Weis never played for the Knicks again, in the summer league or otherwise. Explanations of why vary, but Weis said top Knicks executives never directly contacted him about returning. That may be a matter of semantics — the Knicks, like most teams, had a European scout keeping an eye on Weis (and other players) — but, from Weis’s perspective, he believed he was not wanted. So he continued playing in Europe. At the 2000 Olympics — despite being dunked on by Carter — he generally played well as France won the silver medal. From 1997 to 2000, Weis played in four consecutive French league All-Star games.

“I never heard from them,” Weis said. “So what was I supposed to do?”

From the Knicks’ side, the belief was always that Weis was not truly motivated to ever come and play in the United States. Scott Layden replaced Tapscott as general manager in August 1999, and while it was clear he was not especially enamored of Weis, he did express curiosity about Weis’s potential. The Knicks, according to team officials, would have liked to see Weis at least play in the summer league again, and a bevy of news reports from the summers of 2000 and 2001 include quotations from representatives of Weis claiming that Weis, for various reasons, would not return to the Knicks’ summer league team. Weis claims that he had only loose associations with those agents and that they never accurately conveyed to him the Knicks’ desires.

Celia said that Weis was sad he never got to play with the Knicks — “It was something he very much wanted” — but was nonetheless pragmatic about it.

“He knew it was business,” she said. She shrugged. “In a lot of ways, the truth is that all of that had nothing to do with what happened to him later.”

Troubles After a Son’s Birth

In 2002, three years after Weis was drafted, Enzo was born. Weis, always known as more of a gentle giant, was jubilant; being a father was something he had often said he felt he was born to do.

But something was not right with Enzo. Outwardly, the boy seemed O.K., making baby sounds and even saying some distinguishable words as he neared his first birthday. It soon became clear, however, that Enzo was only mimicking sounds he was hearing others say and not actually learning how to communicate. His ability to focus — on a person or a task — was nonexistent. If the family tried to eat at a restaurant, Enzo would shriek and shout and shake.