• FILE - In this May 18, 2018, file photo, Trae Young, center, from Oklahoma, listens to a question during the interview segment of the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken out of several rooms on the 15th and 16th floor of the hotel in downtown Chicago. There's a couple tables, a few chairs, and when the doors open to those suites draft hopefuls can make or break their futures in 20 minutes. This is where the interviews happen for the draft, where teams meet players and ask them about everything from their family histories to their thoughts on highway safety before investing millions of dollars. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File) Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast / Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast
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FILE - In this May 18, 2018, file photo, Trae Young, center, from Oklahoma, listens to a question during the interview segment of the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken out of several rooms on the 15th and 16th floor of the hotel in downtown Chicago. There's a couple tables, a few chairs, and when the doors open to those suites draft hopefuls can make or break their futures in 20 minutes. This is where the interviews happen for the draft, where teams meet players and ask them about everything from their family histories to their thoughts on highway safety before investing millions of dollars. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File) less
FILE - In this May 18, 2018, file photo, Trae Young, center, from Oklahoma, listens to a question during the interview segment of the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken ... more
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast
Image 2 of 7
FILE - In this May 18, 2018, file photo, reporters and photographers surround Trae Young, from Oklahoma, during the interview segment of the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken out of several rooms on the 15th and 16th floor of the hotel in downtown Chicago. There's a couple tables, a few chairs, and when the doors open to those suites draft hopefuls can make or break their futures in 20 minutes. This is where the interviews happen for the draft, where teams meet players and ask them about everything from their family histories to their thoughts on highway safety before investing millions of dollars. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File) less
FILE - In this May 18, 2018, file photo, reporters and photographers surround Trae Young, from Oklahoma, during the interview segment of the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was ... more
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast
Image 3 of 7
FILE - In this May 17, 2018, file photo, Collin Sexton, from Alabama, is interviewed at the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken out of several rooms on the 15th and 16th floor of the hotel in downtown Chicago. There's a couple tables, a few chairs, and when the doors open to those suites draft hopefuls can make or break their futures in 20 minutes. This is where the interviews happen for the draft, where teams meet players and ask them about everything from their family histories to their thoughts on highway safety before investing millions of dollars. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File) less
FILE - In this May 17, 2018, file photo, Collin Sexton, from Alabama, is interviewed at the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken out of several rooms on the 15th and 16th ... more
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast
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FILE - In this May 17, 2018, file photo, Hamidou Diallo, from Kentucky, speaks with the media at the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken out of several rooms on the 15th and 16th floor of the hotel in downtown Chicago. There's a couple tables, a few chairs, and when the doors open to those suites draft hopefuls can make or break their futures in 20 minutes. This is where the interviews happen for the draft, where teams meet players and ask them about everything from their family histories to their thoughts on highway safety before investing millions of dollars. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, FIle) less
FILE - In this May 17, 2018, file photo, Hamidou Diallo, from Kentucky, speaks with the media at the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken out of several rooms on the 15th ... more
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast
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FILE - In this May 18, 2018, file photo, Kevin Huerter, from Maryland, is interviewed during the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken out of several rooms on the 15th and 16th floor of the hotel in downtown Chicago. There's a couple tables, a few chairs, and when the doors open to those suites draft hopefuls can make or break their futures in 20 minutes. This is where the interviews happen for the draft, where teams meet players and ask them about everything from their family histories to their thoughts on highway safety before investing millions of dollars. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File) less
FILE - In this May 18, 2018, file photo, Kevin Huerter, from Maryland, is interviewed during the NBA draft basketball combine, in Chicago. Most of the furniture was taken out of several rooms on the 15th and ... more
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast
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Chicago

The elevator stopped at the 16th floor of the swanky hotel, and after a few nervous steps down the hallway a soon-to-be professional athlete was ready to face perhaps the most unpredictable part of the NBA draft process.

The interview.

Down in the lobby, Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka of the Lakers chatted with familiar faces. Agents held court with other agents, Clippers coach Doc Rivers talked with some journalists and a couple dozen people were outside with their phones ready to snap pictures of whoever was walking in next.

But upstairs, high above the bustle and din of Chicago's Magnificent Mile, the real action was happening.

There were probably about 300 interviews conducted over two days in the Windy City during the draft combine. Those chats — more than perhaps the basketball that was played that week — give teams their best insight into a prospect and help decision-makers determine which players will merit multi-million-dollar investments at Thursday's NBA draft. The Associated Press was granted access to one of the sessions.

The 25-minute meeting was held in a room that had its usual furniture — bed, television, dressers — cleared out for two couches and a table with eight chairs.

"Relax, man," the coach said to the player, an early entry candidate, as he sat down. "We're just trying to get to know you."

Water was offered, and the chat began.

A couple of people were taking handwritten notes, the focus clear by the fact that no one is checking their phones, and the interview was more of a conversation than an interrogation. There was an order to things, with five team staffers asking the bulk of the questions, each getting roughly the same amount of time to play their respective role.

"What would your family tell us about you?"

"How many cellphones do you have?"

"Is this just about money?"

They asked the player what he thought of his teammates in college, how he deals with teammates that he doesn't like, how he reacts to criticism. One of the interviewers has turned his chair around, another has his feet up on an unused chair and there were even a couple moments of laughter. Almost out of nowhere, there was a very specific question about a block-charge call the player was involved in during a game this past season, and how he reacted to a referee about the call not going his way.

The player slid down in his chair a little bit.

"How'd you even know about that?" he asked, sheepishly.

The time flies by, the interview wraps and the player was due in a few minutes one floor down for another of his seven meetings scheduled throughout the day. Everyone stands, handshakes happen all around, and just like that, it was over. The notebooks close, and the player is walked to the door by the coach who pats him on the back twice while saying "you did great."

The kid stepped into the hall, the door closed, and that was it.

Every team does interviews differently, but for the most part the setup was the same — cleared-out hotel room, about 30 minutes per session, somewhere between five to 10 people in the room to greet the player. By nightfall and the end of the day's meetings, everyone is exhausted.

Shen grad Kevin Huerter, who is leaving Maryland after two seasons and could get selected as early as the middle of the first round, said some teams — San Antonio and Golden State in particular — were more in-depth than some other clubs were with him during the combine interviews.

"Pick one moment in time that describes your personality," Huerter said he was asked during the Warriors meeting. "I thought that was a really good question."