Professional Basketball And The Bibleናሙና

2003 NBA Draft (June 26, 2003)

Kyle Korver will go down in NBA history as one of the greatest long-distance shooters the game has ever seen. To that point, he was ranked in the top five amongst all-time, three-point, field goal shooters at the end of the 2017 season and still held the single season record for three-point field goal percentage.

Strangely, his career didn’t have the most auspicious beginning and seemed destined to be played out in the shadows. After all, he played in relative obscurity at Creighton University and rarely enjoyed the spotlight of bigger college basketball programs.

Korver knew it would take a lot for NBA teams to notice him. Then, after some pre-draft workouts that didn’t go so well, he started to have doubts. On the morning of Korver’s graduation, his father woke up and quoted a popular Old Testament verse while praying for his son.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

The next morning, Korver’s mother handed his graduation card to her husband for him to sign. Proverbs 3:5-6 was printed inside the card. 

“That whole two-month span from graduation to the NBA draft, I prayed that verse 20 times a day,” Korver told Christian Sports Journal. “When the draft came, I barely got picked. It was in the second round and I was the 51st overall pick out of 58. I got picked during a commercial break. I got picked by New Jersey and that same night was traded to Philadelphia.”

Because of the style of play and an impending move to the east coast, Korver was initially unhappy to be playing for the 76ers. Instead of complaining, he decided to rest on the Bible verse that had given him peace leading up to the NBA Draft.

“It’s not always the easy road, but it comes down to whether or not you trust that God has a plan for you,” Korver said. “It’s so easy to see a situation or see a goal and work out in your mind the exact steps you need to take to reach that goal. But that’s not always the path that God has for you.”