Depending on age, your basketball heroes may differ. For those of us in an “older” generation, Michael Jordan was the absolute God among men. In Oregon, it was Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, and Jerome Kersey.
But to no one’s surprise, for kids that are Chris Duarte’s age, those heroes were Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Now for Duarte, there’s a decent chance he may wind up playing on the same team as LeBron and Kobe.
In a story on LeBronwire.com, it talked about how Duarte went on the HoopsHype podcast with Michael Scotto and discussed who he liked watching while he grew up in the Dominican Republic:
Growing up, we used to watch a lot of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Back in my day where we’re from, I’ve got a couple of friends, and we used to make teams of Bryant and James and go against each other.
Most mock drafts have Duarte being selected in the mid-first round or a little lower. The Los Angeles Lakers currently have the No. 22 pick in the NBA draft, so the former Duck guard landing in LA isn’t inconceivable, as ESPN predicted this past week.
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Los Angeles Lakers select Chris Duarte with No. 22 pick in latest ESPN mock draft
It would potentially be the perfect spot and team for Duarte to begin his career. There’s is no other player Duarte could learn from than the future Hall of Famer and to learn more about Kobe’s legacy than in the Lakers organization.
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