Andrew Bynum

Andrew Bynum (born October 27, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player.

He played the majority of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

After they selected him in the first round of the 2005 NBA draft with the 10th overall pick, the 7 ft center won two NBA championships with the team in 2009 and 2010.

He played in the 2005 McDonald's All-American game where he tallied 9 points and 5 rebounds.

He originally planned to attend the University of Connecticut on a basketball scholarship; however, the 17-year-old made the decision to go directly into the NBA and made himself eligible for the 2005 NBA draft, where he was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the 2005 NBA draft, Bynum was selected 10th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers.

At age 17 years, 249 days, Bynum was 12 days younger than Jermaine O'Neal, the previous youngest player drafted by an NBA team.

After selecting him in the draft, the Lakers hired Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to work with Bynum.

Bynum played in a preseason game at 17 years old making him the first player to play in the NBA at 17 years of age.

On November 2, 2005, during the Lakers' season opener against the Denver Nuggets, Bynum played six minutes and became the youngest player ever to play in an NBA game at age 18 years, 11 days.

During the game, he missed his two field goal attempts but had two rebounds and two blocks.

In his second season, Bynum was still the youngest player in the league, due to his draft year being the last that a player could be drafted straight out of high school.

In a game against the Miami Heat on January 16, 2006, Bynum matched up against former Laker center Shaquille O'Neal for the first time.

At one point, O'Neal dunked over Bynum on a putback attempt.

On the next play, Bynum spun past O'Neal and dunked the ball.

He then ran down the court and shoved O'Neal with his elbow, who retaliated by elbowing Bynum's upper chest.

Teammate Kobe Bryant quickly stepped in between the two.

Both Bynum and O'Neal received technical fouls for the incident.

With Lakers centers Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown injured at the start of 2006–07, Bynum was the starting center for the first 15 games of the season.

In his first career start, he scored 18 points and had nine rebounds against the Phoenix Suns on October 31, 2006.

His first career double-double on November 7 included a season-high 20 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

On January 26, 2007, he had a career-high seven blocks and a season-high 16 rebounds against the Charlotte Bobcats.

He played in all 82 games during the season and started 53, finishing with averages of 7.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in just over 21 minutes per game.

He was named an All-Star and selected to the All-NBA Team in 2012.

Bynum was an All-American player in high school before he decided to forgo college and enter the NBA.

He became the youngest player ever to play in an NBA game.

After seven seasons with the Lakers, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2012 as part of a four-team deal that sent All-Star center Dwight Howard to Los Angeles.

Bynum missed the entire 2012–13 season because of knee problems.

He signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he briefly played before being traded to the Chicago Bulls, who subsequently released him.

He then signed with the Indiana Pacers for the remainder of the 2013–14 season.

Bynum was born in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey.

His parents, Ernest Bynum and Janet McCoy, divorced when he was a one year old.

He spent summers visiting his father in North Carolina.

Bynum has one older brother, Corey.

Bynum attended St. Joseph High School, in Metuchen, New Jersey during his junior and senior year.

For most of his freshman year, he attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North located in Plainsboro, New Jersey.

For the remainder of his freshman year and his sophomore year he attended Solebury School in Solebury, PA.

In his junior year of high school Bynum averaged 16.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, and 6.0 blocks.

As a senior, he averaged 22.4 points, 16.8 rebounds and 5.3 blocks per game.

During his junior and senior year at St. Joseph High School, Bynum finished his high school career averaging 19.2 points, 14.9 rebounds, and 5.6 blocks in 32 appearances.