Andrew Bynum became the youngest person to join the league when he was selected by the Lakers in the 2005 NBA Draft.
Over the course of NBA history, there have been varying rules in place as to when a player was deemed eligible to enter the league. With the current rules in place, no players since 2006 have been able to challenge the 10 youngest NBA players in history.
From the league’s inception in 1946 until the Haywood v. National Basketball Association Supreme Court ruling in 1971, players were required to be four years removed from high school before entering the NBA.
After the Haywood ruling, the NBA altered its four-year rule to allow players to enter the league early in cases of hardship. Two players used that hardship rule to enter the 1975 NBA Draft directly out of high school — Darryl Dawkins (No. 5 overall pick) and Bill Willoughby (No. 19 overall pick).
Two decades would pass before the prep-to-pro leap became a trend in the mid-1990s, following the decision by Kevin Garnett to forgo his college eligibility and enter the NBA directly out of high school. Garnett was selected No. 5 overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1995 NBA Draft and went on to have a Hall of Fame career.
Over the next decade, dozens of players made the decision to enter the NBA out of high school, peaking in 2004 (with eight of the first 19 Draft picks) and 2005 (with nine total players drafted).
The current rules were established in 2006 and have held over multiple iterations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NBA and the National Basketball Players’ Association. The ruling states that all drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the Draft, and that any player that is not designated as an international player must be at least one year removed from the graduation of their high school class.
Here’s a closer look at 10 of the youngest players to make their mark in the league.
Youngest player: Andrew Bynum (18 years, 6 days)
Selected No. 10 overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2005 NBA Draft out of St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, N.J., Bynum is the youngest player to ever appear in an NBA game. The 7-foot-1 center made his NBA debut on Nov. 2, 2005 against the Denver Nuggets, just six days after his 18th birthday.
Bynum played seven seasons with the Lakers, winning championships in 2009 and 2010 and earning All-Star and All-NBA Second Team honors in 2012. The final season of his career was split between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers in 2013-14. In 418 career games, Bynum averaged 11.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
No. 2: Jermaine O’Neal (18 years, 53 days)
Jermaine O’Neal held the title of youngest player to ever play in an NBA game for almost a decade.
Selected 17th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1996 NBA Draft out of Eau Claire High School in Columbia, S.C., O’Neal held the title of youngest player to ever play in an NBA game for nearly a decade. The 6-foot-11 big man made his NBA debut on Dec. 5, 1996 against the Nuggets.
After four years in Portland, O’Neal was traded to the Indiana Pacers, where his career took off. In eight seasons with the Pacers, O’Neal was a six-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection. Following the 2007-08 season, O’Neal was traded to the Toronto Raptors and closed his career with stops in Miami, Boston, Phoenix and Golden State before retiring in 2014. In 1,011 career games, O’Neal averaged 13.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg and 1.8 bpg.
No. 3: Kobe Bryant (18 years, 72 days)
Kobe Bryant quickly made a mark on the league during his debut season in 1996.
Selected 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft out of Lower Merion High School in Philadelphia, Kobe Bryant would be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Vlade Divac two weeks later. The 6-foot-6 guard made his NBA debut on Nov. 3, 1996 against the Timberwolves, and made his first NBA start on Jan. 28, 1997, becoming the youngest player to start an NBA game at 18 years, 158 days old — a record he still holds today.
Over a 20-season career with the Lakers, Bryant built one of the greatest basketball resumes ever:
- 5x NBA champion
- 18x All-Star
- 4x All-Star MVP
- 2x Finals MVP,
- 1 league MVP
- 15x All-NBA selections (including 11 First Team honors)
- 12x All-Defensive selections (including nine First Team honors)
- 2x scoring champion with the second-highest scoring game of all-time (81 points)
- Member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
He is the only player in league history to have two different numbers retired by a single team as his No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys hang in the Crypto.com Arena rafters. Bryant is the fourth-leading scorer in NBA history with 33,643 career points as he averaged 25 ppg over 1,346 career games.
No. 4: Darko Milicic (18 years, 133 days)
Darko Milicic is the youngest player to appear in an NBA Finals game and to win an NBA title.
Selected second overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 2003 NBA Draft, the Serbian native Milicic was seen as a prospect with incredible potential. However, he was unable to achieve the level of success other top players in his stacked Draft class enjoyed. The Pistons — who won 50 games and made the conference finals in 2002 — acquired the No. 2 pick in the 2003 draft from a 1997 trade with the Memphis Grizzlies. Already a championship-caliber team, the Pistons did not need to rely on a young player in Milicic’s rookie season.
Milicic made his NBA debut on Oct. 31, 2003 vs. the Miami Heat. He averaged 4.7 minutes per game in 34 games as a rookie as the Pistons won the NBA title in the 2003-04 season. He does hold the distinction as the youngest player to appear in an NBA Finals game (18 years, 356 days) and the youngest player to win an NBA title (18 years, 360 days). After two-plus seasons in Detroit, Milicic was traded to Orlando, which was the first of five teams he played for over the final seven seasons of his 10-year NBA career. In 468 career games, Milicic averaged 6.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 1.3 bpg in 18.5 mpg.
No. 5: Stan Brown (18 years, 139 days)
Stan Brown began his professional career while still in high school, joining the Philadelphia Sphas, which played in the American Basketball League, in 1946. A year later, he joined the Philadelphia Warriors of the Basketball Association of America, the league that would rebrand as the NBA in 1949.
Brown made his BAA/NBA debut on Nov. 13, 1947 as the Warriors faced the Providence Steamrollers. Brown would play 19 games with the Warriors during the 1947-48 and returned to play 15 games with the team during the 1951-52 season. In 34 career games, he averaged 3.1 ppg and 1.1 rpg in 9.4 mpg.
No. 6: Bill Willoughby (18 years, 156 days)
Selected with the 19th overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1975 NBA Draft out of Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, N.J., Willoughby was one of two players — along with Dawkins (No. 5 overall) — to be drafted out directly out of high school following the ruling in the Haywood case.
Willoughby made his NBA debut on Oct. 23, 1975 against the New Orleans Jazz. Willoughby was an exceptional athlete with a 47-inch vertical leap and he was one of the few players to ever block Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s signature skyhook. Willoughby was a journeyman in the NBA, playing for six different teams over the course of his eight-year career. In 488 career games, he averaged 6.0 ppg and 3.9 rpg in 17.7 mpg.
No. 7: Tracy McGrady (18 years, 160 days)
Tracy McGrady began his Hall of Fame career in Toronto in 1997.
Selected ninth overall by the Toronto Raptors in the 1997 NBA Draft out of Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N.C., McGrady enjoyed Hall of Fame career despite being plagued by injuries in his prime. McGrady made his NBA debut on Oct. 31, 1997, coming off the bench for the Raptors, which he did for much of his three seasons in Toronto. McGrady then signed with Orlando as a free agent and thrived with the Magic, winning scoring titles in back-to-back seasons.
After four years in Orlando, he was traded to Houston, where he had the signature moment of his career, scoring 13 points in the final 33 seconds of a comeback win over San Antonio. After 5 1/2 seasons in Houston, McGrady bounced to the Knicks, Pistons, Hawks and Spurs to end his career. One of the most gifted offensive players ever, McGrady was a seven-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA selection and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2017.
No. 8: Yaroslav Korolev (18 years, 181 days)
Yaroslav Korolev joined the LA Clippers out of Moscow, Russia.
Selected 12th overall by the LA Clippers in the 2005 NBA Draft out of Russia, Korolev played only two seasons in the NBA as he spent the majority of his professional basketball in Europe. The 6-foot-10 power forward made his NBA debut on Nov. 4, 2005 when the Clippers faced the Hawks. He played a very limited role in his two seasons with the Clippers and was waived prior to the 2007-08 season, which led to his return to Europe. In 34 career games, Korolev averaged 1.1 ppg in 4.9 mpg.
No. 9: Andris Biedrins (18 years, 217 days)
After being drafted by Golden State, Andris Biedrins faced a career riddled by injury.
Selected 11th overall by the Golden State Warriors in the 2004 NBA Draft out of Latvia, Biedrins played nine of his 10 years in the NBA with the Warriors before spending his final season with the Utah Jazz. Biedrins made his NBA debut on Nov. 5, 2004 when the Warriors faced the Jazz. During the 2008-09 season, he averaged career highs of 11.9 ppg, 11.2 rpg and 1.5 bpg.
Biedrins battled injuries and inconsistent play in the seasons that followed in Golden State, and he was eventually traded to Utah, where he only played six games in 2013-14 to end his career. In 516 career games, Biedrins averaged 6.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg and 1.1 bpg in 21.6 mpg.
No. 10: CJ Miles (18 years, 241 days)
CJ Miles played for Utah, Cleveland, Toronto, Memphis, Washington and Boston during his career.
Selected 34th overall by the Jazz in the 2005 NBA Draft, Miles played 16 NBA seasons for seven different teams from 2005-22. Miles, who split his time between the Jazz and their D League (now G League) affiliate in his first two seasons in order to further his development — made his NBA debut on Nov. 14, 2005 against the Knicks.
After spending his first seven seasons in Utah, Miles played his next two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers. His next stop was Indiana, where he posted a career-best 13.5 ppg in 2015. Miles then signed with Toronto, where he spent a season and a half before being traded to Memphis, and closed his career with stops in Washington and Boston. In 849 career games, Miles averaged 9.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg and 1.5 3-pointers in 20.4 mpg.
