Kiwi hoops phenom Dontae Russo-Nance announces he's heading to renowned US academy
As next steps go this one is a doozy for New Zealand’s premier schoolboy basketballer, Dontae Russo-Nance.
The 17-year-old St Kentigern College (Auckland) phenom has announced he is heading to prestigious Oak Hill Academy in the United States to continue the remainder of his high school career. He will leave soon to make a belated entry into the US school year, and start preparations for the upcoming basketball season.
It is a notable decision by Russo-Nance, who will join fellow Kiwi Nic Book at the renowned Virginia hoops talent factory that has helped produce a string of NBA stars, including Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, Jerry Stackhouse and Rod Strickland.
Russo-Nance, like Book, will have two years of high school eligibility remaining when he enters the US system, though it is understood he is eligible to declare for college, or potentially launch his professional career, in 2023-24.
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The Auckland guard leaves St Kent’s after guiding them to victory in the northern region qualifying tournament at the weekend where they beat Westlake Boys in the final. The defending national champs (the tournament was last held in 2019) will, however, have to chase another crown without their best player who will head for the next chapter of his career having never got a shot at the New Zealand schools title.
Russo-Nance has been dominant for St Kent’s in the Auckland premier competition this season, posting multiple 50-point outings and a career-high 61 points in a victory over Mount Albert Grammar just last month. He has also played the last two seasons in the New Zealand NBL, as a standout guard for the Auckland Huskies (2021) and Auckland Tuatara (‘22), and was named the league's youth player of the year after taking a prominent role in the Tuatara’s charge to the final in their first year.
Aaron Young, who has coached Russo-Nance at both schools and NBL level, told Stuff his young charge had the potential to become New Zealand’s first NBA player since Steven Adams entered the league in 2013.
“No moment is too big for him,” said Young. “He approaches the game the right way and just has an unbelievable instinct for the game – like I’ve never seen from someone that age.
“He’s special in the way he consistently makes the right reads. To do that at 16-17 in a men’s pro league is pretty special. That instinctive stuff normally take years and years, and his challenge now will be to work on the basic things like his body. But in terms of his IQ, the way he sees and feels the game, he’s already at a pretty high level.
“He does have NBA potential. Dontae has all the intangibles that are going to help him get there. Now he’s going to go over and compete against other players who are highly talented at the same age as him which is something he’s never experienced.
“I think he’s going to step up and take on that challenge and do really well. He’s going to be in a routine every day, and that’s what he needs. If he gets his body right over the next 12 months, that’s one thing that could project him to that NBA conversation.”
And Young says the chance to play at Oak Hill, the small prep school in rural Virginia with the big hoops reputation, cannot be underestimated.
“It’s one of the top high school academies in the States – a programme designed to develop high-level basketball athletes. He’s going into an environment that is very much focused on his pathway and his career going forward.”
Young, who has been extended for another two years as Tuatara coach, says it’s sad on one sense that Russo-Nance didn’t get the chance to lead his St Kent’s side at next month’s nationals. But he has no doubts the teen phenom, recently named to the All-Star 5 at the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders camp in Australia, is headed for much bigger things.
“I’m just so proud of the body of work he’s put in, and the amount of sacrifice he’s given to both St Kent’s and the Tuatara,” said Young. “I know this is just another step in the right direction for him.”