EXCLUSIVE: Top MSU Basketball Target Has The Right Approach to Elite NBA Player's Camp
Anthony Thompson is one of the best basketball players in the 2026 class. He has had a busy summer.
Thompson dominated the AAU circuit. He received an offer from the Michigan State Spartans and head coach Tom Izzo. He also made the decision to play for Western Reserve Academy, the reigning prep basketball national champions.
I spoke with Thompson, who said his focus right now is to prepare for the Formula Zero camp in Phoenix, Arizona. Formula Zero is a camp that hosts elite high school and college talent from around the country, and it is run by NBA star Damien Lilliard. Thompson said he received an invite last month after one of his games, and he couldn't pass up "an opportunity like that."
Thompson will not miss his chance to pick the brain of one of the game's best players.
"I'm definitely going to ask questions, probably one of the main things I'm going to look forward to is asking about how to handle everything as far as recruiting and being able to play in the NBA, schedules, stuff like that," Thompson told me. "Something I kinda want to learn about is how to be able to handle basketball at the next level. When it comes to playing, just how he controls the game and how he slows the game down to be able to play at his speed and how he sees the game."
Thompson's mentality to going to an elite camp like Lilliard's? Play his own game. And learn.
"I think now as I've kind of matured as a player, and as a person even now than say two, three, four years ago, because you're going to some of these camps you're looking for exposure and you're just looking for people to talk about you," Thompson said. "For example, at the Dame Lilliard camp I think the main thing I'm going to be looking for is just learning. Stuff that goes on that I can take back to the [high school] ball season, the next AAU season and take that to improve my game to another level. So I think that as far as wanting to be the alpha dog, I think you can still do that with being able to learn from the coaches and the trainers that you work with at camps and stuff like that."
Michael France is Sports Illustrated's Michigan State recruiting beat writer, covering all things Big Ten recruiting for Spartan Nation. Be sure to follow him on Twitter/X@michaelfrancesi for exclusive Spartans recruiting coverage.
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MICHAEL FRANCE