NBA: 30 best careers from players who skipped college

30 best careers from players who skipped college – 1. LeBron James

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.