Vanderbilt freshman lands NBA internship after year of laundry and floor-mopping
Daniel Sung, a 19-year-old Vanderbilt student, spent a year doing laundry and mopping floors for his college basketball team to demonstrate his commitment to sports. Despite being ridiculed as 'mop boy,' he earned an internship with the NBA's LA Clippers, becoming one of the youngest interns in league history. His persistence also attracted multiple startup job offers, according to Fortune.
Sung’s unpaid year included 30 to 40 weekly hours of laundry, ball-handling, and court cleanup for Vanderbilt’s team, often until 1 a.m. His family’s immigrant background—running a 7-Eleven and a Mexican restaurant—left him without industry connections, so he built his own path. The NBA’s 2025 internship drew over 19,000 applicants, yet Sung’s freshman-year application stood out because of that hands-on sacrifice. His LinkedIn posts, started only four weeks ago, have since attracted thousands of followers and multiple startup job offers, alongside the Clippers internship.
This story could reshape how young job seekers view unpaid grunt work, especially in competitive fields like sports. It may validate extreme persistence as a strategy, but also risks normalizing unpaid labor that many cannot afford. For employers, it highlights the value of demonstrated commitment over credentials, potentially influencing hiring criteria. However, it could also widen inequities if only those with financial support can replicate such sacrifices.