Ranking the Best Prep-to-Pro Players in NBA History

From Moses to LeBron, these are best players ever to jump straight from high school to the NBA.

May 19, 2014
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In 1962, the Detroit Pistons selected high schooler Reggie Harding in the fourth round of the NBA Draft. While Harding was not allowed to play for a full year, in 1971 Spencer Haywood brought a case against the NBA that went all the way up to the Supreme Court, who ruled that the NBA must allow those with “hardships” to enter the league immediately out of high school.

Thus began the “prep-to-pro” era, although between 1975 and 1995 there were no players who took the conventional high school-to-NBA path selected in the draft. Kevin Garnett’s success after coming into the league in 1995, though, spawned a whole new generation of players who saw heading into the league right out of high school as a viable option, and they flooded the league until 2005.

At that time, the Players’ Union and commissioner David Stern hammered out a deal raising the minimum age of the players to 19, meaning that high schoolers were effectively ineligible. New commissioner Adam Silver would like to push the minimum age to 20, meaning it’s unlikely we’ll see prep-to-pro return any time soon. In honor of today’s birthday boy Garnett, we are Ranking the Best Prep-to-Pro Players in NBA History.

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15. Stephen Jackson

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High school: Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia)
Draft year: 1997
Draft selection: No. 43
Career: 1997-Present
Stats: 858 G, 15.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.4 BPG
Accolades: 1x NBA Champion

The journey to the NBA that Stephen Jackson took out of high school is probably not one recommended by most. He was an All-American at Oak Hill Academy in 1996, leading all scorers at that year's McDonalds All-American game and committing to the University of Arizona. He was ruled ineligible, though, and attended a semester of community college without playing basketball instead. He was drafted by the Suns in the second round of the 1997 Draft, but never played a game for the team as he traveled to the CBA, Australian, Venezuelan, and Dominican leagues before finally latching on with the Nets in 2000.

14. Rashard Lewis

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High school: Alief Elsik High School (Houston, Texas)
Draft year: 1998
Draft selection: No. 32
Career: 1998-Present
Stats: 1049 G, 14.9 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Accolades: 1x NBA Champion, 2x NBA All-Star

Rashard Lewis was heavily recruited out of high school, with Florida State, Kansas, and Houston all vying for his services. He decided against attending college, however, and opted for the NBA Draft where the SuperSonics made him the No. 32 overall pick. Lewis went on to a successful career with Seattle, teaming up with Ray Allen to multiple playoff appearances before he landed a huge free agent contract with Orlando in the summer of 2007.

13. Tyson Chandler

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High school: Dominguez High School (Compton, California)
Draft year: 2001
Draft selection: No. 2
Career: 2001-Present
Stats: 845 G, 8.7 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.6 SPG, 1.3 BPG
Accolades: 1x NBA Champion, 1x NBA All-Star, 1x All-NBA Third Team, 1x NBA Defensive Player of the Year, 1x NBA All-Defensive First Team, 2x NBA All-Defensive Second Team

Tyson Chandler learned from another future NBA All-Star during his freshman year in high school, teaming with Tayshaun Prince to create a very formidable team. By the time he was a senior, Chandler was an absolute beast, winning a state title and averaging 26.0 points, 15.0 rebounds, and 8.0 blocks per game. He was one of the most heavily recruited players in the country, having been courted by the likes of UCLA, Arizona, Syracuse, Memphis, Kentucky, and Michigan, but he ultimately settled on jumping straight to the NBA. As the No. 2 overall pick, he struggled with back problems early in his career and never really got going with the Bulls.

He continued to develop his defensive game especially, though, and when healthy he is one of the best rim protectors in the game today.

12. Josh Smith

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High school: Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia)
Draft year: 2004
Draft selection: No. 17
Career: 2004-Present
Stats: 753 G, 15.5 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.3 SPG, 2.1 BPG
Accolades: 1x NBA All-Defensive Second Team, 2005 NBA All-Rookie Second Team

Josh Smith spent years tormenting Hawks fans with his talent and multi-faceted gifts on the basketball court, only to pair those unique skills with a propensity for innumerable mental lapses. After playing alongside Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo at Oak Hill Academy and leading the team to a 38-0 record their senior year, Smith (who averaged 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and six blocks per game) declared for the NBA Draft after committing to Indiana.

He developed steadily over his first years in the league, and despite having never made an All-Star team landed a four-year, $54 million deal from Detroit last summer.

11. Al Jefferson

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High school: Prentiss High School (Prentiss, Mississippi)
Draft year: 2004
Draft selection: No. 15
Career: 2004-Present
Stats: 701 G, 17.0 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.7 SPG, 1.3 BPG
Accolades: 2005 NBA All-Rookie Second Team

Al Jefferson emerged onto the national scene his junior year of high school, boasting impressive size and incredible skill down on the block and making NBA scouts salivate at his potential. As a senior playing in a relatively non-competitive league, he averaged a ridiculous 42.6 points, 18.0 rebounds, and 7.0 blocks per game, committing to play for the University of Arkansas before changing his mind and declaring for the draft. When healthy, Jefferson has been a terrific NBA player, and this year as "the man" on the Bobcats helped the beleaguered franchise to the playoffs for only the second time in their history.

10. Darryl Dawkins

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High school: Maynard Evans High School (Orlando, Florida)
Draft year: 1975
Draft selection: No. 5
Career: 1975-1989
Stats: 726 G, 12.0 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.4 BPG
Accolades: None

Darryl Dawkins is perhaps best known for his repeated shattering of backboards and outrageous nicknames for all his dunks. Musician Stevie Wonder nicknamed him "Chocolate Thunder," still one of the best nicknames ever given to a basketball player. Physically, when he came out of high school Dawkins was already a man. He stood at 6'11" and weighed close to 250 pounds with a chiseled physique, a brutally intimidating man-child who also happened to be an incredibly nice guy.

While it took time for him to harness his raw talent with Philadelphia, his physical gifts allowed Dawkins to enjoy a long (if unspectacular) career.

9. Amar'e Stoudemire

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High school: Cypress Creek High School (Orlando, Florida)
Draft year: 2002
Draft selection: No. 9
Career: 2002-Present
Stats: 715 G, 20.4 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.8 SPG, 1.3 BPG
Accolades: 6x NBA All-Star, 1x All-NBA First Team, 4x All-NBA Second Team, 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year, 2003 NBA All-Rookie First Team

Amar'e Stoudemire had a really tough upbringing, as his mother was in and out of jail and his half-brother died of a heart attack. Stoudemire bounced around from house to house, playing for five high schools in two different states. He did not start playing organized basketball until he was 14, and didn't play at all his junior year of high school due to all the transferring. After getting good grades and deciding to go to the University of Memphis, Stoudemire ultimately changed his mind and decided to join the NBA instead, becoming the only high school player selected in the first round of the 2002 Draft.

8. Jermaine O'Neal

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High school: Eau Claire High School (Columbia, South Carolina)
Draft year: 1996
Draft selection: No. 17
Career: 1996-Present
Stats: 1011 G, 13.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.8 BPG
Accolades: 6x NBA All-Star, 1x All-NBA Second Team, 2x All-NBA Third Team

When you take a step back and think about it, the career of Jermaine O'Neal is utterly amazing. Rarely has one player seemed so close to being out of the league, only to reemerge and find a useful spot for himself. Most recently, O'Neal cruised through two injury-plagued seasons in Boston where it looked like he would never again be healthy enough to be a useful player again. But sure enough, there he was this year for Golden State, becoming a key cog for the Warriors especially in the repeated absences of center Andrew Bogut.

It really was a reflection of O'Neal's whole career, one where not as much was expected of him as a high school prospect making the leap to the NBA, but through it all he simply managed to find a way to succeed.

7. Shawn Kemp

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High school: Concord High School (Elkhart, Indiana)
Draft year: 1989
Draft selection: No. 17
Career: 1989-2003
Stats: 1051 G, 14.6 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 1.2 BPG
Accolades: 6x NBA All-Star, 3x All-NBA Second Team

The "Reign Man" is a special case in the prep-to-pro discussion, because Shawn Kemp technically did not declare for the draft right out of high school. He signed a letter of intent to play at Kentucky, but failed to get the necessary SAT score to be eligible to play. He enrolled at Kentucky, but left two months later without playing a game and went to Trinity Valley Community College in Texas. He didn't play there either, and instead made himself eligible for the NBA Draft with zero college games under his belt. It took a while for the extremely raw Kemp to find his game in the NBA, but in the mid-90s there were few players more exciting than the Seattle power forward.

6. Tracy McGrady

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High school: Mount Zion Christian Academy (Durham, North Carolina)
Draft year: 1997
Draft selection: No. 9
Career: 1997-2013
Stats: 938 G, 19.6 PPG, 5.6 5PG, 4.4 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.9 BPG
Accolades: 7x NBA All-Star, 2x All-NBA First Team, 3x All-NBA Second Team, 2x All-NBA Third Team, 2001 NBA Most Improved Player

Tracy McGrady might be even higher on this list if not for the barrage of injuries that sidetracked his career. He was one of the most talented pure scorers of his generation, a bona fide star that a team could easily build around if they so chose. His career is loaded with some fascinating what-ifs: what if he had stayed in Toronto with Vince Carter? What if Grant Hill had managed to stay healthy for even one year when they were together in Orlando? What if Yao had been healthier in Houston?

Despite all these disappointing developments, McGrady still had a fantastic career, scoring 18,381 points for the 58th overall spot on the all-time list.

5. Dwight Howard

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High school: Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy (Atlanta, Georgia)
Draft year: 2004
Draft selection: No. 1
Career: 2004-Present
Stats: 768 G, 18.3 PPG, 12.9 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 2.2 BPG
Accolades: 8x NBA All-Star, 5x All-NBA First Team, 2x All-NBA Third Team, 3x NBA Defensive Player of the Year, 4x NBA All-Defensive First Team, 1x NBA All-Defensive Second Team, 2005 NBA All-Rookie First Team

The success of fellow high schooler LeBron James as the No. 1 overall pick of the 2003 Draft was both good and bad for Dwight Howard. It was good in that James faced an unprecedented amount of scrutiny and media coverage, an amount that Howard would not be able to receive. The world had "LeBron fatigue," which meant Howard's pre-draft hype would be considerably less. However, James' immediate success was bad for Dwight in that a new bar was set for expectations of a rookie coming out of high school straight to the NBA.

Fortunately, Dwight hit the ground running and averaged 12.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game as a rookie, becoming the youngest player in history to average a double-double and never truly struggling in the NBA.

4. Kevin Garnett

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High school: Farragut Career Academy (Chicago, Illinois)
Draft year: 1995
Draft selection: No. 5
Career: 1995-Present
Stats: 1377 G, 18.6 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 3.9 APG, 1.3 SPG, 1.5 BPG
Accolades: 1x NBA Champion, 1x NBA MVP, 15x NBA All-Star, 4x All-NBA First Team, 3x All-NBA Second Team, 2x All-NBA Third Team, 1x NBA Defensive Player of the Year, 9x NBA All-Defensive First Team, 3x NBA All-Defensive Second Team, 1996 NBA All-Rookie Second Team

Perhaps the best thing about combing through Kevin Garnett 's high school photos is you get a chance to see K.G. with hair. But the next best thing is you get to follow the path of one of the greatest success stories ever to jump straight from high school to the NBA. Garnett spent his first three years of high school at Mauldin High School in South Carolina, only transferring to Farragut after a racial incident at Mauldin that led him to fear he would be targeted in the future. When he got to Minnesota as the No. 5 overall pick (and first high schooler drafted since 1975), the Timberwolves had never won more than 29 games in a season; Garnett quickly turned them into a perennial playoff team as he cemented his legacy as a future Hall of Famer.

3. Moses Malone

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High school: Petersburg High School (Petersburg, Virginia)
Draft year: 1974 (ABA)
Draft selection: No. 27
Career: 1974-1995
Stats: 1329 G, 20.6 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.8 SPG, 1.3 BPG
Accolades: 1x NBA Champion, 1x NBA Finals MVP, 3x NBA MVP, 12x NBA All-Star, 4x All-NBA First Team, 4x All-NBA Second Team, 1x NBA All-Defensive First Team, 1x NBA All-Defensive Second Team

Moses Malone was a true pioneer of the prep-to-pro movement, and while he was not the first to do it he became a poster child for its success. He had originally agreed to play for the University of Maryland, but the Utah Stars of the ABA made him their third round pick anyway. He was an incredibly lean 6'10", but possessed raw skills down on the block that even the grown men of the ABA could not handle.

Malone averaged 18.8 points and 14.6 rebounds per game as a rookie with the Stars, and would go on to great success in both the ABA and the NBA after the leagues merged two years later.

2. LeBron James

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High school: St. Vincent – St. Mary High School (Akron, Ohio)
Draft year: 2003
Draft selection: No. 1
Career: 2003-Present
Stats: 842 G, 27.5 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 6.9 APG, 1.7 SPG, 0.8 BPG
Accolades: 2x NBA Champion, 2x NBA Finals MVP, 4x NBA MVP, 10x NBA All-Star, 7x All-NBA First Team, 2x All-NBA Second Team, 5x NBA All-Defensive First Team, 2004 NBA Rookie of the Year, 2004 NBA All-Rookie First Team

It is so rare for a player to be the center of so much fame, attention, and scrutiny at such a young age and for them to actually live up to the hype. But LeBron James is not just any player, and despite having his every move followed during his senior year at St. Vincent-St. Mary's (remember Hummer-gate?) he managed to keep his head on straight and win Rookie of the Year after being drafted No. 1 overall by his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers. Things have gone pretty well since then, too, we'd say.

1. Kobe Bryant

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High school: Lower Merion High School (Ardmore, Pennsylvania)
Draft year: 1996
Draft aelection: No. 13
Career: 1996-Present
Stats: 1245 G, 25.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Accolades: 5x NBA Champion, 2x NBA Finals MVP, 1x NBA MVP, 16x NBA All-Star, 11x All-NBA First Team, 2x All-NBA Second Team, 2x All-NBA Third Team, 9x NBA All-Defensive First Team, 3x NBA All-Defensive Second Team, 1997 NBA All-Rookie Second Team

It's hard to argue with the both individual and team accomplishments of Kobe Bryant. After a highly-regarded high school career in which he was considered the best player in the country his age and took home pretty much every award that exists for high school hoopers, the young Bryant decided to become the sixth player in history to go straight to the NBA. Lakers GM Jerry West had fallen in love with Bryant during his workouts, and traded starting center Vlade Divac to Charlotte in order to secure Kobe's draft rights. Five titles and an MVP later, we're going to say that was a good move.

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