Sebastian Telfair, the Brooklyn point guard once considered on par with LeBron James and hailed as the "future of basketball," was released early from a federal prison in New Jersey this week.

The 40-year-old former NBA player was sentenced to six months in jail for violating parole rules and was originally scheduled to be released on December 27. A cousin of basketball star Stephon Marbury, Telfair was a legend in New York street basketball.

Telfair entered the NBA in 2004 as a high school player, selected 13th overall in the first round. However, his 10-year professional career failed to reach his expected heights, instead being accompanied by constant legal disputes. In 2021, Telfair was embroiled in a large-scale NBA health insurance fraud case.

Telfair and 17 other retired players were accused of falsifying medical expenses to defraud insurance companies. Although Telfair pleaded guilty in 2024 and was initially granted probation, he was ultimately ordered to serve his sentence in prison this August for failing to complete community service and report to his parole officer.

On the day of his release, Telfair, dressed in prison garb, told the media, "I feel great, I've been rebuilt. I've done what I was supposed to do, taken care of myself, and now I just want to go back to my children."

Ironically, Telfair recently admitted in a video that he had squandered all of his $19 million salary earned in the NBA. After experiencing a series of legal disputes and personal financial crises, he was ultimately forced to move back to the low-rent housing area where he grew up.

This release marks the end of Telfair's dark period, but whether he can truly "reinvent himself" and restart his life remains a topic of interest in the basketball world.