In October, Kanye West recruited top basketball players in the nation to his DONDA Academy. Now in January, Ye and his squad are covering SLAM.

The feature story highlights a familiar story of how the top stars found out about the school after representation for Ye reached out to their families. “We had to make sure it was the right position for us [with] so many of the top players playing with each other,” says Jalen Hooks.

Hooks would also reveal most of the players knew each other from Instagram or playing against each other.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Kanye’s DONDA Academy is being petitioned to compete with Sierra Canyon High School, the Southern California program that is the basketball home of numerous young stars of the past and present, including Bronny James.

DONDA Academy, a prep school, will be located in Simi Valley, California, which is 30 minutes outside of Los Angeles. DONDA Academy is sponsored by Adidas and will be led on the basketball court by Hooks, a 6’7″ junior from the state of Indiana that is being recruited by Kansas, Michigan State, Illinois, and more schools.

“It’s just one of those things you can’t pass up,” Hooks said to the Indianapolis Star. “It was more of a family decision, too. All of us just felt like it was a chance to reach my full potential and grow and get ready for the college level.”

Hooks is not the only star to join Team DONDA, five star junior Robert Dillingham of North Carolina is also joining the team. Jahki Howard from Georgia and Zion Cruz of New Jersey are also believed to head to DONDA Academy.

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Kanye West’s DONDA Academy is a real thing and appears to be shaping up to be a basketball powerhouse.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Kanye’s DONDA Academy is being petitioned to compete with Sierra Canyon High School, the Southern California program that is the basketball home of numerous young stars of the past and present, including Bronny James.

DONDA Academy, a prep school, will be located in Simi Valley, California, which is 30 minutes outside of Los Angeles. DONDA Academy is sponsored by Adidas and will be led on the basketball court by Jalen Hooks, a 6’7″ junior from the state of Indiana that is being recruited by Kansas, Michigan State, Illinois, and more schools.

“It’s just one of those things you can’t pass up,” Hooks said to the Indianapolis Star. “It was more of a family decision, too. All of us just felt like it was a chance to reach my full potential and grow and get ready for the college level.”

Hooks is not the only star to join Team DONDA, five star junior Robert Dillingham of North Carolina is also joining the team. Jahki Howard from Georgia and Zion Cruz of New Jersey are also believed to head to DONDA Academy.

The team currently does not have a head coach, but they do have a lead recruit in Kanye. Kanye is leveraging Instagram to reach these rising stars.

“He’s building a good team with players that I want to play with and it’s out in LA in a good market so it’s something me and my family have to think about,” a player stated to Yahoo!

The DONDA team would be the best place to debut his new sneaker. Sneaker News has revealed the YZY BSKTBL KINT 3D sneaker. Pictured in the “Slate Blue” colorway, the new sneaker is reminiscent of previous YZY basketball sneakers and features see-through material and adidas BOOST technology. In addition, the sneaker features a sock-like entry. You can see the sneaker below.

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