In the days before social media and highlight mixtapes, Jason Kidd was a bona fide phenom before even playing a single college basketball game.
"People don't know, J was the first LeBron coming out of high school," fellow San Francisco Bay Area native and Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton said. "He was good. Really, really good. In the Bay Area, that's what all the talk was about -- J-Kidd."
In the late 1980s and early '90s, Kidd was considered the next great basketball phenomenon. The teenager with a mouth full of braces but a 6-foot-4 NBA-ready body was drawing national attention and comparisons to Magic Johnson and Bob Cousy.