NBA STARS BEFORE THE FAME!

let's take a look at some rare footage of NBA stars before the fame first we got Blake Griffin here's BG when he was just 17 years old he was the 18th ranked player in the class of 2007 and averaged 27 points and 15 rebounds his senior year and this is JJ reick before he became the Lakers head coach did you know the best DK of his career came when he was only 16 years old when LeBron was 16 he was ripping the rim off the backboard in a fall league that is absolutely insane a 13-year-old Luca donic went away to play pro they quickly realized he was too good for his own age group he was the youngest player to ever play for Real Madrid he played in the Euro League versus grown men before he was 17 and by the time he was 17 they were relying on him in clutch moments so this is a 6- foot 15-year-old J Moran back when they called him Demetrius it's crazy to see J Lay It Up on a fast break but he couldn't dunk until his senior year of high school and obviously he was unranked his entire High School career these Draymond Green Clips are from his junior year in the state championship he put up 26 points eight rebounds and seven assists and I would argue his jump shot looked smoother then Draymond has always been the passionate player he is today Boston Celtics Jason Tatum already had a polished midi game at age 15 11 years later He's Still rocking that same 22 Jersey do you all think this is his year to win the finals before the beard and shutting down the strip club in Houston James Harden was getting buckets at Aria High School in California he was the 21st ranked player in the class of 2007 you can see even before the beard he played with a lot of Swat flag out there just two months prior to being drafted out of high school Kobe Bryant played in Magic Johnson's round ball classic of course coob was out there catching bodies he was ahead of his time look at the moves he's breaking out in 1996 who remembers this classic clip of Kyrie and Cole you want to right now Grand boss is this is not a high school kid com Kobe Kobe oh my God no no this is me coming to talk to you 101 I know that I know that like son are you crazy you have the guards no you have the guard you're not going to lock me you're not going to lock me up this talking to a high school kid you just came out of high school kid came out of college came out of school you came out ofo you play two gam you played two games in easy easy M he can play a little bit a little bit for high school kid first off rest in peace Kobe who do y'all got winning and won second Kyrie was a monster in high school but I'm taking being the playoffs have been amazing this year with so many crazy matchups but I got to follow up Kyrie with SGA who was somehow ranked 35th in his class of 2017 you're telling me there was eight point guards better than him but anyway we also covered his teammate Chad Homen back when he was a scrawny freshman playing in Minnesota Chad has always had that dog in him and you could see why he became a rookie of the year candidate it was obviously going to be tough to beat out Victor wanyama who at the age of 16 was already cooking the four-time defensive player of the year Rudy goar once wmy took him out of the paint that was a rrap for him there is so much young talent in the league a guy like Jaylen green didn't even win Rookie of the Year at only 15 years old he showed a ton of promise this was our first time seeing him out in California in July of 2017 that same year in April Anthony Edwards had this Beast dunk in New York Ant-Man was catching bodies at only 15 years old the Minnesota Timberwolves whole team brought excitement to the playoffs between nazaran Reed who back in 2015 was one of the top prospects in the 2018 class and by the time he was a junior he became Nas Reed aka Big jelly his teammate Jaden McDaniels used to be compared to Kevin Durant back in the day at 611 he could really score at all three levels and he was even trying to bounce it to himself way back then we have covered every Rookie of the Year in the last decade besides Malcolm Brogden so starting with 2015 Carl Anthony towns won that one we got him going one-on-one versus the Junkyard Dog Jerome Williams he was cooking a former NBA guy as a junior that next year was Brogden and after that was Ben Simmons I know Simmons gets all the hate because of his durability and lack of confidence shooting the ball but he was actually a shooter in high school at 6'9 we had never seen anybody handle the ball like that hey yo we showed 2019 in 2020 already with johnar and Luca moving on to lamelo ball in 2021 we got footage of him when he was a freshman on that undefeated Chino Hills team you had to be there for the ball era him and his brothers made waves I'm hoping Lonzo ball can make a comeback Elite mixtapes got that crazy ankle breaker in 2022 Scotty Barnes took the Rookie of the Year and he was as Savage as a sophomore in high school by the time he was a senior at Mount verd him and Kate Cunningham were Unstoppable the 2023 Rookie of the Year paollo Bon Carroll was a dog even at 15 he played on the 17u eybl circuit with no problem problem at only 16 years old Zion Williamson put up 50 points 16 rebounds and five blocks this was the beginning of his junior year before he got all the national attention his Pelicans teammate Brandon in Ingram averaged 24.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per game as a senior a lot of guys get compared to Kevin Durant all the time but he was one of the first another crazy performance from an NBA star was Jaylen Brown's 48-point game as a junior in Indianapolis he was dunking everything back in high school Tyrese halberton got slept on like a pull out couch people did not realize how good he was going to be he was just a three- star recruit coming out of high school and now he's one of the best young point guards in the league another young star that got slept on was christs porzingis when he got drafted number four overall to the New York knck they booed him and now he's putting on a show for the Celtics fresh off his injury he might be the X Factor for the Celtics winning the NBA Finals I got to show love to some OG's quick Anthony Davis looks the exact same as he does now the brow averaged 32 points 22 rebounds and seven blocks per game somehow his team was just 6 and 19 but obviously he got hit another Chicago Legend Dereck Rose he was different in high school his clips from Simeon were Next Level we found some lowquality footage of highquality players crazy to think Steph Curry the best shooter of all time only got recruited by Davidson I'll also track down some footage of Russell Westbrook who was also a late bloomer but don't get it twisted he still had explosiveness and then we got Damen lard it's crazy how these guys really played like that [Music] goes wild Aaron Gordon was one of the stars in the beginning of the mixtape era playing for the Oakland soldiers him and Andrew Wiggins were two of the top prospects in the 2013 class everybody wanted to get footage on these guys and luckily we had just started both of them are now NBA champions the there were definitely some super teams back in the day Each one teach one out of Florida had D'Angelo Russell and Grayson Allen on the same team Grayson actually came off of the bench he was behind Russell and a guy that went to North Carolina named Joel Barry at that same event Phoenix Suns Devin Booker was out there getting buckets with the Alabama challenge 76ers forward Kelly UB was also there with Houston hoops this was back in July of 2013 Nia yic has been the best player in the league for 4 years now y'all can debate in the comments but in the last four years he won three MVPs and a championship he should have his Respect by now but he played in the 2014 hoop Summit there's been some epic matchups over the years like when Jaylen Brunson dropped 34 points versus dearon FOX NOW Brunson was a year older so dearon Fox got got his the rest of the event Brunson might have gotten him in that matchup but his team was loaded Michael Porter maybe the most talented Hooper we have ever seen in high school at 610 he played like a guard and had so much athleticism him and Trey young were a crazy Duo they took home the peach jam Championship their last year together but these clips are back in April of 2015 we first saw Tyler Herold in November of 2015 at the p Midwest Camp he could score with the best of them this was before he became a sixthman of the year with the Miami Heat as a freshman Kade Cunningham had a smooth game he used his smarts to get to the bucket but by the time he was a senior he had all the physical tools to compliment Detroit Pistons are struggling but it is not kade's fault Tyrese Maxi is one of the best young players in the league he's coming off averaging 26 points for the 76ers but but we first saw him as a freshman at the Pango all south camp Donovan Mitchell had one of the toughest tomahawks in the 2015 class he really broke out summer of 2014 in Philadelphia when he played in the Reebok breakout classic at the time not many people knew how special he was before winning a championship at Duke tus Jones was known to be one of the best point guards in the country he played all four years at Apple Valley in Minnesota the 28-year-old is now the starting point guard for the Washington Wizards his younger brother Trey Jones followed in his footsteps he also went to Duke and is the point guard for the San Antonio Spurs before being one of the best players on the Cleveland Cavaliers Darius Garland was seen going crazy at the maid Hoops warm-up later on in his high school career he was absolutely cooking in front of 20,000 fans Marquel Foltz was somebody we love to cover long before he was the number one pick in the draft he was an absolute bucket out of the DMV and played for the DC Blue Devils bam adabo always looked like a grown man even in high school he keeps getting better and better he has already been to an NBA finals and another Conference Finals with the Miami Heat at age 15 Jaylen Suggs was already making a name for himself in his home state of Minnesota he played alongside Chad holgren but he was the star on the the team only the OG Courtside fans seen our first look at Fred vanfleet our name was still Iowa Elites this was back in 2011 where it all began the 2023 defensive player of the year has always been a presence down low jiren Jackson Jr was dominating in 2016 in front of Tom ISO I could tell early that assar and amen were going to be special I was filming another game and I looked over and I seen these boys putting on a show quickly switch games and they look like aliens out there didn't really say a lot but just knew exactly where each other would be no surprise assar is one of the best rookies in the league and aan has been a little banged up but I'm sure he will make a good recovery the Murray Brothers got so much better after their prep year at DME Keegan really turned up at the University of Iowa and has averaged 15.2 points for the Sacramento Kings this past year his brother Chris Murray came into the league A year later but he's averaging six points for the Portland Trailblazers NBA champion Jordan P has always played with that creativity we saw him when he was just 14 years old at the John Lucas camp Canadian born Jamal Murray was out there head hunting for Orangeville pre he is now an NBA champion and proven playoff star back in Greece Giannis anmo was actually somewhat of a perimeter threat he wasn't scared to shoot and knock down threes after putting on 50 lbs of muscle in the NBA the three ball was no longer needed before Austin Reeves was LeBron's right-hand man he attended a class 2A High School in Newark Arkansas a lot of people didn't know he was like that he actually scored 73 points in one game back in high school we first seen deante Murray in the summer of 2014 now he's averaging over 22 points on the Atlanta Hawks dejonte was one of the smoothest hoopers in the class of 2015 Canada born RJ Barrett transferred to mount ver Academy as a freshman in high school and he quickly took his game to another level he became the number one player in the country and put on a show at the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions cam Thomas has always been a bucket but he's looking like he's going to be one of the next great scorers he averaged over 22 points per game for the Brooklyn Nets last season before Dylan Brooks became the quote unquote villain of the NBA he played for Canada's AA team CIA bounce he actually matched up with Ben Simmons and each1 te one back in 2013 cavon Looney is one of the most underappreciated hoopers in the NBA the three-time NBA champion played more like Kevin Durant in high school but took over the role as an enforcer in the NBA we covered AJ Green when he was just a fresh man he was one of the best Shooters to ever come out of the state of Iowa now he's playing with the Milwaukee Bucks Orlando Magic's Cole Anthony had crazy athleticism our first time seeing him at the Pango All-American camp but the next year at that same camp he took his game to another level I always love in July when the NBA players can come coach the kids so Colin ston played for team CP3 in Vegas and I'm not sure if you can see in the background but Russell Westbrook is loving these celebrations this is back when they called Colin seon Young bull well he secured the championship for team CP3 now he's playing for the Utah Jazz where he just averaged almost 19 points last year Jaylen Williams used to play for the I 10 Celtics who would have ever thought that he would average 19 points four rebounds and four and a half assists his second year in the league Oklahoma City is going to be close to that Championship every year unfortunately Detroit is on the other end of that but one of their star players Jaylen durren looked like a grown man in high school believe it or not he was a sophomore in these clips in aaou haime hakz played for Paul Pierce's AA team the truth in high school ball he averaged 31.7 points 11.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game but I did not know he would be this good in the NBA we covered Jabari Smith at the tip off classic and he was the number three pick in the 2022 draft to the Houston Rockets they got a nice young core be on the lookout for him this next season the big man in the middle for the Indiana Pacers Miles Turner was a problem in high school he was ranked number two overall by ESPN right behind Jalil Oker at 7'2 he was blocking everything PJ Washington has been a big help to Luca and Kyrie during this playoff run as a senior in high school he averaged 19.6 points 9.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game scoot Henderson was Unstoppable in high school he bypassed his senior year to play professionally and became the youngest player ever to play in the g-league at just 17 years old as a senior in high school Kyle kozman averaged 22 points and seven rebounds per game the first time we ever filmed the number two pick Brandon Miller was against ammani Bates and he had a poster off of his own Miss mind you he was only 15 at the time I found a couple Clips on Nick's favorite Josh Hart he was one of the most impressive hoopers in the playoffs his villain NOA teammate and Nick's teammate Dante dant chenzo was balling as well when Malik monk was 16 he was one of the best dunkers we had ever seen he was straight out of the woods in Jonesboro Arkansas he played against miles Bridges at the ebl in 2015 miles was a Manchild back in the day and he played for the family in Detroit he was only 16 catching that lob Cleveland Cavaliers Jared Allen dominated at the John Lucas camp he was only 16 years old in these clips I wouldn't be surprised if he wins a defensive player of the year award before it's all said and done Kellin Johnson was a late bloomer back in high school but he shot up the rankings when he started to dominate for Oak Hill he got ranked as high is seven in the country and obviously he went on to Kentucky and now he's playing for the San Antonio Spurs Milwaukee Bucks guard Malik Beasley went beast mode off the backboard I got to run that one back it looked like he hit his shoulder at least Jonathan kaminga was a beast in high school he was just coming off his sophomore year in these clips he got a championship in his first year in the league with the Golden State Warriors the Detroit Pistons Jaden Ivy was a scoring machine when he played for Indie Heat's ebl Squad his mid-range game is serious now people speculate that this was Chris Paul and I'm not sure but I think it's just because he's wearing the number three I guess I can run it back in the grainy footage this is back when they called Demar D rozan Debo now I never seen it but they say his first dunk came when he was just in sixth grade this buzzer beater from Alex Caruso back in 2011 was when he had hair he was still putting on a show back then I'm going to let this video ride out with a 43o game from JJ reck in the state championship thank you for watching please like comment and subscribe