Texas Basketball Recruiting: Breaking down RJ Hampton overseas decision

Where RJ Hampton is going

The decision from RJ Hampton to give his commitment to one of his four finalist schools came on May 28. Yet, the shocking part of that commitment announcement was that he didn’t give his pledge to any of those four schools. Instead, he announced that he wanted to take his game overseas before he could possibly declare for the 2020 NBA Draft as a top prospect.

A piece from Sports Illustrated highlighted the decision from Hampton and some of the struggles that the world of college hoops faces in competing with the growing trend of players diverting from that path. Instead, players like Hampton are either going overseas or pushing to be eligible for the NBA Draft right away or play in the D-League or G-League.

Hampton is taking his game to join the New Zealand Breakers who mostly compete in Australia and New Zealand. The Breakers are a rather big team over in New Zealand and Australia. They have one other former NBA player, Corey Webster, and already played in one preseason game against NBA competition last year against the Phoenix Suns.

A recent report from Stuff also indicated that the Breakers could be playing against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies in the preseason. That’s going to be a big year for both Hampton and the Breakers will all the competition they will get in the United States.