KAT, Maxey, Durant, Tatum & Ant: NBA Stars Who Were Sports Stars of Tomorrow

For the first time since 1973, a championship banner hangs in Madison Square Garden — and one of the players who helped put it there first appeared on Sports Stars of Tomorrow as a teenager from Saint Joseph High School in McCutcheon, New Jersey. Karl-Anthony Towns, now a six-time All-Star and NBA champion alongside Jalen Brunson and the Knicks, got his introduction to basketball at Piscataway Tech, where his father coached and a young KAT tagged along to practice because there was no babysitter. He briefly stepped away for baseball before his growing frame made the choice for him. Entering his age-31 season, Towns is still far from finished.

In Philadelphia, the arrival of LeBron James and Jaylen Brown to join Joel Embiid has reshaped the Eastern Conference — but Tyrese Maxey remains the Sixers' leading scorer, coming off a season in which he averaged 28.3 points per game, earned his second All-Star selection, and was named to the All-NBA Third Team. Maxey's rise traces back to South Garland High School in the Dallas area, where he and childhood friend Chris Harris made program history by leading the Falcons to the state tournament for the first time. Scouts compared him to a John Wall–De'Aaron Fox hybrid, and the production has backed that up.

Kevin Durant appeared on Sports Stars of Tomorrow all the way back in 2006, when the show covered the McDonald's All-American Game in San Diego. His high school path was anything but linear — three schools over four years, including stints at National Christian Academy, Washington Marion, Oak Hill Academy, and finally Montrose Christian in Maryland, where coach Stu Vetter helped him find his footing. Now 38 years old and still producing for the Houston Rockets, Durant's résumé — two rings, two MVPs, four scoring titles, 16 All-Star appearances — makes his Hall of Fame case airtight.

Jayson Tatum is facing a pivotal season in Boston after tearing his Achilles in the 2025 playoffs limited him to just 16 regular season games. A high school All-American at Chaminade in the St. Louis area, Tatum came up in a program with a lineage that includes David Lee and Bradley Beal, both of whom he credits for helping him understand what it takes to reach and sustain an NBA career. Now a six-time All-Star, Tatum's health and performance will go a long way in determining where the post-Jaylen Brown Celtics land.

In Minnesota, Anthony Edwards has spent the last several seasons making good on the hype that surrounded him when he was the consensus No. 1 high school player in the country in 2019 out of Holy Spirit Prep in Georgia. At 25, he's a four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA Second Team selection whose combination of scoring, athleticism, and competitive instincts has drawn comparisons to the game's all-time greats. His former coaches describe the challenge of coaching him not as reining him in, but knowing when to get out of his way.