Two Ducks land on the Nike Basketball Academy teams
You may be wondering what the Nike Basketball Academy is and I had to do a bit of research myself. The Nike Basketball Academy occurs in Portland, Oregon and is a four day event that brings in over 80 of the best collegiate and prep players. Involved are notable coaches, NBA players, and some basketball legends to help these prospects grow their game. The Academy began back in 2015 and is now on its tenth season.
Oregon has two Ducks on the collegiate roster, guard Jackson Shelstad, and guard TJ Bamba. The two guards are very different to each other in terms of playstyle, size, and age, Bamba is also a two-time transfer. If you remember last cycle, Oregon pursued TJ Bamba when he was leaving Washington State, they were successful in landing him after the guard left Villanova this past season.
The teams are divided by collegiate men, collegiate women, high school boys, and high school girls. Making the high school boys team was Oregon prospect and 2025 4-star guard Trey McKenney, who I have previously wrote stories about. Oregon has a long way to convince the Michigan native to come west, but will be getting a visit to work on that. Oregon has offered several other players on the high school team including: Tounde Yessoufou, Caleb Wilson, Jerry Easter, Nate Ament, Brayden Burries, and Davion Hannah. As of now, Oregon isn’t in a great standing for most of the list, but has made an impression on Jerry Easter in the past. There isn’t a return visit in the works at the moment however.
