RJ Hampton, if you haven’t heard of him, just graduated from Little Elm High School in [consults map] Little Elm. Up until a couple of months ago, Hampton, a 6-foot-5 five-star point guard recruit, was set to play one more year for the school. But he picked up enough credits to leave school early and reclassified to the 2019 recruiting class, where he was ranked No. 5 overall and had Kansas and Memphis and Texas Tech (among many others) chasing him.
This morning he announced on ESPN that he was bypassing college entirely and playing next season for the New Zealand Breakers of the NBL, saying that his “dream has never been to play college basketball.” And, honestly, same. He also, in that interview, credited my Slovenian son and budding role model Luka Doncic for giving him to confidence to make the move.
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His father, Rod, also pointed out that this was RJ’s choice, not something he was forced into.
“I want the public to know this isn’t a fly-by-night move. RJ could get in to Stanford. He has a 1280 on the SAT and a 3.7 GPA. We aren’t doing this for financial reasons or he has to do this, he could have gone to college.” Rod also said RJ had gotten a $1 million offer from China and potential contracts from several European teams. “He’s not doing this because it’s his only alternative.”
I think this is fantastic as I love tall point guards, hate the NCAA, and always support someone getting their paper. Also, he is a little feisty. Maybe my guy will find his way back to Dallas to play alongside Luka soon.
