Forgotten player dubbed the 'next Michael Jordan' never played a minute in the NBA despite outplaying Kobe Bryant

There are stories of super-talented youngsters who fail to make the grade in every sport.

But for a basketball prodigy to be considered the "next Michael Jordan" yet never make a single appearance in the NBA represents one of the most shocking examples of a failed wonderkid.

In the mid-1990, Schea Cotton was regarded as arguably the best high school basketball talent in the entire United States. He once reportedly got the better of a young Kobe Bryant in a 1v1 contest and dunked on future NBA MVP, Hall of Famer and Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett three times in an AAU game.

But Cotton failed to live up to expectations due to a couple of cruel twists of fate.

Schea Cotton speaking at the 2016 LA Film Festival (Getty)

The first was a shoulder injury in his late high school career that set him back. And the second was due to being banned from playing at the college level by the NCAA.

Cotton suffered with learning difficulties and so was allowed additional visual aides to complete his SATs. Although this was approved by the official examination authorities, the NCAA – which governs college sports in America – considered his SAT results to be fraudulent and ruled that he could not participate in collegiate basketball.

He instead attended junior college while building a legal battle against the NCAA, which he eventually won and went on to earn a scholarship at the University of Alabama, for whom he played for one year.

Cotton then entered the NBA draft in 2000 but was not selected. Instead, he carved out a 10-year professional career in Europe, China and in the minor leagues in the US, even playing for the Harlem Globetrotters in the mid-2000s.

Now 46 years old, Cotton has started a foundation with which he hopes to pass on lesson from his career to youngsters trying to make their way in the sport.

"Being able to pass along my insight, my experience, my talent and gifts that God has bestowed upon me has been a true blessing," he told the Chicago Crusader in 2020. "I’m really grateful to be in this position — to have a second chance to make a wrong right and be able to impact a lot of people’s lives. I don’t want it to happen to anyone else’s kid."

"It’s nice compliments that people appreciated your body of work. It’s like a stamp. I’m cemented now. I’m thankful and I’m grateful for that.

"But there’s other things that I possess that are much deeper than basketball that I think the world is going to be able to experience now little by little, with things that I am doing today in my life, people that I am impacting, and the kids that I’m working with."