Bronny James tops picks for Nike Hoop Summit
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Bronny James, the son of NBA career scoring leader LeBron James, was one of 26 players announced Tuesday as members of the USA Basketball rosters for this year’s Nike Hoop Summit.
The U.S. teams will play April 8 against international players at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. The international teams will be selected in the coming weeks, from pools of players representing FIBA Africa, FIBA Americas, FIBA Asia, FIBA Europe and FIBA Oceania.
It’ll be the first USA Basketball experience for Bronny James, a senior at California’s Sierra Canyon High ranked as the 28th-best recruit in the 2023 class by ESPN. He has not yet announced his post-high school plans but is being recruited by Oregon, Ohio State, USC and others.
All 12 of the other players for the U.S. men’s team have committed to schools, with Justin Edwards (Philadelphia) and DJ Wagner (Camden, New Jersey) choosing Kentucky and Jared McCain (Corona, California) and Sean Stewart (Windermere, Florida) going to Duke.
Eight other schools have one commit on the USA men’s team: Omaha Biliew (Omaha, Nebraska) is going to Iowa State; Blake Buchanan (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) is going to Virginia; Isaiah Collier (Marietta, Georgia) is going to Southern California; Eric Dailey Jr. (Tampa, Florida) is going to Oklahoma State; Ron Holland (Duncanville, Texas) is going to Texas; Jackson Shelstad (West Linn, Oregon) is going to Oregon; Ja’Kobe Walter (McKinney, Texas) is going to Baylor; and Cody Williams (Gilbert, Arizona) is going to Colorado.
WOMEN’S TEAM
A trio of schools each had two commits chosen for the USA women’s team, which will be participating in the Hoop Summit for the first time.
Arizona has Breya Cunningham (Chula Vista, California) and Jada Williams (Kansas City, Missouri). Connecticut has Kamorea “KK” Arnold (Germantown, Wisconsin) and Ashlynn Shade (Noblesville, Indiana). LSU has Aalyah Del Rosario (Danbury, Connecticut) and Mikaylah Williams (Bossier City, Louisiana).
Also selected were Duke commit Jadyn Donovan (Upper Marlboro, Maryland); North Carolina State commit Zoe Brooks (Plainfield, New Jersey); Notre Dame commit Hannah Hidalgo (Merchantville, New Jersey); Oklahoma commit Sahara Williams (Waterloo, Iowa); USC commit Judea “Juju” Watkins (Sylmar, California); Stanford commit Sunaja “Nunu” Agara (Minneapolis); and Texas commit Madison Booker (Ridgeland, Mississippi).
HISTORY
The summit dates back to 1995 and has seen 253 past participants drafted into the NBA, with 90 top-10 selections and 14 No. 1 picks — including Cade Cunningham (2021), Zion Williamson (2019), Deandre Ayton (2018), Markelle Fultz (2017), Ben Simmons (2016), Karl-Anthony Towns (2015), Andrew Wiggins (2014), Anthony Bennett (2013), Anthony Davis (2012), Kyrie Irving (2011), John Wall (2010), Derrick Rose (2008), Andrea Bargnani (2006) and Elton Brand (1999).
Other alumni of the summit include Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Shane Battier, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Bradley Beal and Tyler Herro.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
