4. Young Prodigy
While most aspiring middle school basketball players spent their time playing games of knockout and three-on-three in the park, Tyus Jones was starting for the high school basketball team and receiving recruitment letters from Division I colleges.
As an eighth-grader, Jones earned the starting point guard job at Apple Valley High School and never looked back. He received his first recruiting letter in eighth grade, his first Division I offer in ninth grade, and won state player of the year in tenth grade.
Jones received offers from the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota during his freshman year, but he waited until his senior year to commit after collecting a total of 11 offers from big-name schools.
In addition to his stellar play in high school, Jones also represented the United States national basketball team at the U-16, U-17, and U-18 levels. He won three gold medals in FIBA competition and was also named the captain of the U-18 team.
Additionally, he has had success at the professional level at a young age. Just a month after turning 20, Tyus Jones led the Timberwolves’ 2016 summer league team to the championship. Although it ended in an unfortunate overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls, Jones showed a lot of promise and won the 2016 Summer League MVP Award. He did so while averaging 19.4 points per game and a league-leading 6.3 assists per game. Here are some of his best highlights from that performance, including a clutch 3-pointer with under 10 seconds left against the Bulls: