If you have read some of my previous articles, then you know I like to include some personal stories that I have witnessed firsthand. In my first article (Financial Fallacies—NBA Players Dilemma), I mentioned a hooper I named Clifford, who has a brother who was also a bonafide baller.

For this story, we will name him “Too Tall” to keep his identity private. “Too Tall” was 6’5″ by the time he reached 9th grade. The ironic thing about him is that he was not much of a hooper in the 9th grade but due to his height, he got the proper training and became a decent basketball player. However, he did not want to play in college, so he shot for the fences and went pro right after high school.

The struggles for him were real, and the road was not. His problem was that he was a decent shooter but had no post-up game or proper handling of the rock. He eventually grew to 6’9″ and made it onto a few semi-pro teams, but ultimately, his inability to work on other parts of his game caused him not to make the NBA.

Now, if he had made it to the big leagues, his older brother would have been super stoked about it. But “Too Tall” would fade away in obscurity and never get the chance to touch an NBA floor.

Now, several NBA players have made the leap from high school to the league. The roads they took were different, but when the majority of them made it to the league, they made an immediate impact.

In 1955, a child was born in Petersburg, VA., who would grow up to be an astounding person. This person would make a name for himself in the NBA. Moses Malone was primarily raised by his mother, Mary Malone, who was a nurses’ aide as well as a meat packer for a local company. Moses grew up as an only child, and knowing his mom’s struggles, he decided in high school, to dedicate his time to learning to be the best basketball player at Petersburg High School. 

Basketball wise, he became so talented that in his junior and senior years in high school, that his team went undefeated and won back-to-back state championships. Moses was a phenomenon and was destined for great things. He signed a letter of intent for the University of Maryland but eventually forewent that and went pro.

His first professional stop was in the now long gone ABA, where he played for the Utah Stars, where they selected him 3rd overall in the 1974 ABA draft. This made Moses the first player at the time to be drafted straight out of high school. In the 1974-1975 season, the NBA began merging with the ABA, but only a few teams would be part of the merger. During the merger, Moses was caught in the NBA policy of not allowing any draft picks into the league that were not four years removed from school. This policy caused Moses to be placed in the ABA dispersal draft pool, where the Portland Trail Blazers selected him, but they would soon trade him to the Houston Rockets.

As a kid right out of high school, this time in his life must have been a whirlwind. He is trying to get on a team, find a trustworthy agent, and also take care of his single mother. Being around grown men must have been a culture shock, considering it was the 1970s, an era known for drugs and the partying lifestyle.

As an 18-19 year old, the influences of the party lifestyle can be alluring. And going down that path at such a young age can damage a young career. With women at every turn, seemingly, for a kid with a little bit of money, partaking in such behavior would have been the norm.

However, Moses had a robust NBA career, in which he won several league MVPs, a Finals MVP, and many All-Star selections. But his personal life had rumors of family violence and possible adultery on his behalf. This behavior could be conducent to not having his father in his life and being a high schooler playing basketball and fraternizing with grown men.

Moses passed away in 2015 from heart disease, leaving his three sons to live out his legacy.

Kevin Garnett is another success story from high school to the NBA. He is a South Carolina kid who grew up as the middle child in his family of five: he, his two sisters, his mom, and his stepdad. He was a very talented basketball player but would find himself mistakenly included in a second-degree lynching prior to his senior year in high school. During that time in South Carolina, racial tension was high, so the family decided to move out of state to Chicago, Illinois. 

There, Kevin attended Farragut Career Academy. For his senior year, he led his basketball team to a 28-2 record and was named National High School Player of the Year by USA Today. Leaving South Carolina was a positive move for the family, and Kevin’s play made him an overnight sensation.

Although he had offers from several colleges, he stated that it would have been the University of Maryland if he had gone to any college. Instead of going to college, Kevin made himself eligible for the 1995 NBA draft. Kevin had just turned 19 in May 1995 and was drafted 5th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves. The draft included players like Rasheed Wallace, Michael Finley, and Jerry Stackhouse, to name a few. If that draft had a do-over, I am sure Kevin would have been picked number one.

The 1995-96 Minnesota Timberwolves weren’t a very stacked team; it had mostly younger players. And being around players close to his own age must have been fun, to say the least. They probably partied a lot, and not knowing how to manage his finances, Kevin hid his NBA earnings under his mattress.

After earning just over $5 million in his first three seasons, Garnett’s earnings blossomed to double digits in the millions a few years into his career. However, his trust in financial services would come back to haunt him. The wealth management firm he hired allegedly siphoned over $77 million from Kevin which led to the financial consultants who siphoned the funds being sent to prison.

Although Kevin experienced the hardships of losing an exorbitant amount of money, he persevered, and in his retirement, he has a net worth of $120 million.

This next player had the pleasure of being the son of a former NBA and international basketball player who lived in several countries and had a meaningful career. Joe and his wife Pam had three kids, and a particular son they named “Kobe”, which Joe named after the Japanese beef.

Joe’s career poured over into Kobe, who took up the love for basketball while they lived in Italy for seven years. But Joe eventually moved back to the States and settled in Philadelphia, the state he was originally from.

Kobe was such a gifted athlete that in his senior year, he led his high school (Lower Merion) to its first state title in 53 years. His fame was so renowned that he announced his intention of leaping from high school into the NBA.

Even though that was a big leap for a 17-year-old, having a father like Joe, who knew the ropes, helped Kobe with this transition. The Charlotte Hornets drafted him 13th overall in 1996, and they immediately traded him to the Lakers for Vlade Divac.

Even though his parents were ever-present in his life, Kobe did find himself in a scandal early in his career. The influence of teammates and the allure of beautiful women caused him to go astray. In situations like this, it is always good to have someone there to help him make a better choice and be the voice of reason. He managed to overcome that very public scandal, get forgiveness from his wife, and have a successful basketball career and family.

Kobe would retire in 2016 with 5 NBA championships, 2x Finals MVP, 18x All-NBA first team, and an NBA regular season MVP in 2008. However, on January 26, 2020, his young life was cut short due to a tragic helicopter accident. The accident not only took his life but his daughter Gianna was lost in the crash, as well as 7 other passengers.

For Too Tall, his road to the NBA never materialized. Still, if it did, he would have had to be careful of the many obstacles that high schoolers would have to face in the adult arena: the questions of how to handle instant riches, the allure of beautiful women, and learning how to weed out crooked financial advisors.

If handling instant riches was easy, then there wouldn’t be any stories of financial loss and regret from NBA players. The fact that a lot of NBA players come from urban environments makes it harder to navigate who has a player’s best interest in mind. The person that Too Tall was, I would imagine that he would have been taken advantage of.

Also, the fact that there are SO many female groupies, it’s hard to decipher which female is genuine. Reminds me of the struggles Tim Duncan went through with his ex-wife. A girl will seemingly be in your corner, but has an exit plan in the back of their mind. As a teenaged young man coming into the NBA, how do you not fall for the allure of a beautiful woman?

As a young man, you have so many obstacles to go through just to have a career. All the dangers that await you will come at you hard and fast. Be vigilant and very selective when it comes to where you want your career and life to become.

There are some high schoolers in this story that got through the league pretty clean, but the journey wasn’t easy. If you, as a talented high school hooper, ever get the opportunity to make the NBA right out of high school; watch your finances, choose your life partner wisely, and always stay grounded.