During their appearances on ‘All The Smoke‘ podcast, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett talked about one of the biggest ‘what ifs’ in the NBA’s history. Schea Cotton, considered the next Michael Jordan, when he was in high school, could never even make it into the league. When Pierce was asked about the best LA players who never played in the league, Cotton’s name was first on his mind. He said,
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“He was one of the coldest young kids I ever seen.”
Garnett said that Cotton was ahead of his time and if it weren’t for the misfortune in his career, he would’ve been one of the best. Stephen Jackson took his claim on Cotton to another level, stating that in a league where the average career span is under five years, Cotton could’ve played for 10-15 years. So, with all these legends co-signing his name, what really happened to Schea Cotton?
When Schea Cotton dominated Kobe Bryant
Unlike Cotton, people cannot say they defeated the late, great Kobe Bryant in a matchup. As a high school junior in 1996, he made the first-team Parade All-American. A year before that, Cotton had an opportunity to play against Kobe. During an interview in 2020, he recalled beating Kobe and how they formed a relationship based on mutual respect. According to Cotton, his physicality was a bit too much to handle for Kobe.
He said, “We developed a bond from that point, because I don’t know if he ever played against a guy who went at him like I did. I felt the same way about his encounter with me. I said, wow, this guy just kept coming at me, even after he knew that I’d got the better end, he just kept coming. And I loved that, because that’s how I was as a player. I didn’t back down from anybody.”
A shoulder injury that ruined it all
In what could’ve been a stellar basketball career for the Inglewood native, a shoulder injury, before his senior, compelled Cotton to miss an entire year of game time. During an AAU game against Lamar Odom, Cotton injured his shoulder and had to sit out his entire senior year after going through surgery for the damaged ligaments.
Even though that didn’t put an immediate end to his career, it surely proved to be a kickstarter for a series of unfortunate events for Cotton, due to which he could not get a chance to play in the NBA.
NCAA banned Schea Cotton
While the shoulder injury and its recovery process were already a lot to deal with, Cotton found himself on the losing side against the NCAA. He had a learning disability and could only respond well to listening as compared to reading. Because of this, he failed the first two SAT attempts. In his third attempt, Cotton cleared the 700 minimum requirement for a freshman by the NCAA. However, his result was soon invalidated, and he had to appeal to get it approved by the NCAA.
After that, he switched to several institutions hoping to get a real shot at playing basketball. After being blocked by UCLA, Cotton arrived at North Carolina State, but the NCAA invalidated his SAT scores again. After years of legal battles, he was finally declared eligible by the NCAA to play college basketball at the University of Alabama, where he averaged 15.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.6 assists, per game.
Going undrafted in the year 2000
As hot a prospect as he was in high school, the buzz around his name faded when Cotton declared for the NBA. In the 2000 NBA draft, he went undrafted and a few months later, he was invited by the Orlando Magic to play in the Orlando Summer league. That could’ve been a turning point for Cotton, unfortunately, his luck failed him again.
After just one day of summer league, a player named Conrad McRae collapsed and died during practice. That put an immediate end to the summer league and Cotton couldn’t find a grip to hold on to his hopes of making it into the league.
Cotton played professional basketball till 2010 in Serbian, French, and Chinese leagues, among others, but he never became an NBA player. Today, he stands as an example of someone whose potential was never utilized for many reasons. With the guy who could dominate Kobe and dunk over KG, the league surely would have been different.
