The current generation of elite basketball players are introduced to each other at an earlier age due to the rise of AAU, summer basketball and high school All-Star games that feature the best throughout the country.

Even though Kevin Love met several of his USA teammates in high school, he first met Tyson Chandler as a sixth grader.

Chandler was a senior in high school at Dominguez when he played in a tournament in Portland, Oregon. Love was selected as a ball boy for Dominguez.

“I followed Tyson around the whole week,” says Love. “I was this suburban, pudgy white kid thinking one day I could be as good as him.” 

Love rebounded for Chandler and tried to talk to him whenever possible.

When Love was a rookie, he asked Chandler whether he remembered him. Love told the story to Chandler, who then remembered the interaction from nine years prior.

“He was just this little fat kid,” said Chandler. “But he was funny.”