The NBA imposed a rule back in 2005 that required incoming draftees to have a new setup before being eligible to play and get drafted into the league. Effective starting the 2006 NBA Draft, players had to be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school to be eligible for the NBA. This prompted several players then to play one-and-done stints of college basketball, as opposed to the influx of high school phenoms back then.
In recent times, several other NBA prospects opted to skip college entirely and play in other professional leagues, especially since they have the skillset for this already. Nevertheless, the NBA has since updated the rule, allowing 18-year-olds to get drafted, but keeping the same basis for high school education. With this, let’s find out about five of the greatest NBA players of all time who never went to college.
Five NBA Stars That Never Went To College
#5 Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis Antetokounmpo was famously born in Athens, Greece, as his nickname is “The Greek Freak”. Apart from this, Antetokounmpo most notably had an unorthodox route to the NBA, as he and his family migrated from Nigeria to Greece and eventually found his way to play for the senior men’s team of Filathlitikos, a Greek basketball club, in the third division of the Greek B Basket League as just a teenager.
Eventually, in 2013, after his successful stint as a semi-pro player, the 2021 NBA champion and Finals MVP made himself eligible for the NBA Draft at just 18 years old. He was taken with the 15th overall pick in the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks.
#4 Nikola Jokic
Considered by many as the most skilled big man of all time, Nikola Jokic started off his basketball career in the youth basketball club, Vojvodina Srbijagas. Falling in love with the sport early on in his life, “The Joker” made his Serbian League debut at just 17 years old, presumably skipping college entirely, for Mega Basket, formerly named as Mega Vizura, in his second season with the team. He previously played for its junior team.
In 2014, Jokic was selected by the Denver Nuggets with the 41st overall pick of that year’s NBA Draft and has since become a three-time regular-season MVP and the 2023 NBA Finals MVP.
#3 Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Nowitzki is hailed as the greatest European basketball player of all time, although many in the basketball world are calling on Jokic to be creeping up that mantle. But the German great also did not attend college. Instead, Nowitzki opted to go the route of playing local professional basketball for DJK Würzburg in the South Division of the Second Bundesliga from 1994 to 1998.
Nowitzki was picked by the Milwaukee Bucks with the ninth overall pick in the first round of the 1998 NBA Draft, but was immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks. There, Nowitzki enjoyed a successful 21-year NBA career, becoming a champion and Finals MVP in 2011.
#2 Kobe Bryant
One of the greatest basketball players of all time in Kobe Bryant, also famously did not go to college, as he went straight into the NBA after a sensational high school hoops stint for Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Bryant was then drafted into the NBA by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th overall pick in the first round in 1996, before being immediately dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The “Black Mamba” carved out a legendary NBA resume, amassing five NBA championships, two Finals MVP’s and the 2008 regular season MVP award to name a few.
#1 LeBron James
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King James also did not play college basketball nor attend college. LeBron James was a high school phenom during his teenage days at St. Vincent-St. Mary and immediately declared for the 2003 NBA Draft straight out of his senior year, just a few years before the NBA imposed its rule regarding NBA Draft prospects.
James was selected with the first overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers, his home state team, and has become a four-time NBA champion and a four-time regular season MVP, to name a few of his long list of accolades.
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