LaVine was awarded his first All-Star nomination last year, but he hadn't yet had team success since entering the NBA. Once the Chicago Bulls' season was over and things began to improve for LaVine: he was asked to Madden 23 Coins join Team America's Olympic gold team as well as he witnessed the Bulls revamp their roster using the bold addition of veteran players, and afterward, he helped push Chicago toward becoming the best team in the East.
Kupp's breakout campaign in Madden NFL 23 and LaVine's rise to the NBA seems as if they have nothing they have in their commonality but they actually grew up near each other around Seattle. Reddit users found an old article on SB Nation Seattle that detailed a 2012 high school basketball game that played LaVine against. Kupp in the state playoffs.
LaVine was a big basketball player in junior high school, and Kupp was a football star and solid basketball player who was still in search of a scholarship when he was a senior. Kupp's Davis Pirates knocked off LaVine's Bothell Cougars, who had the future All-Pro receiver in the middle of locking down the next NBA All-Star. From SB Nation Seattle on March 1st, 2012:
With a trio of seniors led by a trio of seniors, the Pirates scored an astounding 65.4 percentage in the shooting. Senior Devonte Luckett was the leading scorer with 23 points , resulting in an impressive shooting record of 11-for-15. Seniors Cooper Kupp and David Trimble each had 19 and 13 points , respectively with the Pirates. Davis utilized a huge 41-23 rebounding margin to stay in the game and maintain their lead.
Zach Lavine, considered to be the top prospect of the entire state. He was held by four points during the first quarter. Bothell had a difficult time getting any sort of offensive rhythm in Thursday's 4A quarterfinal game. Lavine scored 20 points, most of them came at times when the game was just out beyond the reach of Bothell. The Cougars were limited to 32.1 percent shooting in the game.
We dug up an YouTube footage of Kupp talking about the matchup and game against LaVine. What a beautiful internet time capsule this is.
Kupp would later go on to play football at Eastern Washington and eventually emerge as the school's highest draft pick in history in the third round in 2017. LaVine attended UCLA after graduating from high school Buy Mut 23 Coins, at which point he'd play one year before being selected as the no. 13 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
