Curated playlist
Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Clyde DrexlerClyde Drexler couldn't make his high school basketball team as a sophomore. He later reached the Hall of Fame twice.
- Karl MaloneKarl Malone played 193 playoff games without winning a championship. That is more than any player without a ring.
- Larry BirdLarry Bird asked who would finish second at the first Three-Point Shootout, then won it.
- Patrick EwingPatrick Ewing crossed North Carolina off his list after seeing a nearby Ku Klux Klan rally. He chose Georgetown.
- Michael JordanMichael Jordan was cut from his high school varsity team as a sophomore for being too short.
- Charles BarkleyCharles Barkley became the shortest player ever to lead the NBA in rebounding.
- Scottie PippenScottie Pippen got no college scholarship offers, yet he ended up with six championship rings.
- Magic JohnsonMagic Johnson told the world he had HIV from the free throw line in 1991. He was 32 and a five-time NBA champion.
- John StocktonJazz fans greeted John Stockton's 1984 draft pick with stunned silence.
- Toni KukočToni Kukoč waited three years after the Bulls drafted him to play an NBA game. He then won three titles in Chicago.
- Arvydas SabonisArvydas Sabonis was drafted by Portland in 1986 but did not play in the NBA until 1995. He was 30 by then.
- Christian LaettnerChristian Laettner topped an ESPN fan poll as college basketball's most hated player.
- Dražen PetrovićDražen Petrović scored 112 points in one professional basketball game in 1985. He made all 22 of his free throws.
- Šarūnas MarčiulionisThe Grateful Dead backed Lithuania's basketball team with tie-dyed jerseys. Šarūnas Marčiulionis lined up the sponsors.