What GG Jackson has shown Lamont Paris since enrolling

In some ways, South Carolina freshman GG Jackson reminds Lamont Paris of LeBron James.

Paris isn’t saying Jackson in his current state is an NBA champion or MVP, although he very well could turn into that over his career.

Where Paris sees the similarities is in the maturity Jackson has living the last few years under a microscope.

“He’s handled it tremendously. I’ll tell you that. It’s been everything coming at him,” Paris told GamecockCentral. “That would be if he was the number one prospect and came here right out of high school and there was never any of this de-commitment or the stuff that goes along with it.”

Jackson is the highest-rated recruit ever to sign with South Carolina. On3 ranked him the best player in the 2023 class and moved him to No. 10 nationally after he reclassified to 2022.

There is inherit pressure that comes from being a five-star prospect playing in your home state, but Jackson hasn’t flinched.

He’s still very young into his collegiate career, just a few weeks into it. But Paris has liked what he’s seen so far. Paris does credit a lto of that to Jackson’s family and tight circle keeping him grounded.

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“He’s handled it all really well. He’s a young guy. I’m reminded of that every time we get into the gym and spent time with him, in all the best ways,” Paris said. “But he is mature. Some guys do that. Some guys have always been ahead to that end.”

But it’s more than just the maturity and off-the-court intangibles Paris likes about his five-star freshman.

Jackson is still at his core a really good basketball player.

He’s only been in South Carolina’s workouts for a few weeks this summer, but there’s already a lot to like heading into August and then preseason practice.

“He has some level of proficiency in almost every aspect of the game offensively: shooting, passing, handling the ball, playing in the mid-post, some level of back to the basket. He rebounds in a crowd with two hands and can push from there,” Paris said.

“He’s a good passer, an unselfish passer. His vision is good. He’s got a lot of things he can do as a basketball player.”

Jackson is nowhere close to a finished product and won’t be for a while. He’s still very young at just 17 years old and won’t turn 18 until mid-December.

But the potential is there, and Paris thinks Jackson can be really good offensively when everything is clicking.

“The day he can do all of those at a high level he’s going to be the best player in the country,” Paris said. “That will take some time to get to that point, but that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about potential. I think he does have the potential to impact offensively the game in a lot of different ways.”

Until then, the Gamecocks will only put as much on him that he can handle, not asking the freshman to be Superman at South Carolina.

All Paris and his staff can do is develop him, put him in good situations and let Jackson’s ability do the rest.

“There’s no pressure on him. He’ll have an unbelievable opportunity. We won’t put pressure on him. We’ll put as much responsibility on him as he can handle,”  My guess is that will be a lot when all is said and done. But I won’t thrust that upon him from day one. But his opportunity will be limitless.”

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