Jared McCain reflects on Southern California upbringing before Sixers-Clippers: ‘This life is insane that I’m living’

LOS ANGELES — For Jared McCain, this is a full-circle moment.

Growing up in Southern California, the 76ers rookie always envisioned playing in an NBA game here in front of familiar faces.

“This life is insane that I’m living,” said McCain, whose squad will face the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night at the Intuit Dome. “Every day, I wake up grateful for it. So to go back to L.A. and play in the new Intuit Dome, it’s crazy.

“I’m pretty sure my high school jersey is in the dome. I think they have a wall of all the high school jerseys [of most Southern California state players of the year], I think. That’s what I was told, and it will be cool to see.”

» READ MORE: Retired Inquirer sportswriter Mike Jensen is chosen for the Big 5 Hall of Fame

McCain was a 2023 McDonald’s All American and a two-time Gatorade California player of the year as a point guard at Centennial High School in Corona, Calif.

Growing up, the 20-year-old loved Chris Paul and was a Clippers fan. However, his father has been a lifelong Lakers fan, so McCain also became a follower of Kobe Bryant.

“So I was a fan of both,” he said with a smile. “I know you can’t really say both [teams], but I was both. At that age, I was just into players at that point.”

This game is being billed as the homecoming for another Southern California native, Paul George, since he spent the last five seasons with the Clippers. However, it also is a homecoming for rookie Adem Bona and assistant coach Rico Hines.

Bona was a standout center at UCLA for two seasons before being selected by the Sixers in the second round of June’s NBA draft. Hines played for the Bruins from 1997 to 2002. During the offseason, he holds well-publicized pickup games at UCLA known as Rico Hines Private Runs. The games feature a who’s who of NBA and international players.