From CIF state champions to NBA All-Stars: Artesia of Lakewood grad James Harden (left) and Santa Margarita grad Klay Thompson. Photos: Wikipedia.com.
Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, who scored 37 points to lead Santa Margarita to a CIF D3 state title, became the 50th player from a California high school who has been selected to an NBA all-star team in 2015. In honor of that total, we decided to start a new NBA All-Star Alumni list for our exclusive state record book.
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Since the NBA began having all-star games in 1951, there has only been three years when there hasn’t been at least one former California high school player who has been in the game or who was named to the roster but couldn’t play.
Those years – 1971, 1992 & 1993 – contrast to the higher totals of recent years, such as 2013, when there was a record-tying total of five.
Four players were in the 2015 All-Star Game in New York with one of those – Golden State sharpshooter Klay Thompson (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM) – making it for the first time. The other three were James Harden (Lakewood Artesia); Russell Westbrook (Lawndale Leuzinger) and Damian Lillard (Oakland). Lillard was just added to the West team on Monday of last week due to an injury to the L.A. Clippers’ Blake Griffin. Lillard played in his first all-star game in 2014.
In addition to 2013, the other seasons in which there were five California NBA All-Stars were 1983, 1981, 1958 and 1959.
Schools that have had the most NBA all-stars is a tie with three each for McClymonds of Oakland and Dominguez of Compton.
McClymonds, of course, is the alma mater of all-time great Bill Russell, who also still has more NBA All-Star appearances than any other player from California with 11. Three players — Jason Kidd (Alameda St. Joseph) and Paul Pierce (Inglewood) plus James Harden — (Lakewood Artesia) have played in the game 10 times.
Here is a complete list of the more than 50 from California to have been NBA All-Stars (note: some may not have actually played in year listed due to injury):
Bill Cartwright of Elk Grove was an NBA All-Star for the New York Knicks and later became a key starter for the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. Photo: Cal-Hi Sports archives.
Gilbert Arenas (Grant, Van Nuys) 2005, 2007
LaMelo Ball (Chino Hills) 2022
Don Barksdale (Berkeley) 1953
John Block (Glendale) 1973
Joe Caldwell (Fremont, Los Angeles) 1969, 1970
Bill Cartwright (Elk Grove) 1980
Cedric Ceballos (Dominguez, Compton) 1995
Tyson Chandler (Dominguez, Compton) 2013
Phil Chenier (Berkeley) 1974, 1975, 1977
Antonio Davis (McClymonds, Oakland) 2001
Baron Davis (Crossroads, Santa Monica) 2002, 2004
DeMar DeRozan (Compton) 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022
James Donaldson (Burbank, Sacramento) 1988
Mark Eaton (Cypress) 1989
Paul George (Knight, Palmdale) 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021
Gale Goodrich (Poly, Los Angeles) 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
James Harden (Artesia, Lakewood) 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
James Harden as a prep without the beard. Photo: Student Sports archives.
Jrue Holiday (Campbell Hall, North Hollywood) 2013
Mel Hutchins (Arcadia) 1956, 1957
Darrell Imhoff (Alhambra) 1967
Dennis Johnson (Dominguez, Compton) 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985
Kevin Johnson (Sacramento) 1990, 1991, 1994
Marques Johnson (Crenshaw, Los Angeles) 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1986
Steve Johnson (San Gorgonio, San Bernardino) 1988
Jason Kidd (St. Joseph, Alameda) 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010
Bill Laimbeer (Palos Verdes, PV Estates) 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987
Kawhi Leonard (King, Riverside) 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021
Damian Lillard (Oakland) 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Tom Meschery (Lowell, San Francisco) 1963
Reggie Miller (Poly, Riverside) 1990, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000
Willie Naulls (San Pedro) 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962
Gary Payton (Skyline, Oakland) 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Paul Pierce (Inglewood) 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
Jim Pollard (Oakland Tech) 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955
Bob Rule (Poly, Riverside) 1970
Bill Russell (McClymonds, Oakland) 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966,1967, 1968, 1969
Woody Sauldsberry (Compton) 1959
Fred Scolari (Galileo, San Francisco) 1952, 1953
Ken Sears (Watsonville) 1958, 1959
Bill Sharman (Porterville) 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960
Lonnie Shelton (Foothill, Bakersfield) 1982
Paul Silas (McClymonds, Oakland) 1972, 1975
Phil Smith (Washington, San Francisco) 1976, 1977
Reggie Theus (Inglewood) 1981, 1983
Klay Thompson (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM) 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Kiki Vandeweghe (Palisades, Pacific Palisades) 1983, 1984
Bill Walton (Helix, La Mesa) 1978, 1979
Russell Westbrook (Leuzinger, Lawndale) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Paul Westphal (Aviation, Redondo Beach) 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981
Sidney Wicks (Hamilton, Los Angeles) 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Jamaal Wilkes (Santa Barbara) 1976, 1981, 1983
George Yardley (Newport Harbor, Newport Beach) 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960
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