As Baylor commit Ja’Kobe Walter’s high school career winds down, his next stop is coming into focus
By Shane Hoffmann | Photos by Taylor Balkom
It’s been quite the month for 5-star Baylor commit Ja’Kobe Walter.
The senior guard was named to, and subsequently played in, the McDonald’s All-American game two weeks ago. Last week, Walter — who spent the first three seasons of his high school career at McKinney (Texas) before transferring to Link Academy in Branson, Missouri, ahead of this season — helped guide Link to a GEICO national championship in spectacular fashion.
Walter scored 34 points in the tournament’s first round and an efficient 21 (6-of-8 shooting) in the title game en route to MVP honors. He led the tournament in scoring.
The ensuing week was spent in Portland, Oregon, where Walter once more went toe-to-toe with some of the nation’s most stirring talents on a daily basis as a member of Team USA’s 13-man roster for the Nike Hoop Summit, a highly touted showcase event which brings together some of the world's best under-19 hoopers.
“Every time we go back to the hotel, you're just thinking, like, you're putting on the USA jersey,” he said. “It's just really a blessing to be amongst all of the competition and the elite players. I definitely think about it a lot.”
It’s been all fine and dandy, if not the exact stuff dreams are made of, for the 18-year-old. But much of what’s consumed the mind of Walter is what came before April: watching his soon-to-be teammates play in March Madness.
Walter locked in his commitment to coach Scott Drew’s program last June, two years to the day of the initial offer. Now, things are coming into focus for the soon-to-be Baylor Bear.
“I'm super excited to get out there and just play for Waco (Texas), play for Baylor, play on TV,” he said. “It's always been a dream of mine, and now it’s starting to come to reality.”
It made for quite the watch as the No. 3-seeded Bears battled through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, ultimately falling to No. 6 Creighton.
The exit was earlier than expected for a program whose recent success — mainly its 2021 national championship — has the Bears perched amongst the best the NCAA has to offer. But Walter saw plenty. He’s itching to get out there.
“Watching the tournament, I was just kind of picturing myself in that offense,” he said. “I saw it pretty clearly.”
He added: “(I) definitely (watched) Keyonte (George) with him being a little bit taller. He's a scoring guard. … I just see myself in that offense doing what he was doing.”
Walter isn’t the only Baylor commit who spent the week in Portland. Joining him across the way with the World team were 2023 4-star guard Miro Little and 2024 4-star forward Yves Missi. The three spent what time they could socializing with one another, envisioning what the coming seasons in Waco, Texas, could hold.
Watching Baylor this postseason felt far more real this go-round for Little, just like it did for Walter.
“It was really, really stressful,” he said. “You just feel like you want to put that Baylor jersey on and go out there and compete.”
Little and Walter, who might share minutes at times next season in Baylor's suddenly thin backcourt — George is off to the NBA and L.J. Cryer announced his intention to transfer to Houston on Sunday — plan to room together in the fall.
“He’s a great guy and a really awesome teammate,” Little said of Walter. “I know (that) already.”
Walter’s been open about the rationale behind his collegiate choice. The proximity to home played a factor. So, too, did the staff’s loyalty and belief in him from the jump. And it’s impossible to ignore the program’s recent track record when it comes to the recruitment, and subsequent development, of guards just like Walter. It’s another reason the past few weeks have been so significant for him.
Each Baylor team of the past half-decade has played its best ball when leaning on its backcourt where two, sometimes three, dynamic ball-handlers have keyed a sturdy two-way attack. The success has come from striking a balance between on- and off-ball play.
Being surrounded by other elite guards such as Isaiah Collier (USC), Jackson Shelstad (Oregon), DJ Wagner (Kentucky) and Bronny James, among others, at the Nike Hoop Summit has had its perks for Walter. It’s a trial run, of sorts, for what next season could very well hold.
“I don't need the ball in my hands,” Walter said. “I'm trying to figure out how to play without the ball more, (and) just do my job.”
Added Steve Turner, the Team USA head coach: “I think he’s going to be a guy, eventually, who is at the two and the three (positionally). His skillset allows him to do a lot of different things. He can facilitate, but he can really, really score.”
In the Bears’ program, however, one-dimensional players seldom crack the rotation. Defense is a non-negotiable. And like so many of the guards that have come through the program before him, the 6-foot-5 Walter takes pride in being a disruptor on that end.
“What I thought was really nice was seeing the extension of what he’s done with his length — he does all that pressing and trapping,” Turner said. “He’s so good (at getting) steals and deflections.”
So, while the whirlwind that’s been the last month for Walter hasn’t passed by without him taking notice — he’s been sure to extensively recap each day in his head and otherwise soak in the moment — what’s coming down the pipeline has provoked exhilarating thoughts.
Walter’s senior year is all but over, but so too is the wait for a next step he’s been envisioning for years.
Photo by Taylor Balkom
Photo by Taylor Balkom
