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There was a point in time, up until the league banned the practice in 2006, where some of the very best players in the NBA skipped college entirely and went straight to the league out of high school.
Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, Dwight Howard and plenty of other players made the jump from high school to the NBA, but none found more lasting success than LeBron James, who won Rookie of the Year in 2004, a year after winning Ohio’s Mr. Basketball award.
In recent years, players have avoided the NCAA by playing overseas or in junior leagues like Overtime Elite in the United States. Dink Pate became the youngest professional basketball player in American history after signing with the G League Ignite last year when he was just 17 years old.
After the Ignite folded, he signed with the G League Mexican City Capitanes, where he is averaging 10.6 points and 1.6 assists in 22 games. As an oversized 6-foot-8 guard, he has the size, strength and motor to make it in the NBA.
Most mock drafts have him falling between 15-25 in the 2025 NBA Draft, although he is featured in The Break, Presented by The General docuseries, which he hopes will raise his draft stock.
He credits James, the greatest high-school-to-pro player ever, with inspiring him to take his unconventional path ahead of entering the NBA.
“My favorite player is LeBron,” Pate said in an exclusive interview with The Sporting News. “LeBron don't know how much he really impacted on my life.”
“I'm pretty sure he get it all the time that he's such an inspiring person, but LeBron is the reason I didn't go to college. LeBron is the real reason I went pro.”
Pate, born in 2006, never watched James play in high school and doesn’t remember his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but thanks to social media, he has been able to follow James’ impact.
“I manifested that at eight years old,” Pate continued. “I told myself that because I seen this video that said ‘From Irish to the NBA,’ and that's a video I will never forget. He inspired me for sure.”
James’ St. Mary Prep Fighting Irish team was one of the biggest high school programs in the country when he attended school there, but Pate is less in awe of James’ on-court dominance than he is by James’ ability to be a good character off the court.
“I just want to be another one of those dudes that has good character, a good judge of character, and can be one of those types of players you can look up to,” he finished.
The Lakers don’t own their own pick in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft, so Pate likely won’t share the court with James, although he relishes the chance to dunk on him if he gets the chance.
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