NBA superstar Zach LaVine is a professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls. He enjoys playing basketball and shares his skills on the court so that other people can learn. Here's the 10 Facts You Didn't Know About Zach LaVine.
10. LaVine attended a three-year high school which meant he was unable to play varsity or junior varsity basketball as a freshman.
But once he was a sophomore at Bothell High School in Washington, he was promoted to the varsity team and averaged 26 points per game for the team.
His points per game as a sophomore made him the third-ranked scorer in the state of Washington.
9. LaVine credits his father, Paul, for helping him achieve much of his success – at least early in his basketball career.
To improve his son’s touch and shooting, Paul would buy old, cheap plastic swimming pools from Goodwill stores across Seattle.
Paul then purchased a load of soccer balls and basketballs to go with the old kiddie pools.
Once at home, Paul set them up around the backyard and had Zach continually shoot in to them.
According to Zach, there would be 50 or 60 soccer balls and basketballs all scattered about and he would run around the backyard shooting them into the pools.
The exercise enabled Zach to improve his touch, footwork, and sharp shooting. The Chicago Bulls shooting guard began using the drill in the third grade and would spend his time after school practicing his shot over and over again.
After practicing his shot, Zach would record the type of shots he practiced into a notebook. Now that is dedication!
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8. Speaking of Zach’s dad, Paul, the elder LaVine played professional football in the short-lived United States Football League, which lasted from 1983 to 1985.
Paul played for the Seattle Breakers in 1985 before they disbanded. In 1987, he played three games for the Seattle Seahawks during the NFL strike season. He later played in Canada.
After a tryout with the LA Raiders ended in injury, Paul hung up his football cleats. Paul went on to work in construction and helped Zach hone his basketball playing skills.
7. LaVine’s sister, Camryn, isn’t a sports star like her brother, but she has carved out a niche for herself as a social media celeb.
Her official Instagram page has over 41,000 followers with many people impressed with her fashion and fitness sensibilities.
6. LaVine went to UCLA where he played one season for the Bruins before declaring for the NBA Draft in 2014.
He started just one game for the Bruins, but played so well as a freshman that draft experts ranked him highly on their draft boards.
LaVine was recruited by Washington, Washington State, and Gonzaga before finally choosing UCLA due to their success of producing high-quality backcourt players like Russell Westbrook.
LaVine was originally recruited by coach Ben Howland, but nearly pulled out of attending UCLA when Steve Alford was hired as the coach.
In the end, he chose to go to UCLA after speaking with his family and deciding it was the best option.
5. After retiring from professional football, Paul LaVine decided to pursue his passion for softball.
He became a professional softball player and competed in tournaments and leagues. Due to seeing Paul play softball for hours at a time, Zach’s sport of choice as a youngster was baseball.
However, after watching the film “Space Jam”, he decided that basketball was the sport he wanted to play after becoming fixated on Michael Jordan and watching highlight reels of the NBA legend.
4. When LaVine joined the Chicago Bulls in 2017, teammate Robin Lopez already wore the team’s number 8 jersey.
Lopez, who played with LaVine from 2017 to 2019, willingly gave up the number 8 jersey, so LaVine could wear it.
Lopez switched to the number 42 jersey until leaving the Bulls for the Milwaukee Bucks.
LaVine began wearing the number 8 jersey due to Kobe Bryant, a player he idolized while growing up.
In January of 2020, it was announced many of the players in the NBA that wore the number 8 would switch numbers to honor Bryant.
LaVine decided against changing jersey numbers. He believes keeping the number is a better way to honor the Lakers legend.
3. In between LaVine’s sophomore and junior years of basketball at Bothell, he broke his hip playing AAU basketball in the summer.
He suffered the hip injury while attempting a dunk. When he suited up for his junior year of basketball at Bothell months later following recovery, he was the number 1 ranked basketball player in the state of Washington.
He was also one of the top 50 players in the United States.
2. In 2017, LaVine signed a massive $78 million, four-year contract with the Chicago Bulls.
After signing the contract, he bought his mom and dad the house of their dreams.
To LaVine’s astonishment, his father picked a seven-acre home in Snohomish, Washington rather than in some sunny location.
The gorgeous home cost LaVine $1.3 million and is a place where his family regularly gets together to spend time.
1. One of the most unique aspects of LaVine’s life is that he has had the same girlfriend since his senior year of high school.
LaVine met his longtime girlfriend, Hunter Mar, when the two attended Bothell High School.
The guard played a mere one season at UCLA and the two stayed together during his time in sunny Southern California.
While LaVine was off in Los Angeles, Mar played collegiate soccer for Seattle University.
The future NBA star was drafted 13th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2014 and Mar quickly joined him in Minneapolis.
The couple got engaged in April of 2020 when the Bulls guard surprised Mar with the proposal as he set up a fake photoshoot at their house.
Mar was completely fooled by the ruse as LaVine got down on one knee to propose to her.
That’s all 10 Facts You Didn't Know About Zach LaVine, tell us where you would rank Zach LaVine among the best players in the NBA!