Samuel is chosen as the final player on the South Sudanese under-18 national team, over the objections of every other coach.

Samuel's bus home from tryouts is ambushed by raiders, and a captured raider boy is executed by government soldiers at point-blank range.

The South Sudanese team arrives in Florida for the showcase tournament, and Samuel calls home using Ecko's phone.

Rebel soldiers attack Lotta, kill Ayak inside a burning church, and kidnap Angelina while Beatrice flees into the bush.

After the team is eliminated from the showcase, Lonnie Britt offers Samuel a scholarship to North Carolina Central University.

Samuel completes student visa paperwork in Washington DC while the rest of the South Sudanese team flies home.

Lonnie redshirts Samuel, meaning Samuel practices daily with the Eagles but is not allowed to play in any official games.

With the team in crisis, Lonnie plays Samuel for the first time; Samuel launches a buzzer-beating 42-foot shot known as 'The Shot.'

NC Central wins the conference tournament, Samuel earns MVP honors, and the school qualifies for March Madness for only the second time.

Samuel scores 58 points and Murray hits a game-winning basket as NC Central stuns top-ranked Duke in the NCAA tournament.

NC Central loses to Villanova 71-50, ending Samuel's college career and the team's improbable tournament run.

Samuel announces he is entering the NBA draft and signs a representation deal with sports agent Arnie Savage.

Samuel is drafted ninth overall and signs a four-year, $14 million rookie contract with the Washington Wizards.

Samuel takes ecstasy for the first time at a music festival in the Bahamas and is found dead the next morning.

Murray launches a nonprofit foundation in Samuel's name; the website goes viral and collects over $1 million in 72 hours.

Samuel Sooleymon earns a spot on South Sudan's under-18 national basketball team and travels to America for a showcase tournament, leaving his family behind in a country torn by civil war. While he is abroad, rebel soldiers destroy his village, kill his father, and kidnap his sister, stranding Samuel in America with no home to return to. A compassionate college coach offers him a scholarship, and through relentless early-morning practice, Samuel transforms himself from a redshirted bench player into a national sensation. NC Central's improbable March Madness run captivates the country and launches Samuel into the NBA draft, where he signs a $14 million rookie contract. Seduced by the wealth and freedom that come with sudden fame, Samuel attends a music festival in the Bahamas and dies from an overdose on his first experience with hard drugs. In the aftermath, his best friend Murray channels grief into action by founding a nonprofit that eventually helps bring Samuel's mother and brothers safely to America.

Samuel's rise from a South Sudanese village to NBA stardom and tragic death.

Before sending the players home from tryouts, Ecko gives each member of the national team a new sports bag filled with gear.

The village of Lotta celebrates late into the night when Samuel returns home after making the national team.

The South Sudanese team tours the Orlando Magic arena and meets Niollo, an NBA star from South Sudan who funded their trip.

Inspired by meeting their hero Niollo, the South Sudanese team wins back-to-back games against Ukraine and Brazil.

Beatrice escapes the rebel attack on Lotta and flees into the bush with her two sons, Chol and James.

South Sudan loses their final showcase game to the United Kingdom and is eliminated from the tournament.

Ecko uses the team's remaining money to take everyone to Washington DC before their return flight to South Sudan.

Samuel takes a minimum-wage job as the football team's equipment manager; the players embrace him and give him the nickname 'Sooley.'

Murray Walker moves into Samuel's dorm room; the two immediately become close friends.

Ecko visits Beatrice at the Ugandan refugee camp, delivering NC Central clothing, an envelope of cash, and videos of Samuel practicing.

Upon returning from the school drop-off, Beatrice discovers that her tent and her friends' tents have been completely plundered.

On a nationally televised ESPN broadcast, Samuel scores 49 points, grabs 11 rebounds, and dishes 10 assists against Florida A&M.

The team travels to New York for ESPN-televised games; Samuel stays behind in Durham for a meeting with US immigration officials.

NC Central defeats Arkansas to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, deepening their historic and improbable tournament run.

Ida takes Beatrice and her sons to visit Samuel's grave; Murray brings the brothers to see the NC Central gym, where Chol drains a jump shot.

While Samuel's main story arc is defined by basketball milestones, the events surrounding his journey reveal just as much about his character and circumstances. His departure from Lotta is marked by community celebration, and his arrival in America opens his eyes to a world of extraordinary abundance and opportunity. Back in Uganda, Beatrice endures hardship at the refugee camp while Samuel builds a new life at NC Central, finding friends and surrogate family in the Walkers. As Samuel's fame grows and the team advances through March Madness, Beatrice's situation remains static and precarious, underscoring the absurdity of global inequality. The secondary moments of Samuel's story — a job that earned him a nickname, a roommate who became his brother, and a televised performance that made him a star — are the scaffolding on which his legend is built. After Samuel's death, the novel's resolution rests not on basketball but on love, as Beatrice and her sons are finally brought to America and given the chance to grieve and begin again.

The supporting events that shaped Samuel's journey and his family's ordeal in the camp.

Samuel sneaks into the Juba university gym before dawn and is found by Ecko, having already practiced alone for an hour.

Government soldiers interrogate Samuel about his new bag on the bus home but return his belongings after a conversation about basketball.

Beatrice and her sons arrive at the Ugandan refugee camp after a week of travel, near starvation, and being turned away from an overcrowded camp.

Ecko helps arrange contact with Beatrice; Samuel speaks to his mother and they agree to weekly Wednesday phone calls.

Samuel visits the International Rescue Committee office in Durham and learns that relocating his family to America will be extremely difficult.

Lonnie privately tells Ecko he wants to leave NC Central for a bigger school and that Samuel will be redshirted for the season.

Samuel declines marijuana and alcohol at an off-campus party and slips away alone, getting completely lost on the walk back to campus.

A police car stops Samuel in an affluent neighborhood at night; the officers turn out to be basketball fans and offer him a ride home.

Robin makes sexual advances on Samuel while Murray is in New York with the team; Samuel firmly refuses and asks her to leave.

NC Central's record falls to 6-13 and Derell Compton quits the team in frustration, leaving only eight active players on the roster.

Reynard Owen approaches Murray about Samuel's NBA lottery-pick prospects on behalf of sports agent Arnie Savage, circumventing NCAA rules.

A Ugandan beer magnate installs two massive screens in the refugee camp so residents can watch Samuel's NCAA tournament games.

Lonnie tells the team he is leaving NC Central to accept a head coaching position at Marquette University.

Samuel oversleeps and misses his weekly call with his mother after spending the night at Valerie's apartment.

Murray and Gary Gaston travel to Uganda and bring Beatrice and her sons to America aboard a private jet using fake documents.

Beneath the headline events of Samuel's story lies a series of quieter turning points that reveal the forces truly driving his destiny. Ecko's faith in an unpolished teenager, a nurse's kindness with a cell phone, and a desperate coach's decision to play his redshirt player are the hidden hinges on which the novel swings. As Samuel's fame grows, his moral compass is tested repeatedly — by Robin's advances, by drugs at a party, and eventually by the seductive lifestyle offered by Arnie Savage's world. The turning points in the refugee camp run parallel, showing how Beatrice's circumstances remained unchanged while Samuel's shifted dramatically with every passing week. The revelations that come after Samuel's death — including the discovery of his secret plan to rescue his family — reframe his choices and deepen the tragedy. Together, these moments expose how little of Samuel's rise or fall was truly within his control, and how much depended on luck, circumstance, and the motives of others.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that determined Samuel's fate.