7 NBA Families Where the Son Was Better Than the Father
In the NBA, bloodlines run deep. Some of the greatest players in league history did not just pass down their love of the game to their children. They passed down the instincts, the work ethic, and the burning desire to compete at the highest level. But what happens when the son doesn't just follow in his father's footsteps; he completely outgrows them? These seven NBA families tell that exact story. Fathers who built respectable, admirable careers. And sons who took everything their dads gave them and turned it into something far greater.
- Krishna Sagar
- 7 min read
There is something uniquely powerful about a basketball family. The hours spent in the driveway. The conversations about the game at the dinner table. The front-row seat to a professional career that most kids only dream about watching on television.
For most sons of NBA players, that upbringing plants a seed. But for a rare few, it ignites something extraordinary.
These are not stories of sons who simply made it to the league because of their father’s name. These are stories of sons who absorbed everything their fathers knew, added their own brilliance on top of it, and climbed higher than anyone in their family could have imagined.
Some surpassed their fathers quietly, through years of steady dominance. Others did it in breathtaking, history-making fashion. But all of them share one thing in common - they made their fathers proud while leaving them in the rearview mirror. Here are 7 NBA families where the son proved to be the better player.
1. Joe “Jellybean” Bryant & Kobe Bryant
Joe “Jellybean” Bryant was the kind of player who made you stop and watch A flashy 6'9" forward out of La Salle with guard-like ball-handling skills, he was drafted 14th overall in 1975 and carved out a respectable eight-year NBA journey with the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets.
He averaged 8.7 points and 4.0 rebounds across 606 games, more often than not serving as an energetic spark off the bench rather than a franchise cornerstone. He later found tremendous scoring success overseas in Italy, and that chapter of his life would quietly shape the basketball soul of his young son.
Kobe Bryant did not just surpass his father. He became one of the most iconic athletes the world has ever seen. Entering the league straight out of high school, Kobe spent 20 extraordinary years with the Los Angeles Lakers. Five NBA championships. Two Finals MVPs. The 2008 regular-season MVP. Eighteen All-Star selections. And 33,643 career points that placed him fourth on the all-time scoring list.
The “Mamba Mentality” became more than a catchphrase. It became a philosophy adopted by athletes across every sport on the planet. Joe gave Kobe the foundation. Kobe
2. Dell Curry & Stephen Curry
Dell Curry was ahead of his time, and the NBA did not fully realize it until his son came along. A 6'4" shooting specialist who spent 16 seasons in the league, Dell became the defining cornerstone of the expansion Charlotte Hornets and one of the purest marksmen of his generation.
His Sixth Man of the Year award in 1994 recognized what opponents already knew - that leaving Dell Curry open from three was a decision you would immediately regret. He retired with 12,670 career points and a blistering 40.2% career average from beyond the arc.
Then Stephen Curry arrived, and the entire sport changed. As the engine of the Golden State Warriors dynasty, Steph captured four NBA championships, two regular-season MVPs, including the only unanimous MVP in league history, and a Finals MVP.
He shattered the all-time three-point record and fundamentally rewired how basketball is played at every level, from youth gyms to the biggest arenas in the world. Dell was a great shooter. Stephen made shooting an art form that redefined the game itself.
3. Arvydas Sabonis & Domantas Sabonis
Arvydas Sabonis was a giant in every sense of the word. A 7'3" passing visionary inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the elder Sabonis dominated European basketball for years.
But severe Achilles injuries and Soviet travel restrictions delayed his NBA arrival until 1995, when he was already 31 years old. He was highly productive for the Portland Trail Blazers, but his NBA career never reflected the full magnitude of what he could have been. His stateside averages of 12.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game only hint at the player who once terrified international competition.
Domantas Sabonis took his father’s elite passing DNA and built a modern NBA career around it. A multi-time All-Star with the Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings, Domantas routinely leads the entire league in total rebounds and triple-doubles per season.
Because he entered the league at 20 years old in peak physical condition, his longevity, All-NBA selections, and relentless double-double consistency give him a statistical edge his father never had the opportunity to chase. The passing gift was inherited. Everything else, Domantas earned on his own.
4. Rick Brunson & Jalen Brunson
Rick Brunson made the NBA the hard way, and he never let anyone forget it. Going undrafted out of Temple in 1997, he scratched and clawed his way through a nine-year career, suiting up for eight different franchises including the Knicks, Blazers, and Bulls.
He was a defensive grinder, a steadying backup point guard who kept second units organized and competing. His averages of 3.2 points and 2.6 assists per game tell the story of a player who survived in the league on grit alone.
His son Jalen turned that same grit into something entirely different. After winning two NCAA championships at Villanova, Jalen Brunson blossomed from a solid second-round pick into one of the most dangerous guards in the entire league.
As the undisputed engine of the New York Knicks, he regularly delivers 40-point playoff performances, commands entire offensive systems, and has firmly established himself as an All-NBA caliber player and legitimate MVP candidate. Rick spent nine years surviving in the NBA. Jalen is busy running it.
5. Mychal Thompson & Klay Thompson
Mychal Thompson arrived in the NBA with enormous expectations, and he met most of them. Selected No. 1 overall in the 1978 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, he averaged 20.8 points and 11.7 rebounds during his peak seasons.
Later in his career, he became a vital championship piece for the legendary “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, earning two championship rings as a trusted interior presence. His son Klay rewrote the shooting guard position entirely.
As one half of the iconic “Splash Brothers” alongside Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson won four NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors. Five All-Star selections. Two All-NBA nods. A spot on the All-Defensive team. And individual moments that defy logic — 60 points in just 29 minutes of playing time, and the single-game record of 14 three-pointers made.
Mychal gave Klay the championship DNA. Klay used it to become one of the five greatest shooters in basketball history.
6. Jimmy Walker & Jalen Rose
Jimmy Walker was one of the smoothest players of his era. Selected No. 1 overall in the 1967 NBA Draft, Walker enjoyed a prosperous nine-year career with the Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, and Kansas City Kings.
A two-time NBA All-Star, he averaged 16.7 points per game across his career, peaking at 21.3 points per night during the 1971-72 season. By any measure, he was a genuinely excellent professional basketball player. Jalen Rose never knew his biological father until adulthood. But he built a legacy that honored and surpassed it.
A central figure in Michigan’s iconic “Fab Five,” Rose brought revolutionary swagger to the college game before carrying it directly into the NBA. He played 13 seasons, earned the Most Improved Player award in 2000, and served as the leading scorer for the Indiana Pacers team that pushed the mighty Lakers to six games in the 2000 NBA Finals.
He finished with 13,228 career points, outscoring his father while simultaneously building one of the most recognizable media careers in sports history. Jimmy Walker gave the NBA a great player. Jalen Rose gave it an unforgettable one.
7. Mitchell Wiggins & Andrew Wiggins
Mitchell Wiggins carved his NBA career out of toughness and determination. A physical 6'4" shooting guard drafted in the first round of the 1983 NBA Draft, Mitchell played six seasons across stints with the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, and Philadelphia 76ers.
His career was heavily disrupted by a league suspension, but when Mitchell Wiggins was on the court, he produced, averaging 10.0 points per game and helping the Rockets reach the 1986 NBA Finals. Andrew Wiggins arrived with the weight of enormous expectations and eventually grew into every bit of them.
Selected No. 1 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, Andrew won Rookie of the Year immediately and posted multiple 20-point scoring seasons. But his defining moment came in 2022, when he earned an All-Star starting nod and delivered as the crucial, lockdown-defending second piece of the Golden State Warriors’ championship run.
A ring. An All-Star appearance. And a place among the game’s elite. Mitchell showed Andrew what perseverance looked like. Andrew showed the world what a Wiggins could truly become.