going to make Fresno proud,” she added.
Already has.