LeBron James, Tyson Chandler and Kobe Bryant Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Nearly every kid playing basketball holds the same dream: to one day play in the NBA. The path for the lucky few blessed with the requisite level of talent is long and hard, and for most American players includes playing college basketball. Some players skipped that step, leaping straight from high school to the NBA.
Technically that was allowed for decades; players such as Connie Simmons did so in the 1940s. Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby did it in the 1970s. Yet it wasn’t until Kevin Garnett in 1995 that the modern movement of players going straight from high school to the NBA began.
From 1995 to 2005, 11 NBA drafts, a total of 39 players were drafted directly out of high school. That included a number of dominant success stories, including LeBron James, Garnett and Kobe Bryant, all among the top players in league history. Yet even with their success, this movement generated a lot of pushback across the nation.
Many inside and outside of the league were staunchly opposed to the idea of high school players jumping straight into the NBA. Some had thought-out reasons for those opinions, but others were simply offended by the concept.
Players such as Taj McDavid and Ellis Richardson declared for the draft but were not even close to being draft worthy; others such as Darius Miles or Ndudi Ebi made it to the league but flamed out. Lenny Cooke went from New York basketball phenom to undrafted. This just added fuel to the fire for those against drafting high schoolers as the failures shouted louder than the successes. It didn’t matter that players drafted straight from high school had, on average, longer careers than any other group of players.
The debate over allowing high school players into the league grew in intensity, until the league finally blinked and took action. Commissioner David Stern and the league, in conjunction with the NBA player’s association, changed league rules in 2005 to raise the age minimum from 18 to 19 years old and requiring American players to be a year removed from high school.
The league was trying to clean up its image. From multiple off-court criminal incidents such as the “Malice at the Palace” brawl between NBA players and fans, voices inside and outside of the league were saying the players were too young, immature, and, in some cases, too black. Of all the players drafted from high school into the NBA, only one — Robert Swift — was white.
Whether the league’s new rules were about image or about better setting teenagers up for success, as the league said publicly, they changed the path to the NBA. Players now had to go to college, or at least spend a year waiting to join the league. The prep-to-pro generation stretched from 1995 to 2005; it spawned the one-and-done generation, which has gone on ever since, players from Kevin Durant to Cade Cunningham stopping by college campuses on their way to the league.
The future of the NBA Draft is uncertain; it seems likely the league will change its rules again in the coming years, and high school prospects will again have the option to go straight into the NBA. Until then, the list of players who made that particular leap is fixed. It is from that list that we can evaluate who the greatest players of this era were.
We are considering for this list only those players to go directly from high school into the NBA (or a corresponding league). International players are not part of the evaluation, nor are American players who played a year overseas or otherwise got real world experience between high school and the NBA. Players such as Shawn Kemp and Enes Kanter, who spent time with college teams but left before playing, are also not part of this search.
With the definitions set, let’s get to the list. Here are the 30 best careers from those talented few who made the leap straight from high school into the NBA.
NBA. The path for the lucky few blessed with the requisite level of talent is long and hard, and for most American players includes playing college basketball. Some players skipped that step, leaping straight from high school to the NBA.</p>
<p>Technically that was allowed for decades; players such as Connie Simmons did so in the 1940s. Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby did it in the 1970s. Yet it wasn’t until Kevin Garnett in 1995 that the modern movement of players going straight from high school to the NBA began.</p>
<p>From 1995 to 2005, 11 NBA drafts, a total of 39 players were drafted directly out of high school. That included a number of dominant success stories, including LeBron James, Garnett and Kobe Bryant, all among the top players in league history. Yet even with their success, this movement generated a lot of pushback across the nation.</p>
<p>Many inside and outside of the league were staunchly opposed to the idea of high school players jumping straight into the NBA. Some had thought-out reasons for those opinions, but others were simply offended by the concept.</p>
<p>Players such as Taj McDavid and Ellis Richardson declared for the draft but were not even close to being draft worthy; others such as Darius Miles or Ndudi Ebi made it to the league but flamed out. Lenny Cooke went from New York basketball phenom to undrafted. This just added fuel to the fire for those against drafting high schoolers as the failures shouted louder than the successes. It didn’t matter that players drafted straight from high school had, on average, longer careers than any other group of players.</p>
<p>The debate over allowing high school players into the league grew in intensity, until the league finally blinked and took action. Commissioner David Stern and the league, in conjunction with the NBA player’s association, changed league rules in 2005 to raise the age minimum from 18 to 19 years old and requiring American players to be a year removed from high school.</p>
<p>The league was trying to clean up its image. From multiple off-court criminal incidents such as the “Malice at the Palace” brawl between NBA players and fans, voices inside and outside of the league were saying the players were too young, immature, and, in some cases, <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/racism-money-core-nba-one-and-done-rule-article-1.3843653" target="_blank" rel="noopener">too black</a>. Of all the players drafted from high school into the NBA, only one — Robert Swift — was white.</p>
<p>Whether the league’s new rules were about image or about better setting teenagers up for success, as the league said publicly, they changed the path to the NBA. Players now had to go to college, or at least spend a year waiting to join the league. The prep-to-pro generation stretched from 1995 to 2005; it spawned the one-and-done generation, which has gone on ever since, players from Kevin Durant to Cade Cunningham stopping by college campuses on their way to the league.</p>
<p>The future of the NBA Draft is uncertain; it seems likely the league will change its rules again in the coming years, and high school prospects will again have the option to go straight into the NBA. Until then, the list of players who made that particular leap is fixed. It is from that list that we can evaluate who the greatest players of this era were.</p>
<p>We are considering for this list only those players to go directly from high school into the NBA (or a corresponding league). International players are not part of the evaluation, nor are American players who played a year overseas or otherwise got real world experience between high school and the NBA. Players such as Shawn Kemp and Enes Kanter, who spent time with college teams but left before playing, are also not part of this search.</p>
<p>With the definitions set, let’s get to the list. Here are the 30 best careers from those talented few who made the leap straight from high school into the NBA.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 30 </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-425545" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F582340.jpeg" alt="Kwame Brown" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/582340.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/582340-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Kwame Brown. Al Bello/ALLSPORT</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 30. Kwame Brown</h2>
<p>At the other end of this list, we will look at players who vastly exceeded their draft position, who went from high school straight to the NBA and proved their doubters wrong. At this end, however, we start with the face of prep-to-pro failure, Kwame Brown.</p>
<p>Brown was the first high school player drafted first overall in 2001, taken by Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards. He had ridden a meteor his last couple of years in high school, going from lanky Florida recruit to potential draftee to the top pick in just a couple of years. He had the toolset to do it all, to defend the rim and play inside and outside on offense.</p>
<p>Most players drafted first overall join losing teams, with the minutes and outlook to focus on developing their shiny new rookie. With Michael Jordan unretiring and the team suddenly focusing on winning, Brown was marginalized, averaging just 14.3 minutes and 4.5 points per game as a rookie. The team wanted win-now players on the court, and a teenage Brown was not ready for that.</p>
<p>Neglected by the team’s direction and torn down by Jordan’s ferocious approach to being a teammate, Brown wilted in his development. Robbed of the freedom to grow on the court, he instead became paralyzed whenever he played, desperate not to mess up and draw the ire of Jordan.</p>
<p>Those speaking of the perils of drafting high school players had a prime frontman to point to, the first overall pick who flopped. It didn’t matter that the history of the NBA Draft is littered with players who didn’t live up to their draft slot, most of those players who went to college. Brown’s failure, and those drafted in the years before and after him, were the fuel on the fire of those questioning the entire movement.</p>
<p>The broken start to his career improved somewhat when he was out of the spotlight. Brown hung around the NBA, still blessed with the size and talent that made him the first overall pick. He never averaged more than 10.9 points per game but instead, became a low usage defensive big who played a role around the league. In the end, Brown played twelve seasons in the NBA for seven franchises, retiring in 2013.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 29 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-357161 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1230,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F72670296.jpeg" alt="Eddy Curry" width="1600" height="1230" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/72670296.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/72670296-768x590.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Eddy Curry (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 29. Eddy Curry</h2>
<p>The 2001 NBA Draft made history when Kwame Brown became the first pick straight out of high school. It was also the first draft where multiple high schoolers were picked in the top five. Tyson Chandler went second overall, and Eddy Curry was taken with the fourth pick to the <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://hoopshabit.com/eastern-conference/chicago-bulls/">Chicago Bulls</a>. Jerry Krause, Chicago’s general manager, traded for Chandler and attempted to pair the two high schoolers in his frontcourt of the future.</p>
<p>Curry and Chandler had battled for years as the top two players in their class and found themselves teammates as rookies. The front office had invested in the two to change the fortunes of a franchise that had floundered since the (second) retirement of Michael Jordan. Yet the coaching staff buried Curry and Chandler on the bench, losing game after game but not focusing on developing their young talent.</p>
<p>It was the kind of organizational disconnect that plagued many teams during the years of high schoolers coming directly into the NBA. Teams invested team-building resources in scouting and drafting high school players, only to ignore them when it came to playing games. In college, top players would not only get the spotlight, but they would also have dedicated development and support. Many players, including Curry his rookie year, went without. On the court, he was barely playing, and off-the-court, he was expected to figure out life as a professional basketball player, suddenly flush with cash and time, by himself.</p>
<p>From the slow start, Curry never truly got going in his career. The “twin towers” approach of pairing him with Chandler never came to fruition. Curry seemed to float through his early years in the league, emotionally disengaged and slow to bring his talent to bear among men. He had the size and skill, but not always the inner fire to apply those to winning basketball.</p>
<p>Curry eventually found more playing time and became a double-digit scorer inside. On the New York Knicks, he even averaged 19.5 points per game one season. He was clearly a talented player, but he struggled with weight issues to the point that he lost not only his role on the Knicks but his roster spot. Personal tragedy and off-court issues contributed to his career-derailing. He never became an All-Star or a household name either. He did win a title as a rarely-used bench player with the Miami Heat, one bright spot in what was a disappointing career.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 28 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425548 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2202,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F464682537.jpeg" alt="Travis Outlaw" width="3200" height="2202" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/464682537.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/464682537-768x528.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Travis Outlaw Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 28. Travis Outlaw</h2>
<p>Some high school prospects entered the league and made a name for themselves. Others entered thinking they already had a name and fell short of their goals. For some, however, they fit right into the same mold as many players coming out of college. Travis Outlaw was simply a good role player who enjoyed a solid NBA career.</p>
<p>A five-star recruit from Starkville, Mississippi, Outlaw declared for the 2003 NBA Draft and was selected 23rd overall by the Portland Trail Blazers. He was an explosive athlete who could float above the rim. At 6’9″ Outlaw had the size to defend multiple positions, and while he never developed as a shooter, he had the ability to finish inside.</p>
<p>He put together a two-season stretch of strong play in his early 20s, playing in 163 of 164 possible games and averaging double digits in scoring for the <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://hoopshabit.com/western-conference/portland-trail-blazers/">Portland Trail Blazers</a>. That earned him a large contract with the New Jersey Nets, which had saved up cap space hoping for a star and pivoted to sign Outlaw as part of a collection of four role players. His claim to fame is being a part of that underwhelming class, through no fault of his own.</p>
<p>Outlaw was eventually waived from a New Jersey team falling short of expectations, and finished out his career with the Sacramento Kings. In the end, 11 years in the league for the 23rd pick is a good return. He wasn’t a star but Outlaw had a solid career as a role player and made life-changing money, a reasonable goal for any young basketball player.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 27 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425549 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1093,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F96270963.jpeg" alt="Andray Blatche" width="1600" height="1093" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/96270963.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/96270963-768x525.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Andray Blatche, Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 27. Andray Blatche</h2>
<p>For some players, the allure of potential never sees the light of day. For others, it proves to be an illusion. For Andray Blatche, when he saw the court and had the opportunity, his potential shone through. The problem was all of the other forces vying to snatch that opportunity away.</p>
<p>As a high school player ranked in the top 5 nationally, Blatche was absolutely dominant on both ends of the court. Despite slipping to the second round in the 2005 draft, he had a chance to make an immediate impression for a Washington Wizards team in need of a jolt of talent. Unfortunately for him, however, he was shot during a carjacking and missed training camp.</p>
<p>A couple of years later, Blatche had recovered and shown his potential, playing in the NBA’s Developmental League and was preparing to sign a new contract to stay with the Wizards. Then he was arrested on sexual solicitation charges, delaying the signing of that contract.</p>
<p>And so it went. He broke out and eventually became a starter for the Wizards, averaging as many as 16.8 points per game in 2010-11. He was also part of an immature roster that didn’t seem to take basketball seriously at times. He was there when two teammates fought in the locker room and a gun was pulled.</p>
<p>That talented roster never put things together, and Blatche was eventually waived. Conditioning issues plagued him as he tried to hang on to his career with the Brooklyn Nets, scoring in spurts when he had the minutes but rarely receiving them. He eventually left the NBA and plied his trade in China, where he got the minutes and shots he wanted. In total, he lasted nine years in the NBA.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 26 </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-425550" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1088,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F107723008.jpeg" alt="Martell Webster, Minnesota Timberwolves" width="1600" height="1088" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/107723008.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/107723008-768x522.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Martell Webster, Minnesota Timberwolves. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 26. Martell Webster</h2>
<p>The 2005 NBA Draft was the last one where players were eligible to be drafted straight out of high school. The previous two drafts had seen a high schooler go first overall: LeBron James in 2003 and Dwight Howard in 2004. In the final prep-to-pro draft, Martell Webster won the distinction of first high schooler drafted at sixth overall.</p>
<p>The Washington state native was taken by the Portland Trail Blazers who traded back into the spot and keeping him close to home. Portland decided Webster would be best served by spending time in the NBA’s Developmental League, and he became the highest-drafted player to be assigned to a “D League” team.</p>
<p>He was back with the big club often enough, playing in 61 games as a rookie and 82 in his second season. Webster entered the league as a good shooter and developed into a great one, averaging 38.2 percent for his career from behind the line. After five seasons with the Trail Blazers, he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.</p>
<p>From there, his career continued in fits and spurts. Chronic back injuries limited his availability; he missed at least 35 games in a season four times. When he did play, he was a useful wing, a 6’7″ shooter who didn’t collapse defensively. As long as his back would let him, he hung around the league. In the end, that meant 580 games over ten seasons when he retired in 2017.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 25 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425551 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1066,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F651565608.jpeg" alt="Gerald Green" width="1600" height="1066" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/651565608.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/651565608-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Gerald Green, Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 25. Gerald Green</h2>
<p>Kobe Bryant and his agent Arn Tellem manipulated the league leading into the 1996 NBA Draft, only allowing certain teams to work out the high school prospect. Their plan worked, Bryant dropped to the 13th pick, and he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers to begin an incredible career.</p>
<p>Gerald Green, another high school prospect in 2005, also limited the access teams had to him. Viewing himself as an elite prospect, he only worked out for the teams with the first six picks in the draft. His circle had told him to act the part of a top pick, and refuse to work out against lesser prospects. That backfired when none of the top six teams chose him; other teams with no firsthand knowledge passed, and he fell all the way to the Boston Celtics at 18th.</p>
<p>Green’s career continued to tumble, two steps back for every two steps forward. He started to gain a role on the Celtics before they traded him, and he began to bounce around the basketball world. By age 23, he was on his fourth team and went overseas to play in Russia and China. Then he was back, playing in the NBA D-League. His journey continued, from New Jersey to Indiana to Phoenix.</p>
<p>Finally, with the Suns, he caught his stride and established himself as a useful NBA reserve. He has never lost his elite dunking ability, but now he has honed his outside shot, hitting 3-pointers at a 36.1 percent clip. He is no star, but he did make life-changing money as an NBA player.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 24 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-426040 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2116,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2021%2F03%2F1231347046.jpeg" alt="Madison Square Garden" width="3200" height="2116" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2021/03/1231347046.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2021/03/1231347046-768x508.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Madison Square Garden (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 24. Connie Simmons</h2>
<p>Kevin Garnett may have ushered in the new wave of players joining the NBA directly out of high school, and Moses may be referred to as the first, but technically, way back in the late 1940s, a few players made the leap into a fledgling league. Tony Kappen was first, going on to an uneventful career. Second was Connie Simmons, entering the league in 1946.</p>
<p>Simmons joined the Boston Celtics of the BAA, a precursor to the NBA before they had Bob Cousy or were coached by Red Auerbach. Two years later, he joined the Baltimore Bullets where he won a BAA league title in 1948, playing alongside guys like Kleggie Hermsen and Chick Reiser.</p>
<p>Simmons played with the New York Knicks, a decent scoring big man who averaged double digit scoring back when the pace of the league was at a crawl. With the Knicks, he made the NBA Finals three times, losing to George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers twice and the Rochester Royals once.</p>
<p>Late in his career, he joined the Syracuse Nationals and won another league title, this time in 1955. He played alongside Dolph Schayes, a twelve-time All-Star and future Hall of Fame inductee. For a relatively unheralded trailblazer of the path from high school straight to the pros, Simmons had a productive and successful career.</p>
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<img class="wp-image-260429 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_3456,w_5184/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F652962102-detroit-pistons-v-indiana-pacers.jpg.jpg" alt="C.J. Miles" width="5184" height="3456" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/652962102-detroit-pistons-v-indiana-pacers.jpg.jpg 5184w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/652962102-detroit-pistons-v-indiana-pacers.jpg-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 5184px) 100vw, 5184px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:5184px;">C.J. Miles, Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 23. C.J. Miles</h2>
<p>For high school prospects, declaring for the NBA Draft did not mean immediately losing college eligibility; it was the hiring of an agent that would do that. C.J. Miles entered the 2005 NBA Draft intending to play the odds; if he was drafted in the first round, and therefore guaranteed a contract, he would go to the NBA. If he fell to the second round, he would attend the University of Texas.</p>
<p>Miles ended up selected just outside of the first round, 34th overall by the Utah Jazz, but joined the team when they offered a guaranteed deal along the lines of a late first-round pick. With the growth of the NBA’s Developmental League, he was eased into professional basketball, spending time in both the “minor” and “major” leagues over his first two seasons.</p>
<p>Then he slid into a more consistent role, becoming a key reserve and occasional starter for the Jazz. His length (6’6″ tall) in the backcourt bothered opposing guards, and as he developed his outside shot, he became a valuable 3-and-D player to either start or bring in for certain matchups.</p>
<p>Miles spent time with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors, showing off his developing 3-point shot as both a sixth man and starter; he started between 20 and 70 percent of the games he played in for eight straight seasons in the prime of his career. Injuries helped to accelerate the end of his time in the NBA, but in total, Miles played in at least part of 15 years.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 22 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-399752 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2016%2F04%2F108370606.jpeg" alt="Dorell Wright" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2016/04/108370606.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2016/04/108370606-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Dorell Wright Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 22. Dorell Wright</h2>
<p>Dorell Wright had the privilege of winning an NBA title with the Miami Heat as a second-year player, just old enough to enjoy some champagne with the team after their victory of the Dallas Mavericks in 2006. Wright didn’t appear in a single playoff game for the team, the youngest player on the roster not yet ready for primetime.</p>
<p>Wright developed from there, a bench shooter for a Heat team that slowly descended into the lottery from the championship high. He was not retained in 2010 as the Heat cleared cap space to sign LeBron James and Chris Bosh, and he signed with the Golden State Warriors.</p>
<p>It was there with the Warriors that Wright became the “guy before the guy.” He began breaking franchise 3-point records, hitting nine 3-pointers in a single game and setting the single-season mark at 194 in the 2010-11 campaign, which also led the NBA and ranked 41st all-time.</p>
<p>We all know what happened next, of course. Stephen Curry matured into his game and shattered all 3-point records for the Warriors and leaguewide. Wright’s career high of 194 is now tied for 110th just a decade later. He was a true 3-point specialist when that meant something even more than it does now.</p>
<p>Wright finished third in the voting for NBA Most Improved Player that season and carried that momentum into a long career. He played for 12 seasons, finishing his career with a 36.5 percent 3-point shooting mark. His younger brother, Delon Wright, played two seasons with the Utah Utes before joining the NBA.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 21 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425552 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2103,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F106797331.jpeg" alt="Al Harrington" width="3200" height="2103" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/106797331.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/106797331-768x505.jpeg 768w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/106797331-850x560.jpeg 850w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Al Harrington, Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 21. Al Harrington</h2>
<p>High school players hoping to make the leap directly into the NBA had to beat out their peers from a talent and upside standpoint. They had to overcome old-fashioned or timid front office decision makers. They had to navigate agents, boosters, scouts and many who “wanted to help” and secure themselves money down the line.</p>
<p>They also had to convince their parents. While some players had parents ready to accelerate a payday, many had parents who simply wanted their children to get an education and set up a future past basketball. Al Harrington fell into this category. After sprouting like a weed, the eventual 6’9″ big man wanted to go straight to the NBA.</p>
<p>As related by Jonathan Abrams in his book “Boys Among Men”, Harrington’s mother was so convinced her son was going to college she called up the coaching staff at the University of North Carolina to make sure they had room for him on the team.</p>
<p>Harrington convinced his mom, but he didn’t initially convince those NBA decision makers. Going into the draft, Harrington expected to be a lottery pick but instead fell to 25th where he was selected by the Indiana Pacers. He was a non-factor the first few years of his career, but then began to establish himself and carved out a role as an offensively gifted forward who could slide up-and-down the lineup as needed.</p>
<p>He likely doesn’t get to that point, doesn’t have a long NBA career, if not for Antonio Davis. The Pacers forward took Harrington under his wing, inviting him to stay at his house and be a part of the family. Davis modeled for Harrington what it meant to put in the work to be a professional basketball player. Harrington was lucky; many teenage draftees did not have that help, and it often meant they didn’t last long.</p>
<p>Harrington played for seven different franchises over the course of his career, which spanned 16 seasons. While he never made an All-Star Game, he did average 20.1 points per game in 2008-09, on the back of a solid 3-point stroke he built from the ground up throughout his career. While never a star, Harrington was a successful professional playing in the league he always dreamed he could be a part of.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 20 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425553 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F101965570.jpeg" alt="Boston Celtics" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/101965570.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/101965570-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Boston Celtics, Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 20. Kendrick Perkins</h2>
<p>LeBron James went first overall in the 2003 NBA Draft and went on to win Rookie of the Year. Four other high school players were drafted that year, including Kendrick Perkins, and they combined to play just 82 minutes that season. Perkins played just 35 of those, appearing in 10 games for the Boston Celtics.</p>
<p>An absolute stud in high school as a bruising center, Perkins was ranked as a top-10 player nationally and committed to the Memphis Tigers before making the jump right into the NBA. He was the 27th pick of the draft, flipped in a draft day trade to the Celtics.</p>
<p>It was a slow developmental path for Perkins, who had to acclimate from offensive focal point in high school to defensive role player in the NBA. He earned time not because he used to average 27 points per game in high school, but because he didn’t take crap from anyone. He was the Celtics’ “enforcer” and they deployed him whenever necessary.</p>
<p>From there, Perkins grew into a key starter for a team that featured four All-Stars in Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo. The Celtics would win the title in 2008 with Perkins as a starter, and come close in 2010. Perkins went down with a knee injury in Game 6 and missed Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 2010 which Boston lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. It is famously said that the starting lineup of Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett and Perkins never lost a playoff series.</p>
<p>Needing to mix things up, Boston traded Perkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011, and he became the starting center for a team on the rise. He again started in the NBA Finals, in a frontcourt that also featured Serge Ibaka and Kevin Durant.</p>
<p>Perkins continued to be a bruising, strong presence inside, but minor injuries and waning athleticism eroded his impact. He made it to the NBA Finals again with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015, playing alongside fellow prep-to-pro players in LeBron James and J.R. Smith. After a few more stops he retired in 2018 and is applying his brusque nature to a flourishing media career.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 19 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425554 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2134,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1094806656.jpeg" alt="Shaun Livingston" width="3200" height="2134" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1094806656.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1094806656-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Shaun Livingston, Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 19. Shaun Livingston</h2>
<p>The tale of Shaun Livingston is told in two parts. The first is of the young, athletic phenom from Peoria, Illinois. He was a high school superstar, winning two state titles and ranking top-two in his graduating class. Of the top six prospects in that class, only Rudy Gay (5th) played college basketball. Dwight Howard (1st), Josh Smith (3rd), Al Jefferson (4th) and Sebastian Telfair joined Livingston in declaring for the 2004 NBA Draft.</p>
<p>The LA Clippers took Livingston fourth overall in the draft, pairing him with former Duke players Elton Brand and Corey Maggette, a bit of narrative irony as Duke was the team Livingston spurned in leaving for the NBA. While not a dazzling scorer early on, he averaged five assists per game as a rookie. Livingston was a good facilitator, solid athlete, smart defender and was on the rise as he entered his early twenties.</p>
<p>That trajectory was shattered when he suffered a devastating knee injury in February of 2007; Livingston tore nearly every ligament in his knee. Doctors initially thought his leg might be amputated. Thankfully, they saved his knee, and his career. After a year-and-a-half of rehab, he was ready to play basketball again.</p>
<p>That didn’t mean that teams were ready to give him that chance. He still had a lot of recovery in learning how to be a good NBA player without some of the athletic tools formerly available to him. As strength in his knee grew, and his game shifted, Livingston found a role as a low usage guard who made nearly every lineup he played in better.</p>
<p>Beloved by teammates and opponents alike, Livingston had a solid year with the Brooklyn nets that he parlayed into a new free agent contract with the Golden State Warriors. He would finish out his career with the Warriors, serving a key role on three championship teams. He also served to balance out a roster whose core was almost entirely multi-year college players; not a single other prep-to-pro played with the Warriors for their five-year run to the NBA Finals.</p>
<p>At his retirement, Livingston had totaled 833 games over 14 years, both well above average for an NBA player. He found a home with a Golden State fanbase that cherished him for his role on their dynastic teams with his signature midrange jumper and solid defense. From near amputation to three-time champion is quite the redemptive narrative arc.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 18 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425555 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F523310442.jpeg" alt="Amir Johnson" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/523310442.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/523310442-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Amir Johnson, Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 18. Amir Johnson</h2>
<p>Without ignoring players such as Moses Malone who scouted the territory, Kevin Garnett is viewed as the start of the decade of high school players going to the NBA. On the other end, Amir Johnson has the distinction of being the final high schooler drafted into the NBA, at least for now.</p>
<p>Many of Johnson’s peers struggled or failed upon entering the league, but Johnson made decisions that set him up for success. He was drafted late, 56th overall, and joined a veteran Detroit Pistons team with a rotation stocked for postseason success, in the midst of making six straight Eastern Conference Finals. Johnson did not have a soft spot in the rotation, and Detroit was not focusing significant team resources on developing teenage second-round picks.</p>
<p>Johnson took that in stride. He moved to Detroit with his mom, asked frequent advice of Pistons veterans, and tried to stay away from the Detroit nightlife scene. Other prep-to-pro players balked at the idea of playing in the “minor league” but Johnson asked for it so that he could get playing time. He put in the work, kept the right perspective, and survived when so many others didn’t.</p>
<p>That led to a long career, 14 years in the league despite never being an explosive offensive player. He fought on the boards, played solid defense and earned his rotation spot at every stop. He became a regular starter with the Toronto Raptors and later the Boston Celtics. He ranks 13th among all candidates for this list in win shares. He didn’t fill up the box score, but he was a part of winning teams. For a late second-round pick, Johnson had a very successful career.</p>
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<img class="wp-image-425556 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2162,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F961164068.jpeg" alt="J.R. Smith" width="3200" height="2162" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/961164068.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/961164068-768x519.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">J.R. Smith Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 17. J.R. Smith</h2>
<p>Some high school prospects had parents encouraging them to go to college to get an education and build a foundation for their long-term future. Others encouraged their children to chase their dream while the door was open to secure a contract and make that first payday. J.R. Smith’s father fell in the second camp and was one of the driving forces in Smith declaring for the 2004 NBA Draft.</p>
<p>The athletic guard was selected 18th overall by the New Orleans Hornets, one of eight high schoolers taken in the first 20 picks. The six who went before Smith were ranked in the top eight of their high school class, while Smith was just 23rd. Of them all, Smith finished behind only Dwight Howard in games played his rookie season, jumping right in as a bench contributor for the Hornets.</p>
<p>Smith became something of a journeyman from there. While talented, equally capable of throwing down a thunderous dunk as he was to nail a 3-pointer, concerns about his maturity and dedication to improving surrounded him. He was ridden hard by coaches such as Denver’s George Karl and New York’s Mike Woodson. That didn’t stop him from producing, and he won the 2012-13 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award.</p>
<p>In 2015 the Cleveland Cavaliers took a chance on him, trading for he and Iman Shumpert to join LeBron James’ push for a title. He would start regularly for the team for the next four seasons, including four trips to the NBA Finals. He hit a number of big shots during his time with the Cavaliers, even if he is best known for a Game 1 gaffe in the 2018 NBA Finals that created an <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/6/1/17416280/jr-smith-cavs-warriors-final-play-meme-twaitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Internet-sensation of a meme</a>.</p>
<p>Smith played 16 seasons in the NBA, winning two titles alongside James in both Cleveland and as a deep deserve with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. He shot 37.3 percent from deep for his career, finding his role and filling it well during the back half of his career. Whether his dad was right or wrong, Smith certainly secured the bag as an NBA player, earning $88 million over the course of his career.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 16 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425557 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1130,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F137018878.jpeg" alt="Monta Ellis" width="1600" height="1130" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/137018878.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/137018878-768x542.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Monta Ellis Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 16. Monta Ellis</h2>
<p>The state of Mississippi was a key player in the prep-to-pro generation, sending a pair of first-round picks straight from high school in Jonathan Bender and Travis Outlaw. Then Monta Ellis came around, a small but explosive guard who could score like few others. Like Bender and Outlaw, he initially committed to Mississippi State before later making the decision to jump straight to the NBA.</p>
<p>Most of the players who were drafted from high school were larger players, either big guards and wings (Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady) or, most commonly, big men. Ellis declaring for the draft was therefore somewhat surprising, and he did slide down the draft board to the 40th pick in the 2005 NBA Draft where the Golden State Warriors took a shot on him.</p>
<p>That shot was well rewarded. Most second-round picks don’t make it as rotation players, but Ellis soon established himself as an offensive force. By his second season, he was averaging 16.5 points per game and 20.2 by his third. He wasn’t the most efficient scorer, but he could do it in bunches, four times ranking in the league’s top 11 in points per game.</p>
<p>The Warriors were not particularly good with Ellis, which likely held him back from making an All-Star Game. He was in the mix, however, which made it difficult to choose a young Stephen Curry over Ellis. Yet when it became obvious the two could no longer coexist in the same backcourt, the Warriors shrewdly moved Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for Andrew Bogut, who went first overall in the same draft as Ellis.</p>
<p>He then bounced around the league, continuing to score and play questionable defense for the Bucks, the Dallas Mavericks and the Indiana Pacers. He made over $100 million over the course of his career, an impressive accomplishment for the guard from Mississippi.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 15 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-360907 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2160,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F903568154.jpeg" alt="Darryl Dawkins" width="3200" height="2160" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/903568154.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/903568154-768x518.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Darryl Dawkins-Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 15. Darryl Dawkins</h2>
<p>The story of players going from high school to the NBA is one with a number of false starts of one or two players at the forefront of a wave that took years to materialize. In 1975, that included Darryl Dawkins, who was drafted fifth overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. He joined the 76ers that year, earning the distinction of “the first player to immediately go from high school to the NBA.”</p>
<p>Pat Williams, the general manager of a floundering Philadelphia team, saw the success of Moses Malone and thought to jumpstart his rebuild by reaching directly into the ranks of high school players. Dawkins, a towering 6’10” with an NBA body already at 17, looked like he could step right from grade school into the professional league.</p>
<p>Dawkins made the move to earn income right away for his family, and he certainly did that, signing a seven-year, $1 million contract upon entering the league. He had a slow start, no surprise given his youth and a league not prepared to employ teenagers. Eventually, he got going, becoming a key starter on the 76ers and later the New Jersey Nets.</p>
<p>While he was certainly a productive and useful player, no description of Dawkins can pass over his colorful nature. He dressed in bold colors and dunked the ball even more boldly, shattering backboards and exciting fans. He was known to name his dunks himself. While most of his peers viewed the game as a professional workplace, Dawkins viewed it as his playground.</p>
<p>If one were writing a script about the false start of players skipping college in the 1970s, the climax would come in 1983, when Dawkins and the Nets took on Malone and his old team, the 76ers. Dawkins took on the role of guarding Malone in the pivotal Game 5, helping the Sixers come back to take the game and the series.</p>
<p>Dawkins’ career was decently long and decently successful. He never made an All-Star Game, and his best statistical distinction is leading the league in personal fouls in three different seasons. Yet he was an efficient offensive player who battled on defense and filled a role for a 14-year career. Given the context of when he made the leap into the NBA right out of high school, that is an impressive accomplishment.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 14 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425559 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1263,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F142432158.jpeg" alt="Andrew Bynum" width="1600" height="1263" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/142432158.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/142432158-768x606.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Andrew Bynum Photo by Harry How/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 14. Andrew Bynum</h2>
<p>Star players didn’t simply produce for themselves, but they also provided an environment for other players to thrive. Former prep-to-pro player Kobe Bryant did that for his teammates, including the seven-foot teenager the Los Angeles Lakers drafted in 2005.</p>
<p>Andrew Bynum was a New Jersey native and dominated inside as a high schooler, electing to bypass the University of Connecticut and go straight to the NBA. The Lakers took him with the tenth pick, landing a center to grow into the Shaquille O’Neal shaped void in their roster. He would become the youngest player ever drafted, 12 days younger than Jermaine O’Neal.</p>
<p>By his second season, Bynum was already starting for the Lakers, cleaning the glass on a team that effectively existed to support Kobe Bryant scoring buckets. With the spotlight on the Black Mamba, Bynum could take his time growing into his body and his potential. By his third season, he was averaging 13.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. By his fourth, he was starting in the NBA Finals on a championship team, then repeating the following year in 2010.</p>
<p>Bynum’s issue through the first seven years of his career were injuries; he missed games in all but one season with a variety of ailments. Even so by the age of 24, he was an All-Star with the Lakers, pouring in 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. By the end of the season, he was named to an All NBA team.</p>
<p>That production made him a valuable centerpiece in a four-team trade that brought fellow prep-to-pro center Dwight Howard to Los Angeles and landed Andrew Bynum in Philadelphia. The Orlando Magic reportedly elected not to add Bynum on account of his oft-injured knees. That turned out to be prescient, as Bynum missed the entire season with a knee injury.</p>
<p>He was never able to shake the continual injuries, playing just 26 games the next season. That would prove to be the end of his career, one defined by production when he was on the court and the number of times he never made it onto that court. Over nine seasons he missed 320 of a possible 738 games or a whopping and depressing 43 percent. One of the prep-to-pro’s brightest young talents, he was robbed of the chance to truly see that talent realized.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 13 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425560 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2288,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F161589374.jpeg" alt="Josh Smith" width="3200" height="2288" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/161589374.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/161589374-768x549.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Josh Smith Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 13. Josh Smith</h2>
<p>Josh Smith was one of the most talented players to ever enter the NBA. A top five prospect in his graduating class, he was good enough to skip college entirely and leap straight into the NBA. He could handle the ball and make plays for others, all while being a swiss army knife on defense. He became the youngest player in league history to reach 1,000 career blocks, and once had 10 blocks in a single game. He made $122 million by the time he was 33-years-old.</p>
<p>Josh Smith was one of the most frustrating players to ever enter the league. Despite possessing prodigious skills, he was never able to leverage them to help his team win. On a team stocked with offensive talent, he insisted on handling the ball, a decision that led to 1,715 turnovers in nine seasons with the Atlanta Hawks. Wanting to be the offensive focal point, he left the Hawks and signed with the Detroit Pistons, who eventually cut him and paid him over $5 million for five seasons after that just to get him away from the team.</p>
<p>It’s entirely unclear which description of Josh Smith is more apt; both have to be included. Smith, a high school standout at the NBA’s most important position, was brimming with talent when the Atlanta Hawks took him 17th overall in the 2004 NBA Draft. At times he put that together and was dominant on both ends of the court; at others, he was sloppy, disinterested and ineffective.</p>
<p>By the end of it, Smith played 894 games in 13 seasons for five franchises. He was a 2009-10 All-Defense selection but never made even one All-Star roster. He never delivered on his full potential, but he was certainly far from a bust as well.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 12 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425996 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_966,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F484856589.jpeg" alt="Al Jefferson" width="1600" height="966" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/484856589.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/484856589-768x464.jpeg 768w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/484856589-268x162.jpeg 268w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Al Jefferson, Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 12. Al Jefferson</h2>
<p>In the summer of 2007, the franchise that took the first plunge into the ranks of high school draft picks, the Minnesota Timberwolves, needed a roster reset after years of failing to build around Kevin Garnett. They worked out a trade with the Boston Celtics, trading the pre-to-pro trailblazer Garnett for a package that included Al Jefferson, Gerald Green and Sebastian Telfair, all drafted straight from high school themselves.</p>
<p>As is obvious from his ranking on this list, Jefferson was the best player of the bunch to land in Minnesota. Yet another Mississippi basketball phenom, Jefferson averaged 42.6 points and 18 rebounds per game as a high school senior. Deciding to enter the 2004 NBA Draft, he was ranked as the third-best player in his class and was taken by the Celtics with the 15th pick.</p>
<p>Jefferson had slowly developed as a post presence in his three years in Boston, but he took a major leap forward in Minnesota. He averaged 21 points and 11.1 rebounds his first season, the start of seven straight seasons with at least 17 points and nine rebounds per game. He played for the Timberwolves, Utah Jazz and Charlotte Hornets, a double-double machine who was unstoppable in the low post.</p>
<p>The 2013-14 NBA season was the peak of his production, as he not only put up stats but was part of a winning team with the Hornets, a rare occurrence in those parts. He earned third-team All-NBA honors at the end of the season.</p>
<p>From there, Jefferson slowly began to fade out of the league as the modern game marginalized post warriors. His points, rebounds and minutes per game all descended in each of his next four seasons. He moved on to play in China and in the BIG3, continuing his professional career in a different way.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 11 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-399412 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2505,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1209722644.jpeg" alt="Lou Williams" width="3200" height="2505" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1209722644.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1209722644-768x601.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Lou Williams, Photo by Harry How/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 11. Lou Williams</h2>
<p>In other sports, players fill specific roles on a team and gain an identity for it. Perhaps a football team has a running back who specializes in short-yardage situations; he is often dubbed the “goal-line back.” Hockey might have an enforcer. Baseball of course has closers, pinch hitters and base runners.</p>
<p>Basketball has them too, and none more so than the “Sixth Man” role that has been codified into an actual annual award. A player who comes off the bench but plays starter minutes, often creating “instant offense” while the team’s starters sit. Multiple players have claimed this role as their calling card, excelling in this role. Jamal Crawford, or Vinnie Johnson, were perennial contenders for the Sixth Man of the Year award. The modern heir to that throne is Lou Williams.</p>
<p>Growing up in a suburb of Atlanta, Williams likely did not envision himself a bench player. He was a star with the ball in his hands, making the Georgia All-State team all four years he was in high school, winning a state title his junior year and being named the Naismith Prep Player of the Year his senior season. After committing to play at the nearby University of Georgia, Williams ultimately decided to toss his name into the 2005 NBA Draft.</p>
<p>Williams fell in the draft, ultimately going 45th overall to the Philadelphia 76ers. Playing on the same team as Allen Iverson meant he had to be a bench player to start his career; starting the two together would have spelled defensive doom. Williams grew into the classic microwave scorer off the bench, and played 455 games for the 76ers across seven seasons, starting just 38 of them (8%).</p>
<p>He then made his way west, playing in Atlanta, Toronto, Los Angeles and Houston over the next five seasons, winning a Sixth Man of the Year award in the process. Despite the constant franchise turnover, his role stayed the same: bench scorer extraordinaire. He started just 52 of 327 games, or about 15.9 percent.</p>
<p>Williams finally landed with the LA Clippers, where he spent nearly four seasons climbing to the top of the Sixth Man throne. He twice won the award, finishing third after the final complete season. He was at times their best offensive player, and often their primary generator of offense, all off the bench. His various faults held him back from being an All-Star type player, but his unique gifts kept him in the league far longer than many would have expected.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 10 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425561 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2133,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F85483038.jpeg" alt="Rashard Lewis" width="3200" height="2133" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/85483038.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/85483038-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Rashard Lewis, Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 10. Rashard Lewis</h2>
<p>The 1998 NBA Draft had three draft-worthy high schoolers eligible. Al Harrington and Korleone Young chose to watch the draft in their hometowns. Houston native Rashard Lewis chose to attend the draft in person in Vancouver, hoping to hear his name called by his hometown Houston Rockets.</p>
<p>Instead, he sat in the greenroom as every prospect around him heard their name called. Team after team passed on him, taking more established prospects (and Harrington at 25). At one point, he left the greenroom and cried in the bathroom. His dreams looked like they were falling apart around him.</p>
<p>For Lewis, and so many other high schoolers taking the same plunge, the stakes for entering the draft were high. Many hired an agent, immediately ending their college eligibility. If they didn’t, they were trying to navigate an incredibly complicated situation alone. If Lewis wasn’t able to make it into the NBA, he couldn’t simply go play for Texas or Kansas or Kentucky.</p>
<p>He would likely have to move overseas to continue playing basketball.<br>
Eventually, Lewis’ name was called, 32nd overall, and he joined a Seattle SuperSonics team not very invested in finding him playing time. He did develop, however, and by his third season, he was averaging 13.8 points per game to go with 6.9 rebounds and a sizzling 43.2 percent from deep.</p>
<p>That would become Lewis’ game, the high volume stretch-4. For his career, he shot 38.6 percent from deep and hit 1,787 3-pointers. That is good for 21st all-time, and second only to Dirk Nowitzki for players 6’10” or taller. A two-time All-Star, once with Seattle and once with the Orlando Magic, Lewis would join the Miami Heat late in his career and play a role on the 2013 NBA champions.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 9 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425562 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1120,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F483964549.jpeg" alt="Tyson Chandler" width="1600" height="1120" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/483964549.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/483964549-768x538.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Tyson Chandler, Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 9. Tyson Chandler</h2>
<p>Tyson Chandler came into the league in 2001, part of the first draft that prominently featured high school players. Chandler went second overall, just behind Kwame Brown and two picks ahead of Eddy Curry. He fashioned himself a skilled outside big man in the vein of Rasheed Wallace and entered the league ready to show off what he could do.</p>
<p>That never materialized, and he quickly realized his ticket to a role in the league was playing inside. He focused on developing as a rebounder and rim protector and carved out a role for himself in a league that was shifting towards offensive guards. Chandler’s athleticism and quickness on defense allowed him to make an impact even as his offensive skillset stalled shy of stardom.</p>
<p>That turned out to be his calling card in the NBA. While the careers of Brown and Curry floundered, Chandler’s took off. He became a three-time All-Defense selection, culminating in winning the 2011-12 Defensive Player of the Year award and with it, an All-NBA nod. He won a title anchoring the defense for the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, and an Olympic gold medal in 2012.</p>
<p>In total, he played 1,160 games over a 19-year career, which ranks within the top-60 all-time. Playing inside his role as a rim running center on offense, his 59.7 field goal percentage for his career ranks fourth-highest all-time. He blocked shots, rebounded and did what was asked of him. He ended up with a solid career when all was said and done.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 8 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425563 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F670598348.jpeg" alt="Jermaine O'Neal" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/670598348.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/670598348-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Jermaine O’Neal, Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 8. Jermaine O’Neal</h2>
<p>Jermaine O’Neal entered the league direct from high school in 1996, through the door opened by Kevin Garnett. A dominant player at his Columbia, SC school, O’Neal wasn’t even 18 when he signed a contract with the Portland Trail Blazers. He packed up and moved to Oregon, completely unprepared for life as a professional basketball player.</p>
<p>It took O’Neal a long time to acclimate to the league. He joined a Portland team loaded up for a run at the title, and there wasn’t much space for a teenager who needed help adjusting to the professional game. As one of the first few high schoolers to make the leap, O’Neal lacked even the resources available to later prep-to-pro players as the league and teams realized the need for more hands-on help for these teenage draftees.</p>
<p>A slow start by no means meant a failed one, however. In 2000 he was traded to the Indiana Pacers for All-Star Dale Davis, and with his newfound playing time, blossomed into one of the better centers in the Eastern Conference. By the 2001-02 season he was averaging 19 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, earning Most Improved award honors and his first All-Star nod.</p>
<p>O’Neal would make six All-Star games in total, all with the Indiana Pacers, a walking double double who swallowed opponents at the rim. He made three All-NBA teams as well, and in 2004, O’Neal finished 3rd in MVP voting, behind fellow prep-to-pro Kevin Garnett who won the award.</p>
<p>O’Neal made his way around the league during the downslope of his career, playing with the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns and finally, Golden State Warriors before retiring at the age of 36, 18 years into a wildly successful career.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 7 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-368573 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1088,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F97672268.jpeg" alt="Amar'e Stoudemire" width="1600" height="1088" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/97672268.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/97672268-768x522.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Amar’e Stoudemire, Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 7. Amar’e Stoudemire</h2>
<p>One of the difficulties in scouting high school players was determining how their bodies would develop. That was not a problem with teenage Amar’e Stoudemire, who was already filled out like a professional player while in high school. Athletically, he had no equal in his class, but question marks about his fundamentals and commitment plagued him up to and through the 2002 NBA Draft.</p>
<p>Even so, Stoudemire dropped to the ninth pick. Of the players drafted ahead of him, only Yao Ming made an All-Star roster. Yet again, the uncertainty and potential ridicule of missing on a high school prospect loomed large.</p>
<p>It worked out for Stoudemire, who hit the ground running for the Phoenix Suns and became the first player drafted straight from high school to win Rookie of the Year. He and Suns point guard Steve Nash became one of the most devastating offensive duos in the sport.</p>
<p>Stoudemire would make six All-Star rosters and was a five-time All-NBA selection. At different times in his career, he led the league in 2-point field goals (three times) and free throws. His smooth game off the pick-and-roll was nearly unstoppable by opposing defenses.</p>
<p>He illustrated to NBA teams why it was so important not to make blanket statements about high school prospects. Some were clearly not ready, be that physically or mentally, to step into the league. They either flamed out or took time to mature. Others, like Stoudemire, were NBA-ready from the jump. If Stoudemire was an illustration of this, LeBron James the next year was a building-sized mural.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 6 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425564 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2133,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F84749154.jpeg" alt="Tracy McGrady" width="3200" height="2133" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/84749154.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/84749154-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Tracy McGrady, Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 6. Tracy McGrady</h2>
<p>One year after Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O’Neal jumped straight into the NBA from high school. Tracy McGrady became the latest high school phenom to bypass college. Isiah Thomas, former Detroit Pistons point guard and in 1997 the general manager of the expansion Toronto Raptors, had passed on Kevin Garnett and Bryant because he didn’t think his team had the right culture to help a teenager flourish.</p>
<p>By 1997, those concerns were alleviated either by a change in culture or the excitement of these high school prospects, and Thomas and the Raptors took Tracy McGrady ninth overall in the 1997 NBA Draft. Then Thomas abruptly left the franchise, and McGrady was left with a team uninterested in replacing a veteran player with a teenager.</p>
<p>McGrady played — and lived his life — with a certain amount of flair. That made him noteworthy in high school, and it would later be a part of his star turn. But early on, it kept him glued to the bench by his old-school coach Darrell Walker, even on a bad Toronto Raptors team.</p>
<p>All-in-all he started just 53 games through three seasons with the Raptors, but then signed with the Orlando Magic and exploded, making seven straight All-Star games and twice leading the league in scoring. Then he became a member of the Houston Rockets, pairing up with Yao Ming in the Western Conference, finally maturing into a veteran star who gave his all to the game and seeing his first true postseason success.</p>
<p>McGrady never won a title, but he did establish himself as one of the best offensive players of his generation. He finished as high as fourth in MVP voting twice in his career and was an All-NBA player seven times. Injuries sapped his athleticism and he had a quick downturn in his career, playing his last season at the age of 32.</p>
<p>Perhaps McGrady would have been helped by going to college instead of waiting his turn as a backup on the Raptors, but it did not stop him from putting it all together and turning himself into a star player.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 5 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425565 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1107,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F141133235.jpeg" alt="Dwight Howard" width="1600" height="1107" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/141133235.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/141133235-768x531.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Dwight Howard, Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 5. Dwight Howard</h2>
<p>Many, if not most players, who made the jump from high school to the NBA ended up playing for powerhouse high schools, choosing them specifically for their ability to vault them into professional basketball careers. Dwight Howard instead attended and played for the same tiny Christian school he had attended his entire life, where his mother taught.</p>
<p>He ended up not needing the boost of a prominent school, not when he sprouted to nearly seven feet tall with a powerful NBA frame by the time he finished high school. Firmly rooted with a loving family, he looked like a can’t-miss pick, and the Orlando Magic obliged by selecting him first overall in the 2004 NBA Draft.</p>
<p>For whatever warts and idiosyncrasies he displayed over the course of his career, the Magic’s draft evaluators were not wrong. Howard has easily had the best career of anyone in his draft class, with nearly 38 more win shares than second-place Andre Iguodala. He was the two-way linchpin of an Orlando Magic team that reached the NBA Finals in 2009. In 2020 he finally won a ring as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, the team that stopped the Magic short of a title in 2009.</p>
<p>Howard has been named to an All-NBA team eight times, leading the league in rebounding five times and blocks twice. Five times Howard was an All-Defense player and won Defensive Player of the Year three times. Since the Defensive Player of the Year award was instituted in 1983, only two players (Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo) have won it at least three times; they combined for eight All NBA teams.</p>
<p>Howard has proven to be enigmatic, and he outwore his welcome on a number of teams, even ones he had just joined. He spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Orlando Magic; he changed teams seven times in the next nine seasons. Winning a title as a bench player comfortable with his role did a lot to rehabilitate his image.</p>
<p>Any way you slice it, Howard has been one of the very best prep-to-pro players in league history, and likewise one of the best players of his generation. He is in his 16th season and still contributing to a winning team.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 4 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425566 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2160,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F939435864.jpeg" alt="Moses Malone" width="3200" height="2160" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/939435864.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/939435864-768x518.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Moses Malone, Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 4. Moses Malone</h2>
<p>Moses Malone was a quiet, towering teenager on his way to the University of Maryland when the ABA’s Bucky Buckwalter dropped a stack of 100 dollar bills onto his coffee table. As Jonathan Abrams relates in his book “Boys Among Men,” this was the opening of a new path for Malone: a way to instantly bring home money for his family. While this decision was unique in 1974, it was the same decision hundreds of teens would have to make a few decades later.</p>
<p>Malone initially chose college, trying to honor his mother’s desire for him to get an education. Yet after getting up in the wee hours of the morning his first few days at Maryland for basketball practice, Malone made his decision. As Abrams quotes him, Malone told his roommate John Lucas “Big Mo going pro. Big Mo can’t take these d**n college hours.”</p>
<p>Thus, Malone signed a contract with the Utah Jazz of the American Basketball Association, a league that would eventually merge with the more popular but less flashy NBA. He immediately made an impact, averaging 18.8 points and 14.6 rebounds as a rookie. His success empowered a couple of other teams to take swings at high school players, which worked in the case of Darryl Dawkins and did not in the case of Bill Willoughby, who did not make this list.</p>
<p>After a year with the Spirit of St. Louis, Malone would join the NBA and become a dominant force inside over a long, 21-year career. Six times he led the league in rebounding, and three times finished second in scoring. He won the league’s MVP award three times, once for the Houston Rockets and twice for the Philadelphia 76ers. In fact, he remains the only player to win the MVP award for two different teams in separate conferences.</p>
<p>The pinnacle of Malone’s career was with the 76ers in the early 80s when he won two of his MVPs and a championship in 1983 alongside Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks and Bobby Jones. By the end of his career, Malone had totaled up 13 All-Star appearances, eight All-NBA selections and two All-Defensive team selections. He is still the career leader in offensive rebounds, third in total rebounds, and ninth in points scored. Malone is a top-30 player all-time no matter how you slice it, a feat all the more remarkable given his path into the NBA.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 3 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425567 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2215,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F161495291.jpeg" alt="Kevin Garnett" width="3200" height="2215" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/161495291.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/161495291-768x532.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Kevin Garnett, Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 3. Kevin Garnett</h2>
<p>Kevin Garnett was rail thin as a 17-year-old trying out for NBA scouts, but that did not stop them from seeing his potential. After a childhood in rural South Carolina where he learned to play basketball and to talk trash, Garnett spent his senior season in Chicago, where he led his team to a city championship and auditioned for a combination of college and professional scouts.</p>
<p>No player since Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby in the 1970s had made the leap right from high school to the NBA. Shawn Kemp enrolled in college but never ended up playing a game, and his star turn was a glimmer of hope for NBA front offices looking to grab elite talent early.</p>
<p>In Kevin Garnett, they saw their chance as his talent was undeniable and his situation exploitable. Garnett’s test scores, a necessity for college, were low enough to put his college career in doubt. Enough NBA scouts saw him play and work out as a high schooler, including Kevin McHale and Flip Saunders of the Minnesota Timberwolves, that he was a lock to go in the lottery of the 1995 NBA Draft. That created the environment for Garnett to be the trailblazer, announcing himself eligible for the NBA draft and starting a movement that would last for over a decade.</p>
<p>The Timberwolves did take Garnett with the fifth pick, and by the middle of his rookie season, he was starting. By his second campaign, he was averaging 17 points and 8 rebounds per game, the start to a long and prolific career. Garnett made the All-Star Game 10 times in his first 12 seasons with the Timberwolves and another five times with the Boston Celtics where he won his only title in 2008.</p>
<p>Garnett didn’t just become a star, he became one of the best defenders and ultimate competitors. 12 times he made an All-Defense team, winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2008. He was an offensive star as well, making nine All NBA teams and winning the league MVP award in 2004. The recently inducted Hall of Fame forward was one of the best players of his generation, a career he forged on his terms and without the help of a season in college.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 2 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-425568 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2129,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F156233205.jpeg" alt="Kobe Bryant" width="3200" height="2129" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/156233205.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/156233205-768x511.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Kobe Bryant, STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 2. Kobe Bryant</h2>
<p>It’s a reasonable debate between Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett for who should have ranked second on this list. Both had impressive careers, including a single MVP for each. Bryant was the superior offensive player, including two scoring championships; Garnet was the elite defender.</p>
<p>Bryant won five titles to Garnett’s one, but he also broke up a title team while Garnett brought one together and forged it in sweat and profanities.<br>
In the end, Bryant wins out, both for his cultural impact (no player was more popular during his career) and for his role in breaking the floodgates of the prep-to-pro generation wide open. Kevin Garnett entered the league a year earlier, but he did so largely because of questionable academic eligibility – true from Garnett’s own mouth, but also in the mouths of those arguing against drafting high school players.</p>
<p>The reality of that can be seen in Bryant’s own draft day slide. No high school player was more dominant than Bryant his senior season, a year when he would go to Philadelphia 76ers practices and hold his own in scrimmages. Yet teams again and again were afraid to stake their careers on a high school student, and combined with some maneuvering by Bryant’s agent, saw him slide to the 13th pick of the 1996 NBA Draft where the Charlotte Hornets took him and immediately traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers.</p>
<p>From there, Bryant played 20 seasons, becoming an All-Star by his second and never looking back. Garnett was a one-off; Bryant was the test case, and he passed with flying colors. In his fourth season, he and Shaquille O’Neal won the first of three titles together. He would win two more later in his career alongside Pau Gasol. He became the face of the NBA, the heir to Michael Jordan: except while Jordan came into the league after three years in college, Bryant made his mark straight out of high school.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 1 </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-425569" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/03/nba-best-careers-high-school/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2062,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F969197148.jpeg" alt="LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers" width="3200" height="2062" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/969197148.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/969197148-768x495.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30 best careers from players who skipped college – 1. LeBron James</h2>
<p>One player. In this entire list of teenagers who went straight into the NBA from high school, just one player stands at the intersection of hype and production. One player was drafted to be a superstar and was one from the start and for two decades. Teams passed on Keven Garnett and Kobe Bryant; Kwame Brown and Eddy Curry never delivered on expectations.</p>
<p>LeBron James was crowned the next superstar as a high schooler, dominating the national conversation as a junior and senior in high school. ESPN broadcast the games of his high school team, St. Vincent-St. Mary of Akron, Ohio. James had an NBA body and an NBA game before he was ever drafted. He was anointed the future king years ahead of time, not just taken first overall but seen as one of the elite few no-brainers that not a single person doubted. James was taken ahead of numerous college standouts, including Dwyane Wade and reigning National Champion Carmelo Anthony.</p>
<p>James took the hype, the expectations, his ceiling as a prospect, and absolutely delivered in a way no high school player ever had. Even Kobe Bryant had Shaquille O’Neal and a talented Los Angeles Lakers team around him to ease him into stardom. For the Cleveland Cavaliers, James was everything from the beginning. He won Rookie of the Year as a teenager, playing 39.5 minutes per game and appearing in 79 games, an astronomical load for someone playing a high school schedule the year before. By his fourth season, he was spinning postseason miracles and carrying a team to the NBA Finals.</p>
<p>Everyone knows the story from there. At the time of writing, James is in his 18th season and still atop the league, an MVP candidate and the reigning Finals MVP. He has won four titles with three different teams, been league MVP four times. 16 times he has been one of the All NBA selections at year’s end.</p>
<p>LeBron James is by any accounts a top-5 player in NBA history and has a strong case to be considered the best. Depending on where you rank Kobe and Kevin Garnett, that top-5 list likely includes players who starred for years in college. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal — all of them played at least three years in college. If Garnett and Kobe first blazed the trail, James paved it with the gold of his many trophies.</p>
<p>The history of players making the leap straight to the NBA is a complicated one filled with surprises and successes but also many failures and disappointments. Whatever the future of the NBA Draft and player eligibility is, those who came before can inform how to prepare, support and empower young players entering the league, whether they do so straight from high school or with a year of college or professional play under their belts. And for all of them, LeBron James will be the example and the goal, the king of the league anointed early who reigned for years and years.</p>
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