With the rise of AAU circuits and travel teams in youth basketball, players who become rivals in college or the professional ranks had often teamed up on the youth circuit. For example, Zion Williamson and Ja Morant were AAU teammates in South Carolina before becoming the first and second overall picks in the 2019 NBA Draft.
However, rivals being teammates at any point in their careers used to be rare. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird grew up in neighboring states and were in the same NBA rookie class, but they never crossed paths as teammates as youths, in college or in the NBA, including All-Star Games. It wasn’t until the 1992 Summer Olympics and the Dream Team that they shared the court as teammates, some 13 years after they first faced off in the 1979 NCAA Championship Game.
