For year's NBA's All-Star weekend has been a place for all of the League's movers and shakers to gather, talk shop, hit up parties and get a lot of business done. Over the past few years, ASW has been evolving into a weekend that is becoming more and more important on the high school/grassroots level.
This weekend in Los Angeles is a perfect example of the transformation as at least three major events – The Grind Session's LA area stop; a Nike EYBL Scholastic stop and Basketball Without Borders – are looking to piggyback off of the attention that ASW gets and bring more eyes to the high school and grassroots level.
Whether you are a scout that already follows the high school game closely, a coach looking for talent, an agent looking to find new clients or just somebody who loves ball, there will be no shortage of high-level players and teams in the LA area this weekend.
GRIND SESSION LOADED WITH TALENT
Bruce Branch III (Photo: Courtesy of Prolific Prep)
An independent league made up of prep school programs and academies from the United States and Canada, the Grind Session has continued to gain a foothold over the last decade. This weekend, they are partnering with the NBPA and Adidas for four days of games at El Camino College in Torrance.
Included among those scheduled to play this weekend are five 2026 McDonald's All-Americans and five of 247Sports top-10 ranked players in the class of 2027.
Headlining the weekend are Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) Prolific Prep and Orlando (Fla.) Southeastern Prep who are each scheduled to play three games.
After establishing the program in Napa, Calif., Prolific moved their program to Florida this year and is still producing tons of talent. Shooting guard Caleb Holt (No. 4) and small forward Bruce Branch III (No. 6) are both undecided five-star prospects and earned McDonald's game nods while four-star seniors Davion Adkins and Alex Smith are headed to Kansas and Ohio State respectively. Their junior point guard Nasir Anderson ranks No. 9 in the class of 2027 while freshman wing Draydne McDaniel looks to the next in line to rank among the nation's elite players.
Playing in their first year, Southeastern Prep has built a monster as well. Like Prolific Prep they have two McDonald's All-Americans on their roster. Unsigned senior wing Jaxon Richardson (No. 21) and Missouri bound big man Toni Bryant (No. 27). Supplementing that senior talent is a trio of juniors who all rank among the stop six in the class of 2027. Forward CJ Rosser comes in at No. 2, point guard Beckham Black at No. 3 and big man Obinna Ekezie Jr. slides in at No. 6.
Among the other top performers slated to hit the court over the next few days include Ohio State bound McDonald's All-American Anthony Thompson of Hudson (Ohio) Western Reserve who ranks No. 7 in the class of 2026 and junior scoring machine Ryan Hampton of Daytona Beach (Fla.) DME Academy who checks in at No. 5 overall in 2027.
EYBL SCHOLASTIC BRINGING TALENT TO THE CITY
Paul Osaruyi (Photo: Courtesy of Hoophall Classic)
Years ago, Nike built a monster with their grassroots travel circuit, the Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL). In recent years, they opened a high school version that has expanded to 20 teams in the EYBL Scholastic. Between games on Saturday and Sunday at Crenshaw and Cathedral high schools, they'll be delivering some of the top high school talent as well.
The seven teams on the schedule for this weekend – Scottsdale (Ariz.) CIA Bella Vista, Chandler (Ariz.) Compass Prep, Dallas (Texas) Faith Family, Branson (Mo.) Link Academy, Norwalk (Iowa) Iowa United and Mt. Pleasant (Utah) Wasatch Academy – feature a combined 29 players from 247Sports' national rankings of the classes of 2026, 2027 and 2028.
Headlining the 2026 players is Houston bound big man Arafan Diane (No. 16) of Iowa United who has been named to the McDonald's All-American. A pair of five-star players from the class of 2027 in Paul Osaruyi (No. 4) of Bella Vista and wing Demarcus Henry (No. 12) of Compass Prep will be on hand while big man Xavier Young (No. 12) of Faith Family is the highest ranked player in the class of 2028 scheduled to play.
While all of the games should be great, Saturday night's game between Link Academy and Bella Vista stands out. Link Academy has six players signed to high major programs – Tajh Ariza (Oregon) Luca Foster (Gonzaga), Carlos Medlock and Ethan Taylor (Michigan State), Trent Perry (Kansas) and Tristan Reed (Mississippi State – to go along with a top-20 junior, Davion Thompson. In addition to the high-flying Osaruyi, who is the highest ranked player in attendance, Bella Vista has West Virginia bound point guard Miles Sadler, Indiana bound wing Vaughn Karvala and three more four-star prospects from the classes of 2027 and 2028. Altogether, the game will feature 14 players ranked nationally by 247Sports.
BASKETBALL WITHOUT BORDERS OFFERS INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE
BWB alum Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Photo: Getty)
Backed by FIBA and the NBA, Basketball Without Borders is set to take place at the UCLA Health Training Center and will feature a roster of 40 players from 29 countries and territories.
While some of the players scheduled to be in attendance already play at schools in the States, most will be traveling from outside of the country and they'll be given the opportunity to participate in front every team in the NBA during the three days of camp.
According to a press release from the BWB program, more than 50 camp attendees are on NBA rosters this year including All-Stars Deni Avdija, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray and Pascal Siakam.
Of the 40 players expected to be in attendance, eight are already ranked by 247Sports in one class or another. However, the real focus of the camp will be unearthing players that haven't made their way to the States yet that are sure to become high-demand recruits in the very near future.