Taking it WAY back

On November 3, 1996, an 18 yr old kid made his NBA basketball debut. At the time, he was the youngest player ever to play in the NBA. Although he first wore #8, later in his career, he wore #24 for the Los Angeles Lakers. But back to that first game on 11-3-1996. He missed his only shot, committed a turnover and committed a foul; he went scoreless. Fast forward to 2014. That kid, Kobe Bryant, still plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. He has scored 31,700 points in his career to date, good enough for fourth all-time. Did I mention he has won 5 championships, league MVP, 15 time all-star, blah, blah, blah...?

Last week, another #24 made his basketball debut for the Lakers. (YMCA Jr. Lakers, that is). At 3 yrs, 5 months, Sydney Bing Xian Wang played his first basketball game. Like that Kobe Bryant guy, he went scoreless in the game. It appears these two players have a few other things in common. Both appear to be emotional players. Sydney managed to cry and play at the same time. He was running up and down the court.. all while crying. Both appear to be dedicated. Although he was crying, Sydney stuck to it. Many players would have just ran to the sidelines, to Mom and/or Dad. But not Sydney; he stuck it out. His expressive nature did make for some good photos though...