The NBA Finals have been one of my favorite sporting events to watch ever since I was five years old.
What has made the Finals more exciting to watch for me is seeing the number of former star players from our state of Missouri who are playing big roles for championship teams in recent years.
As the editor of the Prep Hoops Missouri website, I get the opportunity to travel around the state and see these young standouts during their developmental years in high school. Now, players from all parts of the Show-Me State are putting in work in the NBA Finals.
The latest two in that growing group of Show-Me standouts are OG Anunoby from Jefferson City in Mid Missouri and Landry Shamet from Park Hill in the Kansas City area. Both have been instrumental in getting the New York Knicks within one game of winning the franchise’s first NBA championship in 53 years.
Anunoby and Shamet join a group that includes former Chaminade star Jayson Tatum, who led the Boston Celtics to the Finals in 2022 and a world title in 2024; former Columbia Father Tolton star Michael Porter Jr., who helped the Denver Nuggets win the world title in 2023.
Otto Porter from Scott County Central in the Bootheel was a starting forward for the Golden State Warriors championship team in 2022. Former CBC standout Patrick McCaw earned three championship rings with the Golden State Warriors (2017-18) and the Toronto Raptors (2019). A decade ago former Chaminade star David Lee was a key player for the Warriors on their first championship team in 2015.
Former CBC head coach Justin Tatum has watched all of these talented players develop into great professionals from his spot on the sidelines. He marvels at how these players, along with others, have kept the state of Missouri in the basketball spotlight.
“It is a testament to the work that these guys have put in and a testament to our city and state backing them in everything that they have been through,” said Tatum, who is now coaching professionally in Australia. “It’s just fun to watch. It’s a blessing to know that these guys have paved the way for the younger guys coming through the ranks. It shows that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, it is what you do with it.”
In the summer of 2013, Tatum was the head coach of the St. Louis Eagles 16U team, which was one of the nation’s top teams on the summer grassroots circuit. On that team were two current NBA stars: his son Jayson Tatum, who was already a national name at the time. The other was Anunoby, an up-and-coming standout from Mid-Missouri with a ton of potential.
Both have become rivals in the Eastern Conference while developing into star players. Jayson Tatum is currently one of the top players in the world with an NBA title and two Olympic gold medals under his belt. Anunoby is now at center stage as one of the top players for the Knicks, who are one game away from the world championship. He became a New York sports legend with his game-winning tip-in to win Game 4 of the Finals on Wednesday night.
“At that time, I wouldn’t have fathomed understanding what they were going to do in seven or eight years,” Tatum said. “Looking back and seeing OG making big shot after big shot while playing for one of the biggest basketball franchises in the world, it just brings me chills. I had the opportunity to help develop him when he was wet behind the ears. I’m just happy to see it and I hope he pulls it off.