KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Paul Pierce and Antawn Jamison forged a lasting friendship when they arrived in St. Louis in April 1995 for the McDonald’s All-American Game, the traditional showcase for the best high school basketball players in the country.
It lasted through their college years, when Pierce starred at Kansas and Jamison for fellow blueblood North Carolina. And it endured through long NBA careers, Pierce’s spent mostly with Boston and Jamison having bounced around the league.
They rekindled it this weekend, too, when Pierce and Jamison led a seven-man class that included Hersey Hawkins and the late Len Bias that was inducted into the National College Basketball Hall of Fame.
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“We played each other in the NBA for 16 years,” Jamison said. “There’s always been a mutual respect for each other, through all the battles we had. We formed a friendship and seeing him in the All-Star Game or just coming to Los Angeles, when we were in the same facility or same restaurant, we always showed respect for each other.“For me to go into the Hall of Fame with him,” Jamison said, “it just made it more special.”
Pierce and Jamison were hardly the only stars that emerged from that famous McDonald’s All-American Game. Kevin Garnett skipped college for NBA greatness, while Vince Carter, Stephon Marbury, Chauncey Billups, Ron Mercer and Shareef Abdur-Rahim were among those who parlayed exceptional college careers into standout professional ones.
“It’s really been surreal knowing that I’ve been able to leave my mark on the game of basketball at pretty much every level,” Pierce said. “As a kid growing up, I don’t know how much you think about it. You just work as hard as you can and at the end of the day, you see where you end up. But to be honored at the NBA level and the college level, it’s just a testament to the hard work that you put in.”
