Koa Peat, a star forward at Gilbert Perry and top-5 overall prospect in the 2025 class, will represent USA Basketball at the U17 World Cup this summer, the team announced Wednesday.
This will be Peat’s third time suiting up for the junior national team, having won gold medals at the U16 Americas in 2023 and the U17 World Cup in 2022. He was also named USA Basketball’s Male Player of the Year in 2023, after he averaged 17.2 points (58.7% shooting), 8.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game at the Americas.
The 6-foot-8, 235-pound Peat has won Open Division championships in each of his three seasons at Perry playing alongside Cody Williams, a potential lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, for the first two. He was also named Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year in both of the last two years.
He cut his recruiting down to 10 schools in January, including Arizona State and Arizona.
Reuniting with several players from the U16 team Peat played with last summer, he is joined by other players such as Cameron and Cayden Boozer (twin sons of Carlos; 2025 Nos. 2 and 20), AJ Dybantsa (2025 No. 1) and Tyran Stokes (2026 No. 1).
USA has an all-time record of 44-0 at the U17 World Cup.
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Which big names didn’t make the cut?
Goodyear Millennium wing Cameron Holmes, who played against Peat in the 2023 Open championship, was one of 35 expected participants in training camp for the team but didn’t make the final 12-man cut. The younger brother of DaRon Holmes II, a 2024 potential first-round pick, Cameron is in the top 15 of the 2026 class.
NBA DNA could be found across the initial participants list, including Bryce James, the son of LeBron and younger brother of Bronny. The others were Kiyan Anthony (Carmelo), Alijah Arenas (Gilbert), Tajh Ariza (Trevor) and Elijah Williams (Monty).