"Basketball Slave" is filled to the brim with extraordinary tales from behind the scenes of the early, original Harlem Globetrotters, and loaded with a wealth of historical information never disclosed about the slow, quota-based inception of African American athletes in the NBA. This book clarifies the role of the original Harlem Globetrotters in making the NBA the multi-billion-dollar organisation it is today. Johnson grew up watching his family working in the cotton fields of Louisiana, and played basketball barefoot in the streets of Hollywood, California. Johnson's education was undervalued as a high school basketball star, and he was sent to college without any hope of receiving a degree. He was finally sold on the professional basketball auction block three times without any ability to negotiate his pay or where he could play. Johnson turned every devastating event into another opportunity by staying positive in the game of life.