Blair Academy star Deron Rippey Jr. recently turned heads by going up against an NBA superstar in a scrimmage. On Saturday, July 26, @nbafuturestartsnow on Instagram posted that Rippey Jr. was going against Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Donovan Mitchell, who has a net worth of $60 million per Celebrity Net Worth, in competitive runs organized by 3Stripes Select Basketball.
Rippey Jr. is one of the most highly touted prospects of the high school class of 2026, which is why coaches like Hubert Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels have expressed their desire in recruiting Rippey Jr. to their program by sending him formal offers. With how he showed out against an established NBA All-Star like Mitchell, Rippey Jr. is further showcasing why he is one of the top recruits of his class.
“No ducking smoke 🙅😤,” @nbafuturestartsnow on Instagram captioned.
– @nbafuturestartsnow on Instagram, July 26, 2025
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The post has three slides in total, all of which were highlights of Rippey Jr. and Mitchell’s scrimmages against each other. The highlight of the carousel post is when the former picked up on defense as the latter was bringing down the ball, and even caused him to turn the ball out of bounds after a spin move. The next slide then shows Rippey Jr. rattling in a three-point shot, before picking up Mitchell once again.
In the final slide of the post, Rippey Jr. is then captured to miss a mid-range shot in front of Mitchell, but quickly bounced back with a top-of-the-key three-pointer when his teammate got the offensive board. These clips show as to why Rippey Jr. is currently ranked by 247Sports at No. 17 nationally as a four-star prospect that has garnered offers from the likes of coach Davis’ Tar Heels.
Deron Rippey Jr. is set to visit the North Carolina Tar Heels campus later this coming August
Per Sam Lance and Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog on July 23, Deron Rippey Jr. is has narrowed down his options of where he will play college basketball in the 2026-27 season to 12 programs, including coach Hubert Davis’ North Carolina Tar Heels. Rippey Jr. is then set to visit the storied program’s campus from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 of this year, as he recently shared that coach Davis’ Tar Heels is one of his destinations for collegiate hoops.
“UNC and UConn are my two dream schools. It’s pretty interesting to hear from them and really exciting as well,” Rippey Jr. was quoted as saying in another article by ZagsBlog.
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