“Cooper Kupp outplayed Zach LaVine in a high school championship tournament game”: How the Rams star receiver once bested the Bulls superstar in high school

Cooper Kupp once had his high school basketball team beat Zach LaVine and his squad during a championship game. 

Zach LaVine has cemented himself as a premier guard in the NBA. This wasn’t always the case however as he most definitely worked his way up the league totem pole. His time with the Minnesota Timberwolves, LaVine was looked at as merely a high-flying vertical spacer with the potential to become what he is today. 

Prior to making it to the league, LaVine was a product of UCLA, a university he attended after being a 4-star recruit coming out of high school. Someone who he bumped paths with along the way, unbeknownst to the several NBA fans, is star wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams, Copper Kupp.

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Most know Kupp was the second of the one-two punch that is Stafford-Kupp but many aren’t familiar with the fact that he was a multi-sport athlete in high school. 

With both Cooper and Zach having grown up in Washington, they were bound to face off against one another as Kupp was merely a class ahead of the Bulls star. 

Cooper Kupp outplayed Zach LaVine during a championship game in 2012. 

Though Zach LaVine was a junior and Kupp was a senior during this game between the Davis Pirates and the Bothell Cougars, it is quite unprecedented that an All-NBA talent got blown out by 34 points by a man who is in a completely different sports league. 

What makes this matchup even more interesting is that Kupp was the primary defender on Zach for majority of the game and held him to 4 points in the first half. Cooper played his role to a tee and had a hyper efficient night, shooting 9-11 from the field and finishing with 19 points.

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LaVine would go on to score 16 in the second half but the game had already been decided in favor of the Pirates by then. 

Of course, looking back at this now and the game is close to being obsolete as it was in no way, shape, or form telling of what was in store for either of these highly successful athletes.