Kobe Paras, a 17-year-old Filipino exchange student who was called "the kid who dunked on LeBron" has committed on playing for the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins on Saturday.

Paras, named after Lakers star Kobe Bryant, is no ordinary student in the Philippines. He is the son of a former professional basketball player turned actor and businessman in the country, Benjie who in 1989 became the only basketball player to have been named rookie of year and MVP at the same time in the Philippines version of the NBA, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

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When Paras was 15, he participated in a Nike exhibition in Manila wherein James was on the court while Paras drives to the hoop and proceeded to dunk the ball.

The 6-foot-6 Paras immediately gained fame as the moment was captured on video and was uploaded on YouTube. To date, the 36 second clip has over 500,000 views.

It was then decided by Paras' parents that Kobe should go to Los Angeles, prepare for college and see if he was good enough to play at the collegiate level.

Paras currently plays for the Los Angeles Cathedral High Shool, a private, Catholic all-boys school with their athletics team called "Phantoms."

Fortunately enough for Paras, he traveled last summer with his team in Southern California and to his surprise, he was offered scholarships from various universities including Arizona State, Fresno State, California, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine.

"Most know him for his dunking, but he can shoot the three, dribbles and passes," Cathedral coach William Middlebrooks said. "He's highly skilled and is adapting to the style of play in America."

UCLA coach Steve Alford showed up for practice at the Cathedral gym last week and watched Paras play, he eventually ended up offering the Filipino star a scholarship at one of the most decorated NCAA universities in the US.

It is unclear if the basketball prodigy will be skipping his senior year or will Paras finish high school before playing for the Bruins.

TagsKobe Paras, Lebron James