10 Greatest NBA Players Straight Outta High School
7. Amar'e Stoudemire
Truth in Numbers: 18.9 PTS / 7.8 REB / 1.2 AST / 21.8 PER / 6x All-Star / 5x All-NBA / '02-'03 ROY
After playing only two years of high school basketball, Amar'e Stoudemire was MVP of the Nike Summer League and considered a 5-star prospect and #1 player in 2002. He originally was signed up to play for the University of Memphis, but instead declared for the draft and was taken 9th overall by the Phoenix Suns.
The only high school player in his draft class, Stoudemire won the 2002-2003 Rookie of the Year award (beating out Yao Ming). He spent the next 8 seasons with the Suns before signing with the New York Knicks. He played in 6 All-Star games, was named to 5 All-NBA teams, and was a member of the 2004 bronze winning olympic team before injuries took control of his career.
After 2011, Stoudemire never started more than 47 games with various knee and eye injuries. He finished his 14 year NBA career in 2016 and has been a member of Hapoel Jerusalum (winning the 2016 Israeli Basketball League Cup), Maccabi Tel Aviv, Fujian Sturgeons of the CBA, and played in the BIG3.