South Carolina Basketball: Elite 2024 prospect honored at Nike showcase

South Carolina basketball currently has just one commitment in the class of 2024. Okku Federiko is the lone member of the ’24 cycle as the 6’9″ Finnish forward’s fellow countryman Morris Ugusuk reclassified to the 2023 class and has signed his NLI with the Gamecocks.

With the 2023 roster full of players who will be in their last year of college basketball, the 2024 class will need to be a substantial one. Transfer additions BJ Mack, Ta’Lon Cooper, and Stephen Clark join Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk and Ebrima Dibba as players without additional eligibility, and Meechie Johnson, Josh Gray, and Myles Stute will each be in their fourth years of college basketball.

One of the primary targets for Lamont Paris’ program in the ’24 class is Grovetown, Georgia native Derrion Reid. Reid is a consensus 4-star prospect (also unanimously ranked in the top-78 nationally) who projects best as a wing at the next level. The 6’7″ Reid is a skilled offensive playmaker who can pass well and possesses above-average athleticism and defensive “want-to.” His 180-pound frame is light, but his build suggests he can add muscle. In short, if Reid develops a decent jump shot (something he says is improving), he has the chance to become a star in college.

Last week, Reid, who plays for former NBA player and McDonald’s All-American Thaddeus Young, earned third-team honors during his team’s second-place finish at a Nike EYBL basketball showcase in Dallas, Texas. The talented high school junior averaged 15.5 points, 5 rebounds, and almost two assists per contest during the two-day event.

With a lot of time still remaining in his recruitment process, Reid is listed as a substantial lean to join the South Carolina basketball program according to On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine. The Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are two of the Gamecocks’ most significant competitors in pursuit of gaining a commitment from Reid.