Cayden Daughtry Dominates Peach Jam And Emerges As Elite Prospect

Since 2010, many of the top basketball players in the nation have competed in the Nike EYBL, the premier high school grassroots circuit that culminates each July with the Peach Jam event. Still, few, if any, have been as impressive as Cayden Daughtry, who on Sunday led his Florida Rebels team to the 17U Peach Jam title.

Daughtry, a 6-foot point guard who is entering his senior year in high school, had 33 points on nine of 16 shooting with nine rebounds, six assists and just one turnover, culminating a dominant stretch. Over eight games in six days in the Peach Jam, Daughtry averaged 32.3 points, 6.1 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 steals per game. He shot 58.6% from the floor and 48.8% on 3-pointers and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Adam Finkelstein, director of scouting at 247Sports and a veteran recruiting analyst for ESPN and other major outlets, wrote on X after Daughtry’s performance in the final that “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve never seen a run quite like that.” Meanwhile, Eric Bossi, the national basketball director at 247Sports who has been a recruiting analyst since the 1990s, wrote on X on Saturday after Daughtry scored 32 points in the semifinals that he wasn’t able to attend the Peach Jam games in person, but he had been watching them online.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything like this Cayden Daughtry run,” Bossi wrote. “Utterly electric.”

And that’s saying something considering how many future college stars and NBA players have competed in the Peach Jam, which is held in North Augusta, S.C., less than two miles from the Georgia border.

Two years ago, future Duke national player of the year Cameron Boozer led the Nightrydas to the Peach Jam title and was MVP. His teammates included Caleb Wilson, while other players in the event included AJ Dybantsa and Brayden Burries. Dybantsa was the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft, while Boozer was third, Wilson was fourth and Burries was 10th.

Other Peach Jam MVPs include NBA veterans such as Aaron Gordon (2011), D’Angelo Russell (2012), guard Trae Young and forward Michael Porter, Jr. (co-MVPs in 2016) and center Jalen Duren (2021). Numerous other NBA draft lottery picks have played in the event, as well.

Daughtry could join the long list of players who end up in the NBA, although he is smaller than almost all of the other top stars who have performed well in the EYBL. The closet comparison in height may be Young, who is listed at 6-2. But while Young had Porter as a grassroots teammate, Daughtry did not have to share the spotlight, meaning teams could focus on stopping him. No one did.

In the Peach Jam, Daughtry scored nearly 38% of the Rebels’ points, had at least 30 points in seven of eight games and averaged more than twice as many points as anyone else on the team. And it wasn’t just the Peach Jam. In 14 regular season EYBL games, Daughtry led the circuit with 25.6 points per game. He also averaged six assists and 5.2 rebounds per game and made 54.9% of his shots.

Daughtry is No. 9 in the 247Sports ranking of top prospects in the class of 2027, but that could change with his Peach Jam play, which was just the latest in a months-long stretch of top performances. In March, he led Calvary Christian to the Florida state 3A championship. He also participated in the NBPA Top 100 camp last month, averaging 13.8 points in 19.8 minutes per game, shooting 64.8% from the field and leading his team to a 4-0 record. And earlier this month, he was a member of the U.S. team that won the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup, averaging 11.7 points and 4.7 assists in 17.9 minutes per game.

In December, Daughtry told the ZAGSBLOG website that he was hearing primarily from Iowa, USC, Michigan, Miami and Florida State. But with the way he’s been playing, Daughtry is sure to have many more suitors. Kentucky, UConn, Illinois, Florida and Louisville are among the teams to have offered Daughtry scholarships since May, per 247Sports.

So far, Daughtry has visited Miami and Michigan. He is also scheduled to visit Iowa in September, according to Sam Lance of the Field of 68, who noted that Daughtry plans on checking out several other campuses, as well. Those coaches no doubt will do all they can to lure Daughtry to their schools. His size aside, Daughtry has shown over the past few months that he’s an elite prospect who could be heard from for years to come.