AJ Storr Talks About His Journey From Undiscovered To Potential NBA Draft Pick

June 26, 2024. NBA Draft Night. We're in NYC, where else? AJ Storr is on Zoom from… Athens, Greece!?! We'll explain all that in a moment. More importantly, he knows the meaning of tonight as a harbinger of his future.

“Actually one year from tonight, is it crazy to think you'll be up on stage…” we say before Storr happily interjects, “… in a suit and tie!”

Ten points for honesty with this one. Storr, now a rising junior for the world-renowned Kansas Jayhawks and a 2025 NBA draft pick, isn't dancing around the topic of many college players still eligible to play the hot potato. “Yes,” Storr confirmed, “I plan to be on the draft list next year.”

Now that we have that sound business decision out of the way, let's go back and share one of the most unique and modern basketball journeys of any top player in the world.

We will start with world business. Storr is in Greece at the moment because the Bahamian national team, in which he recently made the list (pending official documents), is playing a few exhibition games before the Olympic qualifying tournament in Spain which will show that this small country's rising basketball talent is advancing to Paris.

The 6-7 Storr, a shooting, scoring guard who is bound for The Bahamas because his father was born there, is happy to be in Greece. Partly for the knowledge of what he calls his “world tour,” but more for the opportunity to play with people who have reached where he wants to go. Bahamas basketball has quietly built an explosive program with current NBA players Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordon, Buddy Hield, Kai Jones and Isaiah Mobley, along with other talented college players. This squad is coached by another Golden State Warriors assistant, Chris DeMarco.

“It's a really good experience to be there with all these guys,” said Storr, a day after scoring 15 points (on 7-9 shooting) in a 93-80 loss to Montenegro. “I played a few games with them last summer and then we had training camp in Houston earlier this month, and now I'm playing real games with them. It's great to be around all this talent.”

Whenever the Bahamas games end, the world realizes that it is a program to watch in the future, and Storr will have more time to spend in his latest “home”—Lawrence, KS. And what a home it is. Perhaps the most storied program in college basketball—“I didn't know it was James Naismith who started this program here. He is the one who invented basketball!” He admires Storr—and the program's most anticipated 2024-25 season. As ESPN's Jeff Borzello put it in his latest “Way-Too-Early Top 25,” the Jayhawks are No. 1 after Bill Self responded to a disappointing '23-24 with “the most loaded roster in the country.” AJ Storr (Wisconsin), Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State) and Rylan Griffen (Alabama); after that, American big man Hunter Dickinson chose to return for another year.”

It says here that Storr, with the shooting touch the Jayhawks sorely missed last season, could be a big piece of the puzzle. As for all the places he's been before Kansas, that comes off as ironic in its own way.

This young man is in a perfect position to get the right profile for SLAM because he is “big” enough—thanks to playing one year in New York City and another year as the leading athletic scorer for B1G power Wisconsin—to be heard but without it. his full story is known because he was not a high profile candidate. We're going to tell you the story now so you know when he explodes in Kansas and flies to the NBA in 12 months.

Storr grew up in Rockford, IL, a city of about 150,000 people about 90 minutes west of Chicago. It is very active in modern hoops as the home of current Houston Rocket Fred VanVleet. AJ came with an older sister, Ambranette, who scored more than 2,900 points in her high school career before playing in college, and five younger brothers, who were raised primarily by her mother, Annette Brandy—a former Chicago high school star who played in college. and so—and our stepfather.

AJ attended Rockford Lutheran as a high school freshman, showing promise as a 6-1 hooper. After that, the endless ride began. The family moved to the South Chicago suburb of Kankakee when his mother, a teacher, got a better job, and AJ spent his sophomore and junior years at Kankakee High. Then Covid hit. As Brandy explained, it was time to make some decisions. “The entire state of Illinois is on lockdown. He had some offers—Chicago State, IUPUI—but he hadn't gotten a big look yet. We knew he was a Power Five kid, he hadn't been seen yet,” he said. “His dad lived in Vegas, and AJ was hesitant about it, but I convinced him to go. Build a relationship with your dad and put yourself out there with basketball. “

It worked. Storr began playing for Vegas Elite and Bishop Gorman High School and his exposure—and rank—increased dramatically. He was going to play his senior season for Bishop Gorman and then…Clark County, NV (which includes Las Vegas) announced there would be no winter sports due to Covid. “After Vegas closed, he moved to AZ Compass and they came to the GEICO Nationals,” his mother said. “At that time he had received a lot of promises, but I thought he needed to mature a bit.”

So it was IMG Academy in Florida for a post-grad year that went well. In the end, AJ had attended five high schools in five years, albeit for reasons beyond his control. When it came time for him to choose an official college, Storr enrolled at St. John's, firmly hitting the radar (with a positive bias) of #SLAMfam college fans by putting together a Big East All-Freshman campaign highlighted by 40 percent three-point shooting, 9 ppg and an exciting style of play. Alas, the Johnnies fired Mike Anderson and Storr decided to return to the Midwest, putting together an All-B1G Second Team season (17 ppg, 4 rpg, 1 apg) in Madison and establishing himself as a future pro. Storr flirted with entering this year's draft before deciding to transfer again. In the best team in the region.

“Playing for all the different teams helped my IQ a lot. “I learned different sports, different coaches, different cultures,” said Storr, explaining the benefits of his journey. “Outside the court, all the schools have accepted me and acted like a family. I have friends from all schools.”

In Storr's mind, rising from an unknown high school to an NBA first-round pick is not the latest in athletic success. For better or worse, exposure still matters. “I've been very good at basketball all my life, but I had to go to the right place with the coaches and take advantage of the opportunities,” he said. “St Johns is in a big conference. Then I went to the Big Ten and the Badgers, who made a run to the Final Four and are known around the world. Being there helped me a lot. Now I'm looking forward to taking my game to the next level in Kansas.”

Storr describes himself as very coachable and has learned bits and pieces from all the coaches he's played for, but none of them have been around him consistently enough to have deep training. For daily support as she pursues her dream, Storr points to people who have been around for a long time. “I have a team with my mother, my sister, my managers,” he said. “It takes a team to achieve your dream. You can be a very good player, but if you don't have the right people around you, you won't succeed.”

On the other hand, my mother couldn't be prouder. “I'm so happy for him,” said Brandy, who recently got a new job—and bought a house—in Rockford. “He put in a lot of work to get here.”

And to emphasize, Storr himself considers his diverse experience a positive thing. He says: “My game translates into many different areas. “I know how to get into the program. I respect all my coaches. I am a great partner. Once you step on that court or weight room, you become brothers. Where I'm trying to go, you have to be prepared. In the NBA, guys get traded all the time. So this can be an advantage. “

Photos by Missy Minear Kansas Athletics.