Daily, Seattle basketball fans peer into the mists, searching for clues about the likelihood of the city once again hosting a professional men’s team. But they need look no further than our own backyard for a whiff of NBA-level thrills.
Because, for the past three months, Rainier Beach High School senior Tyran Stokes has been soaring and scoring right here, and he happens to be the No. 1 basketball recruit in the country. In this new, Wild West era when high school athletes can cash in on licensing their Name, Image or Likeness like college stars, it’s suddenly reasonable to look at a kid as a semipro.
And it takes exactly zero imagination to place Stokes in that company. Playing for Rainier Beach this season, he was explosive, dazzling and already worth millions of dollars.
Last weekend, before Beach clinched the Metro League Championship, Stokes was named the league’s Most Valuable Player. The South Seattle Emerald describes him as akin to Halley’s comet streaking through our atmosphere: “hot, bright and once in a lifetime.”
Yet despite standing a brawny 6-foot-8, the 18-year-old is still very much a kid.
He wears braces, has admitted to being nervous much of the season and is not immune to the constant taunts from the cheering section of opposing teams: “O-ver ra-ted! O-ver ra-ted!”
Then he responds with a through-the-legs dunk and blows a kiss to the stands (where local celebs like former Mayor Bruce Harrell or NBA star Nate Robinson or Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch have been known to watch). And eventually, every fan in the gym is cheering, regardless of which side they’re on.
This is what makes high school basketball a special thing: the heart. It’s different from the pro game. For a lot of kids in Seattle’s Metro League — future engineers or teachers or nurses or lawyers — these contests might be the last organized sports they’ll ever play. And they’re going toe-to-toe against a possible legend.
For those who want to grab a last-chance sighting before Stokes streaks into the future, district playoffs are this week, and the state championship is in March.
A few words for those who grow dizzy at the word “stats” or get turned off by the commercialized hysteria: Understood. The professionalization of youth sports raises many uncomfortable questions worth examining. But there is, simultaneously, something else on display in high school basketball, a level of artistry and dedication rare to see in teenagers. They’re putting it all out there, everything they’ve got.
That’s worth celebrating, whether you consider yourself a sports fan or not.
