20-year-old Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was the No. 23 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, and was immediately traded to the Brooklyn Nets. And the first thing the rookie wanted to do when he signed his NBA contract was to buy his mother a house. The Chester, PA native surprised his mother, Rylanda Hollis, recently and capture the emotional moment on film.
Hollis-Jefferson described the whole scene in his own words via his rookie diary with the New York Post this weekend:
We were searching for the house for a while. My brother, the realtor, my uncle and a couple others were looking at houses and telling me about it, and I thought this one was the perfect fit.
When I told the woman who owned the house why we were buying it, she cried. Being a mom, she understood what it meant more than us guys do. It was an emotional moment, and then she said, “We can make this happen.” They even bought my mom a cake!
We had a lot of our close family and friends and relatives at the house to surprise her. My sister was driving my mom to the house, and we told her to just knock on the door and ask for one of your friends.
The realtor opened the door and said, “Oh, who are you looking for?” When my mom said the name, the realtor said, “Oh, OK, come in.” Then everyone popped out and said, “Surprise!” and me and my brother had the cake, and she just started crying. To actually be able to show her the house and stuff on her birthday, it was a dream come true. It was a blessing.
