Tyran Stokes is the top high school basketball player, but he's still proving himself

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Tyran Stokes is the top-ranked high school basketball player in the country. He's a Washington state champion and a McDonald's All-American. He's one of the best scorers in high school, a senior with sky-high potential. Yet the negative noise around him, which has only heightened over the course of the school year, has him working to prove himself even as graduation approaches.

"Honestly, [I'm] trying to show that what people see on the court isn't really true," he said. "And just showing the type of character that I have isn't what people hear."

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What people see on the court of the Rainier Beach (Seattle) star is, at times, in the eye of the beholder. Stokes is an elite shot-maker, standing 6-foot-7 and boasting a 7-foot wingspan, making him pretty impossible for high schoolers to guard. He can play fast and explode with athleticism to get to the rim and throw down dunks, but he also slows down with deliberate movements in a way that's Luka Doncic-esque. He has good vision and can find teammates around the court, showing flash and creation skills that can translate to the next level. You don't have to squint to see how he could become an all-star in the NBA.

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But that slow, deliberate play is sometimes slower than deliberate. He jogs around the court often, and there may be several possessions in a row in which he doesn't cross the 3-point line on either side of the court. His size and athleticism give him the ability to be an impactful defender — he was instrumental to trap defense at Rainier Beach, and in the McDonald's All American game, he had a steal and a chase-down block in transition — but he can get lost off-ball when he's too nonchalant. Do you love his on-court theatrics and trash-talking, or hate it as showboating?

He hears the feedback.

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"I hear things like, 'Oh, he may be an arrogant kid or a bad kid. He may not listen to his coaches, this, that, and a third.' But, you know, for me... I hear it. I use it as motivation to keep pushing me to work hard, keep pushing me to do better at those things," he said, adding that he wants to show "what type of kid I could be, and also just being as coachable as I could be."

Stokes was a surprise transfer to Rainier Beach after a sudden withdrawal from his previous school, Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, CA) in November, shortly before the start of the basketball season. In his junior year at Notre Dame in one of the toughest conferences in the nation, he averaged 21.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists with 1.5 steals and 0.8 blocks per game.

He elevated his game as a senior, averaging 31 points on 53% shooting while posting 13 rebounds, six assists, and four steals per game, per MaxPreps. He scored a career-high 63 points in January and helped lead Rainier Beach to a 29-1 record and a 3A state championship.

At the McDonald's All American Game in March, he looked like a leader during practice. He played well for the victorious West team, serving as one of the lead ball-handlers and a primary defender of guard Jordan Smith Jr. During media day, he addressed negative perceptions of his play and went in depth in response to a question that was more broadly about what he can improve.

"If people believe those things to be true, I want to prove them wrong. So if I can work on that to prove them wrong, that's what I want," he said.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY High School Sports Wire: Tyran Stokes looks to prove critics wrong on court

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