Curated category
NBA Most Valuable Player Award winners
- Kevin DurantKevin Durant was born on the 29th of September 1988, in Washington, D.C., to Wanda and Wayne Pratt. His father left the family when Kevin was an infant…
- LeBron JamesLeBron Raymone James entered the world on the 30th of December 1984, inside Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospital. His mother Gloria Marie James was only…
- Dirk NowitzkiDirk Werner Nowitzki was born on the 19th of June 1978 in Würzburg, West Germany. He grew up as a very tall child who stood above his peers by a foot or more…
- Kobe BryantKobe Bean Bryant entered the world on the 23rd of August 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father Joe played eight seasons in the National Basketball…
- Karl MaloneKarl Anthony Malone was born on the 24th of July, 1963 in Summerfield, Louisiana. He grew up as the youngest of nine children on a farm run by his single…
- Tim DuncanTimothy Theodore Duncan was born on the 25th of April 1976, and raised in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He grew up as the son of Ione, a professional…
- Stephen CurryWardell Stephen Curry II arrived at Akron General Medical Center on the 14th of March 1988. His father Dell played professional basketball for the Charlotte…
- Joel EmbiidJoel Hans Embiid was born on the 16th of March 1994 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. He grew up playing volleyball and soccer before switching to basketball at age 15.
- Larry BirdLarry Joe Bird was born on the 7th of December 1956 in West Baden Springs, Indiana. His father worked as a veteran of World War II and the Korean War before…
- Hakeem OlajuwonHakeem Olajuwon was born on the 21st of January 1963 in Lagos, Nigeria. He grew up as the third child among eight siblings in a working-class family that…
- Bill RussellWilliam Felton Russell was born on the 12th of February 1934, in West Monroe, Louisiana. The town operated under strict segregation laws that dictated every…
- Michael JordanOn a Tuesday in the summer of 1978, Michael Jordan stood on the basketball court at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina.
- Charles BarkleyCharles Wade Barkley was born on the 20th of February, 1963 in Leeds, Alabama. He grew up as the first black baby to be born at a segregated, all-white town…
- Magic JohnsonEarvin Johnson Jr. was born on the 14th of August 1959 in Lansing, Michigan. His father worked at General Motors while his mother cleaned homes and prepared…
- Moses MaloneMoses Eugene Malone Sr. was born on the 23rd of March 1955 in Petersburg, Virginia. He grew up as an only child raised primarily by his mother Mary.
- Nikola JokićNikola Jokić was born on the 19th of February 1995 in Sombor, a city in northern Serbia. He grew up in a cramped two-bedroom apartment shared with his…
- Shaquille O'NealShaquille Rashaun O'Neal entered the world on the 6th of March 1972, in Newark, New Jersey. His biological father was Joe Toney, a high school basketball…
- Dave CowensDavid William Cowens was born on the 25th of October 1948, in Newport, Kentucky. He grew up as one of six children to Jack and Ruth Cowens.
- Wilt ChamberlainWilton Norman Chamberlain was born on the 21st of August 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up as the sixth of nine children to Olivia Ruth and…
- Giannis AntetokounmpoIn the cramped apartment of a Athens neighborhood called Sepolia, five brothers slept on mattresses laid out on the floor.
- Bob CousyBob Cousy fell out of a tree when he was twelve years old. The fall broke his right hand and forced him to play left-handed until it healed.
- Steve NashStephen John Nash entered the world on the 7th of February 1974 in Johannesburg, South Africa. His mother was Welsh and his father was English.
- Kareem Abdul-JabbarFerdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. grew up in the Dyckman Street projects of Inwood, Upper Manhattan, after moving there at age three in 1950.
- Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderShaivonte Aician Gilgeous-Alexander was born on the 12th of July 1998, in Toronto, Ontario. He grew up nearby in the city of Hamilton.
- Julius ErvingJulius Winfield Erving II was born on the 22nd of February 1950 in East Meadow, New York. He moved to Roosevelt at age 13 and attended Roosevelt High School.