KINSTON, N.C. >> Chris Bradshaw stood in the empty Kinston High gym, a warm place on a hot July morning.
“I remember the day Michael Jordan and Laney High came in here and played us,” he said. “He went for 45 points. I said, ‘OK.’”
Banners from six of Kinston’s 11 state championships were on the wall. Jordan only passed through. The real history is homegrown.
In 2012 Brandon Ingram, then 6-foot-5, made all eight free throws in Kinston’s 2-A state championship game against Cuthbertson.
“I wasn’t stressed about it, didn’t feel pressure,” he said the other day after a Lakers’ practice.