talents. College? Top schools like Kansas, Georgia,
and Auburn were recruiting him. Overseas? He had
already turned down a lucrative offer in China as
a sophomore. Overtime Elite? The f ledgling league
made an offer too.
Ultimately, Scoot chose the expertise and
infrastructure of the Ignite. He will be playing
alongside a mixture of high school sensations and
teammates in their 20s and 30s who will serve as
mentors. “It’s one step closer to my main goal, getting
to the NBA,” he explains. “That’s really it.”
When it came time to make that decision, his
parents, Chris and Crystal, and his six siblings all
weighed in. In the Henderson household, basketball
is a way of life. Chris is a coach and trainer, and in
2018 he and Crystal opened a gym, Next Play 360°,
which everyone in the family calls their second
home. In addition to courts, the gym has a STEM lab.
Academics are taken as seriously as hoops. To play50 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS
The 17-year-old Henderson is only startinghis professional journey, as part of the G League
Ignite, the NBA’s new program for players under
19 (i.e., those not yet eligible for the draft). The
6' 3", 189-pound guard is one of the youngest hoop
phenoms ever to turn professional in the U.S., and the
first to make a two-year commitment to the Ignite. He
signed his $1 million contract in May, after his junior
year of high school, and he’s projected to be the top
point guard in the 2023 draft.
Henderson has a league-assigned apartmentnear the Ignite’s training facility in Walnut Creek,
Calif., with his mom and one of his sisters living
nearby. It’s a long way from Kell High in Marietta,
Ga., where Scoot could be studying for an English
test right now instead of figuring out where to
shop for groceries. Having dominated high school
competition, he knew a year ago that he would
leave early. The only question was where to take his