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NBA: 30 best careers from players who skipped college

By Josh Cornelissen

LeBron James, Miami Heat and Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers. Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images
LeBron James, Miami Heat and Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers. Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images /
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Martell Webster, Minnesota Timberwolves
Martell Webster, Minnesota Timberwolves. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images /

30 best careers from players who skipped college – 26. Martell Webster

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.

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.

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.

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.