Skip to content
Curated category

21st-century American sportsmen

  • Kevin DurantKevin Durant was born on the 29th of September 1988 in Washington, D.C., and grew up dreaming of one day playing for his favorite team, the Toronto Raptors…
  • Dwyane WadeDwyane Wade grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where he described his early childhood as "trying." His mother, JoLinda, struggled with drug addiction and…
  • LeBron JamesLeBron Raymonde James Sr. was born on the 30th of December 1984, at Cleveland Clinic Akron General, to a 16-year-old mother named Gloria Marie James.
  • Clyde DrexlerClyde Austin Drexler Sr. was born on the 22nd of June, 1962, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and by the time his professional basketball career ended, he had…
  • Kobe BryantKobe Bean Bryant scored 81 points on the 22nd of January, 2006, the second-highest total in a single NBA game in the history of the sport.
  • Elvin HayesElvin Ernest Hayes scored 39 points and held Lew Alcindor to just 15 in front of 52,693 fans at the Houston Astrodome on the 20th of January, 1968.
  • Karl MaloneKarl Anthony Malone grew up on a farm in Summerfield, Louisiana, the youngest of nine children raised by a single mother named Shirley.
  • Tim DuncanTim Duncan was born on the 25th of April 1976, on the island of Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and he nearly never played basketball at all.
  • Stephen CurryStephen Curry was born on the 14th of March, 1988, at Akron General Medical Center in Ohio, and grew up shooting baskets on a backyard court in Charlotte…
  • Joel EmbiidJoel Embiid scored 70 points on the 22nd of January 2024, breaking a franchise record that had stood since Wilt Chamberlain set it in 1967.
  • Kawhi LeonardKawhi Leonard hit a shot on the 12th of May, 2019, that bounced off the rim four times before falling. Game 7. Eastern Conference semifinals.
  • Tom BradyTom Brady arrived at the New England Patriots' old Foxboro Stadium as a sixth-round draft pick, carrying a pizza box and wearing the look of someone who had…
  • Isiah ThomasIsiah Lord Thomas III grew up on the West Side of Chicago, the youngest of nine children, in a household that would eventually be without his father.
  • Kevin LoveKevin Love's uncle is Mike Love, a co-founder of the Beach Boys. His cousins Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Dennis Wilson were also founding members of the…
  • Scottie PippenScottie Pippen grew up in Hamburg, Arkansas, the youngest of twelve children, and was not offered a single college scholarship out of high school.
  • Tony ParkerTony Parker walked into the San Antonio Spurs' summer camp before the 2001 NBA draft as an unknown teenager from France.
  • Magic JohnsonMagic Johnson stood at the free throw line on the 7th of November 1991 and told the world he had HIV. He was 32 years old, five-time NBA champion, and…
  • Chris BoshChris Bosh once stood at center court in Toronto's Air Canada Centre as fans broke into a chant usually reserved for the league's biggest stars: 'MVP'.
  • Klay ThompsonKlay Alexander Thompson was born on the 8th of February 1990, the son of Mychal Thompson, the first overall pick of the 1978 NBA draft.
  • Kyrie IrvingKyrie Andrew Irving was born on the 23rd of March 1992 in Melbourne, Australia, the son of two American expatriates who had followed basketball to the other…
  • George GervinGeorge Gervin scored 63 points in a single regular-season game while protecting a scoring title by the slimmest margin in NBA history: seven-hundredths of a…
  • Big Three (Miami Heat)The Miami Heat's Big Three announced themselves to the world on the night of the 3rd of January 2011, when LeBron James, fresh off a road win over the…
  • Chauncey BillupsChauncey Ray Billups was born on the 25th of September, 1976 in Denver, Colorado. He grew up in a city that would later become his professional home base for…
  • Dikembe MutomboDikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo arrived in Washington, D.C. in 1987 speaking almost no English. He had grown up in Kinshasa, attended…
  • Terry RozierTerry William Rozier III carries a nickname meant to unsettle opponents: Scary Terry. In the fall of 2025, though, it was the Federal Bureau of Investigation…
  • Walt FrazierWalt Frazier posted 36 points, 19 assists, and six steals in the seventh game of the 1970 NBA Finals, while his teammate Willis Reed limped through just two…
  • Kareem Abdul-JabbarOn the road against Utah on the 5th of April 1984, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar caught a pass from Magic Johnson and rose into his skyhook from 15 feet.
  • Ben SimmonsBen Simmons arrived at the 2016 NBA draft carrying the weight of the highest expectation the league can bestow: the first overall pick.
  • Andrei KirilenkoAndrei Kirilenko was born on the 18th of February 1981 in Izhevsk, a Soviet industrial city whose most famous export was a rifle.
  • Damon JonesDamon Jones once told anyone who would listen that he was "the best shooter in the world." Not one of the best. Not among the best. The best.
  • Earl LloydEarl Francis Lloyd stepped onto a basketball court on the night of the 31st of October 1950, and changed American sports history.
  • Joakim NoahJoakim Simon Noah was born in New York on the 25th of February, 1985. He played professional basketball for more than a decade.
  • Jesús FerreiraJesús Ferreira came off the bench in the 71st minute for FC Dallas on the 3rd of June 2017, against Real Salt Lake. Eighteen minutes later, in the 89th…
  • Cam Ward (American football)Cam Ward, born on the 25th of May 2002 in the West Columbia-Angleton area of Texas, arrived at his first college with no recruiting stars, no national…