New York — Kris Dunn walked through the Grand Hyatt hotel lobby on Wednesday afternoon and broke into a big smile when he spotted his brother.

He greeted John Dunn with a warm hug and then reached down to pick up his 18-month-old niece, Aubree.

They seemed oblivious to the buzz of activity surrounding them less than 24 hours before Thursday's NBA Draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

It's been a remarkable journey for Kris Dunn, his older brother and the rest of their family.

“It's pretty crazy compared to where things were ...,” John Dunn said. “It's a dream come true, obviously. ... He's my brother and my best friend. We grew up and went through some tough things. We've been through everything together.”

Kris Dunn, the former New London High School star and All-American point guard out of Providence College, battled through adversity, including a stormy period fighting for survival while living in Virginia during his early childhood years, to reach this point.

He's unsure how he'll react when his name is called during the draft. He's expected to be a top six lottery pick.

“Tomorrow is going to be real emotional,” Kris Dunn said during a pre-draft media session Wednesday afternoon. “I don't know if I'm going to cry. I'm going to be very excited. I've said before, this moment is really for my family. They've been through a lot with me, through the ups and downs. I feel like my family deserves these moments, to have this opportunity.

“I'm just here to make them proud.”

It also will be an emotional night for the family, which also includes Dunn's father, John Seldon, stepmother, Audra, brothers John Dunn and Rashad Pauley, and his two younger sisters, Ashley and Ariana.

“I'm going to try to stay humble and keep to myself,” Seldon said. “I'm proud. I can't be any happier. He did everything that he said that he wanted to do. It worked out just fine.”

John Dunn added, “There will be so many emotions running through me. No matter where he goes, it will be unbelievable.”

There was a time when the two brothers, who were both born in New London and moved with their mother, Pia, to Virginia at a young age, never thought about the future.

They were too busy fending for themselves for long stretches when Pia, who died when Dunn was at Providence College, dealt with her own personal struggles, including jail.

Their lives drastically changed for the better after Seldon drove down from Connecticut to pick them up and bring them back to New London.

The 10-year-old Kris Dunn had never known his father before that day.

Kris Dunn will be forever grateful to his brother John, who's four and a half years older, for the sacrifices that he made. He said after being drafted he will buy John a house.

“My brother was my father before I actually met my father,” Kris Dunn said. “He sacrificed a lot. He had to grow up fast to take care of me. He didn't have that chance to be a kid. It showed his mature level and how much he loved me. Anybody else could have just fallen down."

“My brother was out there fighting for me and him," he added. "The fact that he was able to do that, I'm going to make sure he's OK.”

John Dunn admits that it was hard.

“We used to fight all the time,” John Dunn said. “I was trying to be more his father than his brother. I was trying to discipline him and tell him what to do. Of course, he didn't want to hear that from his brother. As time went on and we got older, it helped our relationship.”

Those difficult days are behind them now.

Kris Dunn clearly is ready for the next step in his basketball career. He's already experiencing the celebrity and business side of professional life, recently signing a deal with Adidas and appearing in a Speed Stick commercial.

Every time the commercial airs in John Dunn's house, his daughter lights up.

“It's weird,” John Dunn said of watching his brother in a commercial. “My daughter loves watching him. Every time he comes on the screen, she just starts yelling, `Kris, Kris, Kris, Kris, Kris, Kris.' It's nice to see.”

Last year, Kris Dunn opted to stay in college instead of entering the draft. This spring he graduated from Providence.

On Thursday, the point guard likely won't to wait long after the start of the draft at 7 p.m. to learn his fate.

In the nerve-racking hours leading up to his life-changing moment, Kris Dunn will lean on his family to keep him calm.

“I think I'm going to be relaxed,” he said. “If it was last year … I think I would be anxious, not knowing where I'm going to go and where I'm going to live. I think now I'm more mature. My family expected that I was going to be in this situation."

“The fact that I'm going to have my family around, probably the goofiest people that I've ever met, they're going to make sure that I'm relaxed and not too nervous,” he said.