When NBA Hall of Fame forward Dominique Wilkins, 64, flipped from North Carolina State to attend the University of Georgia out of high school, in his words, “All hell broke loose.”

Despite being born in Paris, where his father was stationed as a military officer, Wilkins spent the majority of his childhood in Washington, North Carolina, following stops in Dallas and Baltimore.

The top hooper in the state, Wilkins braved life below the Mason-Dixon line in the 1960s and 1970s. Unfortunately, life worsened for Wilkins and his family once the McDonald’s All-American left the ACC, Wilkins shared on the “All the Smoke” podcast, last week.

“First of all, if you were a great player in the state of North Carolina in those days, you don’t leave the ACC. It was like against the law to leave the ACC,” Wilkins said. “So, I signed a letter of intent with North Carolina State. The University of Georgia came out of nowhere. … The thing is that I didn’t want to be compared to anyone. So when I made that decision, all hell broke loose. I got all F’s on my transcript, paint poured on my mom’s car, and I had a cross burning in my yard.

“I got arrested the next day. I’m coming out of a store and I had $3,000 in my pocket. A gentleman said, ‘We’ve got to arrest you, we saw you steal that tape.’ Police came. My cousin was on the police force and he said, ‘We are going to go down to the police station and we’ll work it out.’ Then he said, ‘You know what, I’m gonna take you home, we are gonna pack up the house, the whole family out tonight. So we left at 12 o’clock at night, and I didn’t go back for 30 years.”

Wilkins, who spent 12 years with the Atlanta Hawks from 1982 to 1994, survived growing up Black down south to become a nine-time NBA All-Star, seven-time All-NBA pick and a two-time NBA slam dunk champion, but not before changing his environment.

“I was like, ‘Why would I steal a $3 tape? I’ve got $3,000 in my pocket,’” Wilkins said.