AAU hoops and the battle towards notion
Summarize this content material to max 500 phrases in knowledgeable sports activities journalism information fashion, highlighting key info:
As one other summer time passes, so too does one other AAU basketball stretch. This week in Augusta, South Carolina, Nike’s EYBL Peach Jam, essentially the most prestigious of all summer time youth basketball tournaments, will mark the top of the 2026 summer time sneaker circuit occasions. As traditional, future faculty and NBA stars will shine for his or her respective AAU groups.
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), a fixture of grassroots basketball, has lengthy been a goal for critics. It has been blamed for all the perceived ills of the game – most frequently by individuals who by no means performed, coached or have even watched AAU basketball.
As the variety of foreign-born NBA stars has grown, many pundits have lamented the lowering dominance of American stars, arguing that foreign-player improvement is superior to how the contest is taught stateside.
In February, considered one of America’s all-time basketball greats — two-time NBA champion and 16-time All-Star Kevin Durant — shared his ideas on the more and more well-liked narrative.
“All I hear is, ‘AAU is destroying the game; the Euros do it right while the Americans do it wrong,’ ” Durant informed ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill throughout NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. “It’s a lot of bulls— with that. I can read between the lines on that. It’s a shot at Black Americans. We’re controlling the sport. They’re tired of us controlling the sport. ‘France is coming for you.’ Really? We smacked them boys [in the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal game].”
Durant has a degree.
A more in-depth take a look at a number of the prime American grassroots basketball packages reveal a way more optimistic area for younger expertise than we are sometimes led to consider. It’s an area the place basketball lifers — typically Black males — dedicate their time to serving to enhance the lives of proficient younger basketball gamers, each on and off of the court docket.
Over the previous 12 months, Andscape spoke to administrators of distinguished AAU/grassroots basketball packages — all feeders for Division I faculties and the NBA — to get their aspect of the story.
AAU packages, like Etop Udo-Ema’s Compton Magic, have their detractors, however in addition they have broadened the expertise pipeline, placing extra gamers in entrance of school coaches and NBA scouts. Compton Magic (Etop Udo-Ema)
Before criticizing or defending AAU basketball, it’s most likely useful to outline what it’s. The acronym has turn out to be a catch-all to explain — and infrequently complain about — all issues associated to youth summer time basketball.
Etop Udo-Ema, founder and CEO of the famend Compton Magic program, argues that the time period itself is outdated.
“I don’t even know why we use [the term] AAU. It’s not even AAU anymore. AAU is a part of grassroots,” he mentioned, noting that the group initially functioned as a low-cost insurance coverage construction for youth sports activities earlier than the rise of shoe-company-backed circuits and the inflow of cash reworked the ecosystem.
Additionally, summer time basketball is now a mixture of conventional AAU or grassroots leagues and tournaments, basketball camps, and even highschool roster occasions.
“There’s a camp on every corner like a bodega now,” mentioned Terrance “Munch” Williams, government director of the PSA Cardinals, a prime grassroots program primarily based in New York City.
In his newest guide, “Here are the Answers: A Roadmap for Navigating Success in the Business of Youth Basketball,” Williams pulls again the curtain on a circuit that has grown more and more crowded and complex.
The new contributors in youth sports activities: Adults gone wild – Andscape Read now
For elite prospects, the summer time calendar is now not outlined by AAU or grassroots schedules. Instead, it’s dominated by an countless stream of invitations to high-profile camps.
The alternatives stack rapidly, from Pangos All-American Camp to the NBPA Top 100, camps hosted by NBA stars Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, Donovan Mitchell and Chris Paul, and platforms like Elite 24. For many gamers, camp video games now outnumber each highschool and conventional AAU competitors.
That overlap extends into the varsity 12 months as properly. Summer basketball now contains scholastic move in June, adopted by further video games within the fall main into the official stretch.
The strains between highschool, grassroots and so-called AAU competitors have blurred to the purpose that many observers group all of it below one label, even when that label now not suits.
Regardless of what it’s referred to as — AAU or grassroots — all of it will get a nasty identify. The grassroots area and the individuals working with the younger women and men inside it have turn out to be punching baggage for sports activities journalists, disgruntled coaches, some ex-players and plenty of basketball followers.
Here’s what they are saying:
“Young players are playing too many games!” Blame AAU. “Today’s game lacks fundamentals!” Blame AAU. “Too many injuries!” Blame AAU. “Foreign-born players are taking over the NBA!” You guessed it: Blame AAU.
Whether primarily based on a cynical agenda, ignorance or each, the criticism leveled at AAU and people who dedicate their time is, as a rule, unwarranted.
While the AAU and grassroots area shouldn’t be good — no business is — most of the individuals in management positions entered the business out of a love for basketball and a need to assist enhance the lives of youngsters via the contest.
Williams, who labored for Teach for America previous to becoming a member of grassroots basketball, mentioned: “The biggest thing for me has always been how do you affect lives” in a method that displays the assistance he obtained as an impressionable youth.
“You want to take young men and try to give them life lessons to turn them into great men,” he mentioned.
Depression, nervousness and the pressures that include visibility are all addressed on the grassroots stage, in line with Terrance “Munch” Williams, government director of the PSA Cardinals.PSA (Terrance “Munch” Williams)
For Jamill Jones, director of the DMV-based (District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia areas) grassroots powerhouse Team Takeover, basketball was instrumental in his schooling and improvement, so naturally he needed to offer related alternatives to youth from comparable backgrounds.
“I always tell people I want to help make productive members of society,” he informed Andscape. “I want to be a disruptor in some ways and try to create leaders in our community through basketball.”
Because of the deeper aims that most of the most profitable grassroots program leaders attempt to realize, basketball has turn out to be only one a part of their job description. Not solely are they program administrators and coaches, however in addition they routinely move the function of mentors, buddies, steerage counselors and even therapists.
“Just on our three high school teams, we spend over half a million dollars every spring and summer because we have mental health that’s part of our program. We have financial literacy that’s part of our program,” Matt Suther, director and founding father of Midwest and nationwide grassroots powerhouse MOKAN Elite, informed Andscape. “We have a full-time education [professional] that is making sure the kids are qualifying and graduating from high school and qualifying for [college].”
“Most people think that winning and [having big-time] players is what gets you the bag or what makes you the greatest, and that’s only a small component to me,” Udo-Ema mentioned, declaring Compton Magic’s intensive work in the neighborhood, organizing quite a few occasions, together with diaper drives. “I want to be a community organization that plays basketball, not the reverse.”
As younger athletes acquire recognition earlier, many are compelled to navigate despair, nervousness and the pressures that include visibility. Williams emphasised that these points are sometimes addressed first on the grassroots stage.
“The first point of attack… is the grassroots coaches, the grassroots directors. These people are working together collectively to help a kid before you see him or her on the TV screen.”
“We do the heavy lifting, bro,” Desmond “The General” Eastman, director of the Atlanta-based Game Elite program, informed Andscape.
Leave it to Arize Ifejika to ensure sports activities is well-rounded – Andscape Read now
Eastman described the time and vitality that coaches put money into gamers at an early age so as to give them the arrogance and route to succeed with or with out basketball.
“The role of an AAU coach is no different from the role of a YMCA or Boys & Girls Club director when we were growing up,” he mentioned.
Basketball-wise, it’s onerous to argue that at the moment’s gamers aren’t benefiting from the trendy grassroots setting. Access has expanded, publicity is fixed and high-level competitors is now not reserved for a choose few. The surge in AAU packages has its detractors, but it surely has additionally broadened the expertise pipeline, placing extra gamers in entrance of school coaches and NBA scouts.
The rise of sneaker circuits – Nike EYBL, Adidas 3SSB, Under Armour, Puma and Made Hoops – has solely intensified that actuality, making a nationwide stage the place elite gamers recurrently face off in structured, high-stakes settings.
Udo-Ema mentioned the inflow of company backing has essentially widened entry in grassroots basketball. Where there have been as soon as solely a handful of sponsored groups in California, there at the moment are many extra – placing considerably extra gamers on the highway with journey and bills coated. That shift, he mentioned, eases the monetary pressure on households whereas rising publicity.
“How does that not help people?” Udo Ema mentioned.
The excessive stage of competitors within the present AAU mannequin is maybe its most favorable attribute.
“If you ask a college coach whether he would prefer to see the No. 1 player play on his high school team – where it’s 15 players and there isn’t another Division I player in the gym – or see him play with his AAU team, which is comprised of maybe four or five bordering states coming together with the top 10 players from that area, the coach is always going to tell you he’d rather see him play AAU,” Jones mentioned.
“Because that gives the coach a more realistic understanding of what the player’s role will be when he goes to a school. It’s fast-tracking players’ development because they are able to commit to and learn a role at a younger age that can carry them long term.”
Grassroots basketball is way from good, however there are simple positives for packages just like the PSA Cardinals in New York City. PSA (Terrance “Munch” Williams)
From the athlete’s perspective, there are lots of positives within the present system. Jayden Williams, a junior guard at Bucknell University, performed for Terrance Williams at PSA and spoke glowingly of his AAU expertise. He mentioned he liked touring to totally different states and cities with numerous relations. He additionally cherished the particular bonds he made with teammates and coaches.
“Especially with PSA, the brotherhood that we had through the culture that Munch built, with us not having our phones, having to spend a bunch of time in hotel rooms together,” he mentioned. “Also learning to build culture with other guys who are good at basketball. That’s tough, too. Some guys don’t know how to play with other players who are just as good as them, if not better. I took that onto the college level, which is important.”
The widespread criticism of AAU/grassroots basketball’s on-court product doesn’t register with those that know the game greatest.
There are complaints in regards to the lack of observe time: “This concept of we just roll out the ball and run is completely wrong,” Williams mentioned.
There are complaints about poor teaching: “Most of our coaches are high-level high school coaches,” Suther mentioned.
There are complaints about accidents due to too many video games: “Come on, man! If you go back in time, kids were playing way more and getting hurt way less,” mentioned Udo-Ema).
AAU groups are All-Star groups is one other grievance: “You get five high-major guys, a couple mid/low-major guys that can play certain roles, some guys going to the Ivy League or the Patriot League,” Williams mentioned.
And there’s the grievance that coaches and administrators are enriching themselves: “It’s a voluntary job. I don’t get paid for this. There’s no money in grassroots basketball, not for us as coaches,” Jones mentioned.
Another well-liked narrative that has emerged extra just lately – as referenced by Durant – is that the remainder of the world is on the cusp of surpassing the United States in basketball, thanks largely to flaws within the AAU and grassroots techniques. Because the previous seven NBA regular-season MVPs have been overseas born, the narrative has picked up steam.
But whereas the highest worldwide gamers have undoubtedly made a significant mark within the NBA, foreign-born gamers accounted for 23% of the league within the 2024-25 stretch. American gamers coming from the grassroots system nonetheless make up the overwhelming majority of the NBA.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the latest NBA MVP, is Canadian. Like many high-level Canadian basketball gamers, he performed AAU basketball throughout highschool.
“The Canadian system, they try to say that’s international. It’s not. They come through [the American] system,” Suther mentioned. “They play AAU, they play in the EYBL. A lot of those kids come to high school here. The Canadian system is the U.S. system.”
Canada was essentially the most represented nation within the NBA, outdoors of the United States, on opening night time of the 2025-26 stretch with 23 gamers.
“Because we’re always trying to develop kids and figure out new and better ways to do that, I’ve done a lot of research on the European model that gets so much attention now,” Suther mentioned. “I spend a bunch of time over there, I go to practices. There’s a lot of things I really love that they do, but there’s still a lot of things here that are better than what they do as well.”
There are some within the basketball business whobelieve the European mannequin does produce gamers who’re higher ready for the NBA. A former NBA Western Conference scout, who requested anonymity to talk candidly and keep away from jeopardizing relationships, lamented that AAU groups move video games “80% of the time and 20% of the time they practice,” whereas the European mannequin is the reverse.
He additionally believes the American basketball participant is just too entitled.
“American players are way more prima donnas,” he mentioned. “It’s part of the system. They get built up early on. They’ve never had a job. Somebody else is always doing something for them.”
The former scout blames this on “AAU culture,” however he acknowledges there are exceptions to the rule.
“I’m talking about AAU overall, but you’ve got to understand, the circuits, like EYBL — which is Nike, Adidas and all that — that’s the 1% of AAU. Everybody else is all on these independent circuits,” he mentioned.
Former Florida State head play-caller Leonard Hamilton didn’t see a decline within the AAU expertise he’s recruited through the years.G Fiume/Getty Images
Recently retired faculty basketball play-caller Leonard Hamilton has a special view on the supposed superiority of abroad basketball and AAU, usually.
“They [Europe] have a club system over there. They do not play high school ball. They do not have college basketball. They have a different system,” Hamilton informed Andscape. “Now, what we are getting exposed to is the best of the players that are over there. There are a lot of people who live in Europe. I don’t know if we’re comparing apples to apples.”
Hamilton, who started his faculty teaching profession as an assistant at Austin Peay in 1971 and retired as head play-caller of Florida State in March 2025, mentioned he noticed no lower within the high quality of expertise he recruited in recent times.
“When most coaches evaluate during the summer months and AAU ball, we have certain criteria we’re looking for,” Hamilton mentioned. “I haven’t had any incapability to guage after I’ve gone to these tournaments. I personally haven’t heard any complaints in any respect from anyone in regards to the high quality of move.
“It’s easy to find things to complain about. I still think the good outweighs the bad.”
The grassroots basketball area is way from good. Even these inside it might admit there are issues they’d change. But with the simple positives – entry, publicity and alternative for younger athletes – the criticism it typically attracts raises a good query: Who is admittedly benefiting from that narrative?
“I don’t know, but [no one] should ever have anything negative to say about somebody that’s helping a child who will eventually help them provide for their families,” Eastman mentioned. “So, anyone that’s even serving to these gamers alongside the road, try to be appreciative of.
“I don’t care to what magnitude they’re helping the players. If they help the player achieve success to the point where a university or the NBA is interested in these kids, you should be thanking them.”
For Khalid Green, former recruiting director at Overtime Elite and a former scout for the Brooklyn Nets, the disconnect seemingly comes from distance.
“Grassroots is community-based and many people from outside of those communities are not used to the people who occupy leadership positions in those spaces, so many times they do not respect those people.” he mentioned.
Those inside the area have discovered to navigate, reasonably than keep away from, the strain between notion and actuality.
“I mean, it’s unfortunate, but it’s just the reality that we live,” Jones mentioned. “So we have no choice but to hold what we do in high regard and make sure to protect it. It always boils down to the kids. We know the importance of these opportunities for these families.”
Jamal Murphy is a sports activities author, lawyer and government producer and co-host of the Bill Rhoden On Sports podcast. Jamal has coated and written in regards to the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, faculty basketball, males’s and ladies’s tennis, boxing and fantasy sports activities. This Brooklyn native is a recovering Knicks and Jets fan, however continues to be hanging in there with the Mets.
