TWO BROTHERS IN the NBA. One drafted second overall, the other third. On Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) they will play against each other, one for the New Orleans Pelicans and one for the Charlotte Hornets. They will guard each other for the first time in an organized game, a couple of oversized point guards with similar talents and different personalities.
They're here despite -- or maybe because of? -- all that swirls around them: the static created by their celebrity; the criticism of their games; the endless bellowing of LaVar Ball -- their father and hype man -- who insists it was all preordained, that he knew his sons would play in the NBA before they left the womb.