When people who grew up playing basketball in Los Angeles in the early 1990s talk about the best hoopers to come out of the area, one name always surfaces: Ricky Price. Not sometimes. Always. The Not In My House podcast called him ‘without question one of the greatest high school basketball players to ever come out of the Los Angeles area.’ His mid-range game was automatic. At 6-foot-6, with explosive athleticism and a scorer’s instinct, he was the complete package.
Price was born February 4, 1976, in Carson, California — a working-class city in the South Bay, fifteen miles south of downtown LA. At Carson High School, he averaged 28 points and 11 rebounds and was unanimously named a USA Today/AP/Parade Top 5 player nationally. Gold medal representing the U.S. in the Junior Olympics in Argentina. And at the 1994 McDonald’s All-American Game, he won the slam dunk contest — the first Duke player ever to do so, a lineage that would later include Gerald Henderson (2006), Grayson Allen (2014), and Zion Williamson (2018). At that same McDonald’s Game, he played alongside future Duke teammate Trajan Langdon and against future Duke teammate Steve Wojciechowski.
His recruitment came down to Duke and Kansas. Roy Williams was his first choice for a while. But as Price spent more time with Coach K, the decision clarified. When he broke the news to Williams, something remarkable happened: the relationship didn’t end. ‘It’s amazing because, of course, I hate Carolina,’ Price said. ‘I think if you’re a Duke guy, naturally, that’s embedded in your DNA. But I love Roy Williams. He’s one of the few honest guys in the game. We still talk frequently. After every Duke-Carolina game, I always make it a point to go see him and say hello. He still asks about my mom. Here we are 20 years later and he’s still asking about my mom and dad. That just shows you the character of the type of guy he is.’