NBA: 30 best careers from players who skipped college

30 best careers from players who skipped college – 12. Al Jefferson

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.