How Kendrick Nunn overcame being overshadowed in high school and has blossomed in Miami
The best basketball player since LeBron James. A once-in-a-generation player. The game’s next superstar.
All of these superlatives were used to describe Jabari Parker coming out of Chicago basketball powerhouse Simeon Career Academy. While Parker’s professional career has been hampered by injuries, one of his former high school teammates has been one of the early surprises of the 2019-20 season.
“Playing alongside Jabari was great,” Nunn told Stadium’s Shams Charania. “Four years at Simeon and won four state championships with him.”
Ranked 61st in the 2013 class by ESPN, Nunn says he really never felt overshadowed in high school despite Parker being deemed the number one or two overall prospect depending on the source.
“I was just going out there playing,” Nunn continued, “and honestly, I thought I was in the spotlight as well but obviously I wasn’t.”
Fast forward six years and Nunn, who started his college career at the University of Illinois before transferring to Oakland, is one of the leading candidates for Rookie of the Year. His per game averages of 15.3 points and 3.4 assists has made him an integral piece of the Miami Heat’s offense. The slights once directed towards him — undersized for the two position, going undrafted in 2018, starting only one game with the Golden State Warriors’ G League affiliate, etc... — now only serve as motivation.
“He’s been in college, he played a year already in the pros,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Nunn following the Heat’s season opener. “He has a pretty mature game and a mature disposition about him.”
Although he’s not the most vocal leader in the Heat locker room, Nunn doesn’t lack confidence. Instead, the Chicago native likes to let his play speak for itself. But when asked his thoughts on the Rookie of the Year race, Nunn wasted no time putting the league on notice.
“I definitely feel like I’m the Rookie of the Year. It’s early but the way I’ve been performing, I’m in the running for that.”
Having spent most of his basketball career overlooked, Nunn seemed due for a breakout campaign. And the timing couldn’t be better — as the organization searches for an identity in the post-Dwyane Wade era, young building blocks like Nunn, Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo mean the Heat can contend for a long time.
This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 1:12 PM.
