10 Greatest NBA Players Straight Outta High School

Truth in Numbers: 16.8 PTS / 12.3 REB / 1.9 BLK / 21.5 PER / 8x All-Star / 8x All-NBA / 5x All-Defense / 3x DPOY

The 2004 draft class was packed with high schoolers. Shaun Livingston, Robert Swift, Sebastian Telfair, Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, JR Smith, and Dorrell Wright were all taken within the first 20 picks. It was the #1 overall pick who would go on to have the weirdest, longest, and most successful career out of all of them: Dwight Howard.

With Orlando, he became the youngest player to average a double-double over a season, youngest to record 20 rebounds in a game, the first player to ever start all 82 games out of high school, and was a unanimous All-Rookie team selection. With the aging Grant Hill never able to fully recover from his injuries, the Orlando Magic became Howard's team. He claimed 3 straight Defensive Player of the Year awards, 5 All-Star selections, and 6 All-NBA teams. He won the 2008 Slam Dunk contest. He led the league in rebounding 6 seasons, led in blocks 2 seasons, and led the Orlando Magic to a Finals appearance in 2009.

We could stop there and already Dwight Howard has a Hall of Fame career. The second half of Dwight's toxic career, so far, begins and ends with the Los Angeles Lakers. He's also bounced between Houston, Charlotte, Atlanta, Washington and Memphis (although he was waived before ever stepping on the court).