4 Times Young NBA Players Destroyed Their Idols

[Music] first person so i was two years old you know he brought so much creativity to the game here comes julius irving you know what's next [Applause] you know the under the hand against the lakers we're behind the basket we all try to do it once he did it [Applause] i guess i would have never had those visions if i hadn't seen dr j in his time no matter where a player comes from or where he ends up almost everyone who's laced up and stepped onto the court has looked up to someone a player who inspired and motivated them to strive for greatness michael jordan looked up to dr j kobe looked up to mike devin booker looked up to kobe and tyler hero looked up to devin booker but unlike them the vast majority of us will never get to play against the players who we looked up to it's only something we can dream about but what if you not only got to play against the player who inspired you but you also balled out and beat that player at his own game what if you used your arsenal and skills against the man that taught you those moves and gave him buckets in the process i'd say such a feat would fall in the category of every hooper's dream well throughout nba history many future stars went on to do just this even the goat himself on april 5th 1985 a rookie michael jordan got to face off against his childhood idol julius irving but this wasn't the first time they had played each other earlier that same season they had three other games where they were virtually evenly matched going toe to toe bucket for bucket but in the last matchup of jordan's rookie season the scale of their brief rivalry would tip drastically mj dealing with dr j fairly similar to how he dealt with everyone else johnson 6.4 michael's going to take an 18-footer and he'll zip it alley-oop oh jordan and stayed with it jordan the turnaround dotted line two for jordan and he has 11. oh look at that move by michael what leader michael takes it in reverse yes holy toledo in a play by michael jordan and he has 19. right and he wanted to take a three-pointer when he left the vocals who are fighting back jordan going to shoot it from 18 yet jordan yeah he had the good hard sense to make the shot go through i don't mean through the basket with you in 38 minutes a rookie michael jordan goes absolutely berserk on a veteran all-star julius irving dropping 40 points in just 21 shots julius irving was held to just 19 points on the night after going back and forth with his childhood idol all season long julius irving didn't just hand mike the torch mike snatched it out of dr j's hand because from this game forward mike spent the next two seasons giving julius the business every time they faced off averaging 37 points per game against julius until he retired in and by then julius admired michael's game just as much as michael admired his and the same admiration was shared between two other successors within dr j's lineage the master and the student throughout his entire youth devon booker looked up to kobe in his game even saying that he shaped his entire game after kobe's but with devin booker being 18 years younger than kobe the idea of playing against his idol in the nba was pretty far-fetched growing up it would take a miracle for this to occur and by miracle i mean kobe playing 20 years in the league and booker entering the league at just 18 years old a unique situation that granted booker the opportunity to play against the one and only kobe bryant their first scheduled matchup taking place on november 16 2015 the first of just a few chances for booker to go head-to-head against his mentor but kobe didn't suit up that night a missed opportunity but no worries booker would get another shot against the black mamba less than two months later on january 3rd scratch that kobe was inactive for this game as well okay no sweat let's just fast forward to march 18th when the suns were scheduled to face off against the lakers at staples center this was booker's time to shine except it wasn't because kobe was absent from this game as well three games against the lakers but zero against kobe now remember this was during kobe's farewell tour if booker didn't play him this season he would never get the chance to but as fate would have it the suns would play the lakers one more time that season and this time around kobe was laced up and ready to go but so was the 19 year old devin booker as the kobe farewell tour passes through the desert it's the phoenix suns versus the los angeles lakers on fox sports arizona colby thought he could catch him body failed working on your game it's things that you can still do here's devin booker working assist to the lakers three oh raising up he's mellow there's no question boxing [Applause] [Music] booker knowing this was the only game he would ever get to play against the great kobe bryant did not hesitate to pull out all the stops and show off his entire arsenal going straight to moves that he learned from kobe and using these moves against the man himself dropping 28-7 on the night now out of the 76 games devin booker played in his rookie season take a wild guess when and where his best game took place and that's no coincidence after the game kobe spoke about booker and how extremely skilled and gifted he was noting that booker tried to use his signature move against him on the very first possession of the game key word tried playing against booker tonight he went straight to my move first time he caught it yeah yeah y'all gonna beat me on my move man like you know but i mean it was it was it was great to see there's absolutely great decision because i remember i you know i used to i did the same thing with nj i think he's fantastic i think he has a right attitude he has the right competitive spirit i think his footwork's extremely sound his fundamentals are extremely sound and now it's just about him figuring out exactly what his game is then he can go to that every single night and then make counters off of it but he has the skills in here the last thing that kobe said to booker on the court that night was be legendary something that booker will carry with him for the rest of his life speaking of being legendary one of the few active players that has reached this elusive status is kevin durant a player that quite possibly gets more comparisons than any other player in the nba quick question what do you call a young extremely long and tall forward who can shoot the ball well you calm the next kevin durant or at least that's what we continue to see from basketball fans year after year with up-and-coming players that even slightly resemble kd but one player that has lived up to that title better than anyone else is brandon ingram ingram got comparisons to kevin durant dating way back to high school when everything down to his demeanor playstyle and stature reminded fans of the slim reaper and this is exactly by brandon ingram's design yeah did you have did you have a favorite player somebody that you idolized or somebody that you tried to model your game after when you were when you not necessarily when you're eight years old but i mean when you realize oh i'm i'm tall i'm athletic i can shoot like i could play basketball like this is who i want to be on court for me it was always kevin durant really uh like i watched them in high school when i watched him in college and i was definitely i watched them from this working year to this point and that that like when i seen them i'm like yeah i want to do i am and you could say that ingram did a solid job of shaping his game after kevin durant's since kd had this to say after playing against ingram way back in 2016. before ingram even played a single game in the nba oh man he's you know he's he reminds me of myself but he's a little farther along than i was at that stage and i feel like you know if he continues to keep working he's with a great organization that's going to push him and put him in good positions to be who he is and continue to just work hard man and believe in himself and everything is possible for him so you know he's a great player man i have to watch them almost every game this season i'm a huge fan so you know somebody first person i can say that i can look in the mirror and look at him and i feel like i'm looking in the mirror so i'm rooting for him little did durant know just 16 months later ingram would give katy problems on the biggest stage at the time brandon was just 20 years old and unlike other successors on this list ingram was just one of few to out duel his mentor while their mentor was still in their prime but he did here is brandon ingram's mid-range very deep open ingram on its way down into the lakers shot clock at eight ingram getting aggressive all he finds in that second quarter not nearly as many ingram underneath you can see his confidence he's hard to get to the ball in that shot six point lead minute and a half left ingram with a big step around and he's got a new career high [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he put it up and out brandon ingram just picked kevin durant's pocket after an overtime thriller the warriors ended up getting the win but a young brandon ingram for the first time outdoor demand that he shaped his entire game after dropping 32 points with three blocks and two steals two durant's 29 points it was clear from tip off that ingram wanted to show durant that he wasn't just another kid who received an unwarranted comparison but you want to know what's crazier than a 20 year old outscoring a prime kevin durant those 32 points that ingram scored were by far the most points he had scored in a game all season and just like with booker and kobe this was no coincidence i i'm just curious and we're going to go over to j will right now but when people say the comparison people make of you looking for projecting you forward is to russell westbrook j bill as you heard in that little sound right there saying he's russell westbrook when you hear people say that what's your reaction um it's a good feeling but at the same time i just want to be josh and westbrook obviously my favorite player so just hearing that i mean is good but i don't want to be nobody else i just want to be jaw westbrook with the steal baseline to baseline carol westbrook on the fly lack of bench scoring but and westbrook down there at his home in south carolina i i want to talk about westbrook i've been meaning to bring this up with you too as westbrook with an education and anticipation there you didn't think all these stories would be in favor of the little guy did you leading up to the 2019 draft john morant was getting every comparison in the book from john wall to darren fox to even derrick rose but the one comp that seemed to stick with nba fans was russell westbrook john morant often citing westbrook as an inspiration and a player who he shaped his own game after but like many rookies before him john moran got a tough introduction to the league when russ handed him 33 9 and 8 while locking morant down to just 12 points in their first ever match-up it was a rude awakening for morant who admired russ's game but was now for the first time on the receiving end of russ's beatdowns but just 12 months later moran faced off against russ again and this time westbrook was nothing more than another player in morant's way apparently what they're going to do is they're going to do away here's marantz have to hustle back and even on those slow breaks they're able to get it beale closes out and jock going baseline and seven international players on this washington roster two of them combined there wow form jaw dotted line iran's third assist of the game rises and he's had the lobby hard for that call tony brothers finally made it marantz yes are from outside the three-point line 89 marant to the rim ending since the second quarter morant full head of steam against nedo yes a winning record on the road and a losing record at home morant floats it and hit winslow morant for three bingo why not young fella why not in their first matchup since moran got shut down jaw completely flipped the tables on russ going for 35 and 10 on 61 shooting giving russ buckets that he learned from brody himself things got so bad that at one point the wizards had to switch russ off of morant to try to stop his offensive attack but russ and the wizards couldn't stop him he was just too quick too shifty and too good and quickly jaw has gained the respect of the man he was once compared to if russ was holding a torch here he'd be handing it to jaw all of these players once dreamed of just playing in the nba the idea of getting the best of their childhood idol nearly impossible to even fathom michael jordan was in the 6th grade when julius irving won his first aba championship devin booker was nine years old when kobe dropped 81. by the time durant won his first scoring title brandon ingram hadn't even played his first aau game and when russell westbrook won his mvp jon morant was a role player on his high school basketball team the odds of these young players going toe to toe with the men they look up to slim to none and yet those odds never stopped him makes you wonder if anyone watching this video right now will accomplish this same feat as they say work until your idols become your rivals hope you all enjoyed and as always until next time you

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Keywords: LeBron James, LA Lakers, House of Highlights, ESPN, NBA highlights, Jimmy Highroller, Kobe Bryant, NBA trash talk, Michael Jordan highlights, Buzzer Beaters, Kobe Bryant's best game, LA Clippers, Miami Heat, NBA Finals, Shannon Sharpe, James Harden Nets, Liangelo Ball, Detriot Pistons, NBA Trades, Ball Brothers, Lamelo Ball Practice, Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie Irving, Harden Trade, James Harden, Nets Big 3, Ankle Breakers, Top Shot, Lamelo Ball, Sports Cards

Id: kglVKPXIleA

Length: 14min 39sec (879 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 23 2021