Five former Broward County high school players selected in NBA draft
Broward County had an unprecedented showing at Thursday night’s NBA draft.
Five former Broward high school players were selected, four of which came in the first 11 picks. That’s the most former players in the top 15 ever for Broward.
First it was the Thompson twins, who played at Pine Crest. Amen Thompson went No. 4 to the Houston Rockets, followed by his brother, Ausar, one pick later to the Detroit Pistons.
Taylor Hendricks was next, the No 9 pick to the Utah Jazz. He played at both University School and Calvary Christian.
Then, Universty School’s Jett Howard went No. 11 to the Orlando Magic.
Chaminade-Madonna’s Toumani Camara finished it off as the No. 52 pick by the Phoenix Suns in the second round.
Amen Thompson tied former University School guard and current Toronto Raptor Scottie Barnes as the highest-drafted former player in county history.
“We had some great games locally,” former U-School coach Jim Carr said of the competition then. “We played a very good schedule nationally, but it was always good to compete against those guys no question about it. Happy for everybody.”
The Thompson twins made the Pine Crest varsity team as eighth-graders before ascending as two of the top players in the country. They led Pine Crest to a state title as juniors, each averaging more than 20 points per game, and were named Sun Sentinel Broward Small Schools Co-Players of the Year. Amen and Ausar left Pine Crest together after their junior seasons to join the professional Overtime Elite league.
Hendricks was part of a loaded U-School team that featured Barnes, Howard and 2020 second-rounder Vernon Carey Jr. He transferred to Calvary Christian for his final two years of high school, won back-to-back state championships, then played one season at UCF and is now the program’s first-ever first-round draft pick.
Cilk McSweeney, Hendricks’ former coach at Calvary Christian, was in attendance of Thursday’s draft in New York.
“It was awesome,” McSweeney said. “A lot of smiles, a lot of joy and a lot of pictures.”
Howard, a part of that stacked University School team, transferred to IMG Academy for his final two high school seasons. He then played college hoops at Michigan for one year under his dad, Juwan, the Wolverines’ head coach and a former 19-year NBA player, including his last years with the Heat.
With the Magic, Howard will join forces with Jonathan Isaac, who played two seasons at the International School of Broward in Hollywood.
“Coaches in general — it doesn’t matter the level, high school, college, or grassroots — they throw around the word ‘pro’ pretty liberally,” Carr said, “but, both of those kids always had great habits. They always chased winning, they always played the right way and they have the metrics and potential to do it.”
Camara was born in Belgium, but moved to South Florida and played high school basketball at Chaminade-Madonna. He played two years of college at Georgia before transferring to Dayton for two more seasons, where he became an all-conference player. Camara is the first Chaminade-Madonna player to ever be drafted into the NBA.
“It’s such an honor,” McSweeney said. “A big time honor for Broward County because it’s known for football.”
The NBA Summer League begins in two weeks. It will be the former Broward County stars’ first opportunities to play games with some of their new teammates.
