James Worthy

Birth Name:

James Ager Worthy

Birth Place:

Gastonia, North Carolina, United States

Profession

Actor, Producer

Broke the NBA record for the highest field goal percentage in a five-game playoff series in 1985
Was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003
Was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996
Despite an injury early on in his college career at the University of North Carolina, he went on to play in a legendary team during his junior year that featured Sam Perkins and Michael Jordan
His basketball exploits were already starting to make front-page news by the time he was a ninth-grader at Grier Junior High in Gastonia, N․C
Was drafted first overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1982 NBA Draft
Quote: "I can remember coming into the league and being under the likes of Kareem, Jamaal Wilkes, Magic, Norm Nixon and Bob McAdoo․ Now I find myself in that situation․ Guys are telling me how there were in junior high, watching us beat the Celtics in '85․"
Quote: "[on a college injury] "I wasn't traveling with the team, I wasn't going to all the practices, and I wasn't a part of the day-to-day routine․ It really made me wake up and expose myself to all kinds of people - not confine myself to just basketball․""
His trademark move on the basketball court was a one-handed swooping dunk
Spent his whole career in the NBA playing for the Los Angeles Lakers

Fast Facts