Tre Johnson is returning to the Dallas area.
No, he won’t be coming back to play for defending Class 6A state champion Lake Highlands. But Johnson and his Link Academy (Mo.) teammates will be playing in the Thanksgiving Hoopfest on Nov. 24-25 at Duncanville’s Sandra Meadows Arena.
The field for the prestigious high school basketball event was announced Wednesday, and it will also feature Montverde (Fla.) five-star power forward Cooper Flagg, the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2024. The 6-8 Flagg has possibly narrowed his college choices down to defending national champion UConn and Duke, and he is considered a potential future No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
Johnson, a five-star shooting guard, is now rated the fourth-best recruit in the nation in the Class of 2024 by 247Sports. He was The Dallas Morning News All-Area Player of the Year last season after averaging 21.8 points and 6.4 rebounds as a junior for state champion Lake Highlands before transferring to Link Academy, a prep school in Missouri.
Former John Paul II five-star recruit Liam McNeeley, now at Montverde, will also be back in town for the Hoopfest. He is ranked as the 13th-best recruit in the country in the Class of 2024.
Locally, the top recruit taking part in the Hoopfest will be Duncanville four-star junior shooting guard Kayden Edwards. He is rated the 10th-best player in Texas in the Class of 2025 and holds offers from Kansas State, SMU, TCU, Texas and Texas Tech.
Texas pledge Cam Scott, a four-star shooting guard, will be coming all the way from South Carolina to play in the Hoopfest. In all, the event will feature teams from Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, New York and New Jersey.
The field will include defending UIL state champions Lake Highlands, Kimball (5A) and Oak Cliff Faith Family (4A) on the boys side and Frisco Liberty (5A) and Waco La Vega (4A) on the girls side. DeSoto, which won 6A state titles in 2021 and 2022, and 11-time state champion Duncanville are also in the girls field. DeSoto was the state runner-up last season and didn’t graduate anyone from that team.
The Hoopfest will feature several elite national recruits on the girls side, including Kennedy Smith from Etiwanda (Calif.), Jacy Abii from Frisco Liberty, South Grand Prairie’s Adhel Tac (if she is recovered from an injury) and Sierra Canyon (Calif.)’s Jerzy Robinson (the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2026). DeSoto has three players rated among the top 25 recruits in the nation in the Class of 2026 — No. 18 Amari Byles, No. 20 Kamora Pruitt and No. 25 Rieyan DeSouze.
Greg Riddle, The Dallas Morning News
