It is not anything new that NBA takes young players who can make a big success while they are young, and there are also stories about those who retire young and still have enough time to come back in the game.
Andrew Bynum is one of them – here we meet a retired acknowledged basketball professional from the US.
He spent a maximum of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA.
After his first selection in the NBA, Andrew won two NBA championships with them.
He grew into an All-Star player and moved to the All-NBA team.
Bunym played the centre position, due to his height.
Early years
Andrew Bynum was born in New Jersey on October 27, 1987.
Bynum attended a high school in the same town he was born and that period of his life is considered to be the start of his career.
In his final year of high school, he transferred to another one, in the city nearby and stayed there until the end of high school.
During this time, Bynum made substantial results on the court and became noticed for his talent. Initially, he intended to go to the University in Connecticut since he received a scholarship, but changed his mind and eventually went to the NBA and tried out his skills there. He was 17 years old at the time, and that was the moment he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, the team with who he spent seven years.
Career Development
He was pronounced as the youngest player that was drafted by the NBA, in the history of this sport. His first coach was former player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In a game at the beginning of the season, when his team played against the Denver Nuggets, he played for 6 minutes and displayed as the youngest player to play in the championship.
Throughout the game, he made two mistakes but later showed more results.
The record relating to his adolescent years continued in the second season.
In the game against Miami Heat, he rivaled with one of the most famous players in basketball, Shaquille O’Neal. During that game, they had an altercation, where they both received technical fouls for the conflict.
In the following season, Bynum started to play in the position of centre.
That happened because of two of his teammates, who previously played the job in question, were injured.
As it turned out later, that was a good coach’s call. He showed impressive results, displaying all his abilities. At the same time, the Jersey Nets showed interest in getting him in exchange for another player, a trade highly supported by Kobe Bryant, who was known for mistreating Bynum the entire season.
Fortunately, their coached stopped this deal and, seeing Bynum’s potential, decided to let him stay in the Lakers. In this period, a few more clubs became interested in having Bynum in their team.
The following season, Bynum became the central figure in his team, helping Lakers beat the record.
Later in the season, he sustained an injury during a game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Bynum partly broke his left kneecap during the game. When this happened, the Lakers took Pau Gasol from another team.
As a consequence of his injury, Bunym missed the entire season, although reports regularly appeared about his return to playing.
After having an operation, he declared that he was ready to go back to the court and signed a new contract with the Lakers worth seven million dollars.
Bynum started the new season more than successfully. It seemed that he was finally back on track, but the injuries started to repeat.
Bynum fractured his rib, hurt his lung and sprained his knee, which all resulted in another pause from the game. He didn’t play for more than two months, and when he eventually came back, it showed how much it all affected his playing, despite the recovery.
Even though he hurt his knee again, the third time in a row, and in need for surgery, he decided to delay the surgery and continue to play. His teammates were impressed and supportive of his decision, stating how they admire his motivation and sacrifice for the team.
After finally having the surgery, it took him more time to recover that he expected longer than expected, which made him abstain from the following season’s start. That summer, during his vacation, he opened a training camp without giving the notice to his club on time. Even though that decision steered a lot of criticism, both from his peers and sports journalists, he stated that he never regretted doing so, primarily because he knew that it had to take time to rebuild his strength and return to his previous condition.
After recovering, he came back but with much lesser time on the court, primarily to decrease the chance to injure him again. His current coach suggested he would be better at a different position, something he’s been opposing for a long time. He changed his role, along with the entire team, due to Lakers’s complete change of defense strategy. That resolution resulted in success.
That season, he was fined and suspended for a personal foul and didn’t play for four games.
In 2012, another essential part of his career started. He was traded to Philadelphia 76ers. His bad luck with the number of injuries continued, forcing him to stay on the bench. Bynum had difficulties even before the training that later increased, making him not attend a single match for his new team.
A year later, after exiting the 79ers and signing with Cleveland Cavaliers, he finally made his debut. Unfortunately, his contribution was far from triumphant. With apparent weekend strength, bad overall physical shape with years of problems with injuries, particularly with his knees, they had to fire him.
Personal life
Speaking about his private life, besides the date and place of his birth, there isn’t much information available. Andrews’s parents got divorced when he was just a child, being raised by his mother, although he stated that he saw his father every summer as a kid.
He also has an older brother. Regarding his intimate relationships, it is not familiar with whether he is married or single.
In the year 2012, he was in a legal fight with some of his former next-door-neighbor in Westchester where he lived.
Andrew spoke about this and has said that he was attacked due to his color, and his choice of music and environment.
Andrew spoke how his neighbors tossed coins at his car and yelled at him because of the choices of the music he liked to listen, etc.
His next-door neighbors even knocked aggressively on his door on several occasions.
But, like in every story, his neighbors tell a different story, they are saying that Andrew shook fire alarms to scare them.
He was loud, as they said; he listened to provocative rap music.
They say that he was the neighbor from hell who sounded video plays at highest possible volumes, released his dogs to walk around the neighborhood and scared everyone.
Andrew even speeds his car in the neighborhood, dangerously raced his vehicles down the road, and did not want to talk to them, and was continually doing things against the neighborhood regulations and laws.
Earnings
Bynum is one of the wealthiest NBA players with a supposed Net Worth of 45 million dollars, and this does not come as a surprise since he is the man that played the majority of this time in NBA, In LA Lakers, just a brief time that he spent in Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers.
He has a massive mansion in LA where he lives, that has six beds and five bathrooms, and it has more than 4000 square feet.
He bought it for 1, 65 million dollars.
Andrew owns luxury cars like Ferrari 599 GTB, Ferrari F430, Nissan GT-R, TechArt Porsche, BMW M6 and Dodge Challenger. He often posts on social media.
Now, Andrew stays low – there were not many reports about this once best basketball player – Andrew left the Indiana Pacers in 2014.
Four years later, there was a piece of information that he wants to come back in NBA, and it was even said that he has an operator who was programming works with diverse teams before preparation camps for the next season start.
Andrew is not old to play for the best teams in the world – but he still needs to overcome his injuries, like knee problems.
Having said all this, we must add one more thing – Andrew does not have to worry about his money and talent, he has them both. But the question is, does this Jersey native would be able to overcome all of the significant problems, and come back and shine once again?
Quick Summary
Full name: Andrew Bynum
Date of birth: October 27, 1987
Birthplace: Plainsboro Township, New Jersey, USA
Age: 32 years
Profession: a basketball player
Height: 7 ft 0 in
Weight: 129 kg
Net Worth: 45 Million dollars