Baron Davis Early Life

High School \ College
Davis' grandmother and guardian, Lela Nicholson, was instrumental in pushing him to play basketball. With her encouragement, he eventually won a basketball scholarship to play at Crossroads High School, an prestigious private school in Santa Monica, California, where he rubbed elbows with the children of some of California's elite (one of his classmates was actress Kate Hudson, who is friends with Davis still and comes to some of his NBA games). While at the school, the charismatic Davis became a budding star, growing a surprising four inches between his sophomore and junior seasons, going from 5'10" to an athletic 6'2" in that span. Now able to dunk the basketball, Davis used his now-trademark explosiveness and skills to rack up numerous honors on the basketball court, culminating with his selection to play in the prestigious McDonald's All-American High School Basketball Game in 1997, where he won the Slam Dunk Contest despite being the shortest player in the competition and played with future NBA players Elton Brand; Shane Battier; Jason Collins, and Ron Artest. After a highly contested recruiting battle that saw Kansas, Georgia Tech and UCLA (among other schools) in hot pursuit for his services, Davis selected UCLA as his school of choice, so that he could play in front of his family and friends. Playing there for two years, Davis averaged 13.6 points and 5.1 assists for the Bruins. While coming down from a dunk during an NCAA Tournament game his freshman year, he tore his Anterior Cruciate ligament (ACL). Surprisingly, though, he made a full recovery the next season and seemed to have regained nearly all of the speed, quickness and explosiveness he had before the injury while doing enough on the basketball court to warrant his declaring for the 1999 NBA Draft after that sophomore campaign.

NBA Carrer
Davis was the third pick in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. His first year he backed up Eddie Jones and David Wesley, but by his second year he started all 82 games for the Hornets. Davis would lead Charlotte to a the second round of the playoffs in back-to-back years, the first being a sweep of the Miami Heat in the 2001 NBA Playoffs and the next year defeating the Orlando Magic. In the summer of 2002 the Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans. Davis would lead the Hornets back to the playoffs, but the next two years were first round exits. Injuries would plague Davis for much of his tenure in New Orleans, although he made the NBA All-Star teams in 2002 and 2004.

On February 24, 2005, Davis was traded from the Hornets to the Golden State Warriors for guard Speedy Claxton and veteran forward Dale Davis after tension with the Hornets coaching staff and several nagging injuries. The move created one of the more potent backcourts in the NBA with Davis and star guard Jason Richardson. It also saw Davis' return to California where he craved to return to since his college days in UCLA.

After two seasons in which the Warriors underachieved under coach Mike Montgomery, the Warriors hired former coach Don Nelson for the 2006-2007 season. His high scoring offensive system was designed to fit Davis uptempo style. Although Davis suffered through a knee injury, he still led the Warriors to their first playoffs since 1994. Golden State won the series against the top seeded Dallas Mavericks 4-2, making them the 1st No. 8 seed to beat a No.1 seed since the NBA changed the 1st round from a 5-game series to a 7-game series. It was numerically the largest upset in the history of the NBA playoffs, with the 67-15 Mavericks having a record of 25 games better than the 42-40 Warriors. Davis averaged 25 points in the series.