“Here for the Smoke”: Nation's No. 1 prospect Tyran Stokes shares bold message upon return to AAU basketball

Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2026 according to On3's Industry Rankings, has been making waves after a stellar junior year at Notre Dame Sherman Oaks. The 6-foot-7 power forward also announced his return to AAU Basketball on Friday.

The famous basketball page of Nike Elite Youth Basketball featured Tyran Stokes in a video on Saturday. The power forward had a bold message for the players as he marked his return:

"ALL the SMOKE," the post was captioned.

"I'm here to show that I ain't here to duck no smoke, I'm here for the smoke, I'm going towards the smoke. I play EYBL for the Dogfights, the hard games, the adversity, the challenges.. So when I step on that court, somebody's coming at me, it brings that dog out and it makes me go hard. Soldiers, we are a family, we might lose the battle but we are never going to lose the war," said Tyran Stokes in the video.

After finishing with a perfect 3-0 record in the first session of the Nike EYBL with wins against Houston Hoops on Apr. 25, AZ Unity on Apr. 26 and Team Final on Apr. 27, the Oakland Soldiers had a shaky record in the Nike EYBL Session II.

The Soldiers have a 1-2 record in the second session. They started with a 64-54 loss against NY Rens on Thursday at the Memphis Sports & Events Center - Court 2. However, they bounced back in a stellar fashion, defeating Meanstreets by a massive 90-56 scoreline on Friday.

In their third game, they were defeated by the No. 4 player in the Class of 2026, Jordan Smith Jr.'s Team Takeover, by an 87-79 scoreline, marking their second loss in the session.

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How has Tyran Stokes performed so far in the Nike EYBL Session II?

In their loss against the NY Rens, Tyran Stokes recorded a double double with 18 points on a poor 30.0% shooting, including 1-for-9 from behind the arc. He also converted 5-of-6 of his shots from the charity stripe and had 12 rebounds, three assists and four steals in 29:52 minutes.

He continued his streak of double doubles in the win against Meanstreets, scoring 14 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, dishing out six assists and stealing and blocking the ball once. He shot 55.6% from the field, including 1-of-4 from the three-point line.

In their second loss against Team Takeover, Stokes recorded 27 points on 40.0% shooting and 1-for-6 from beyond the arc. He also had four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 28:28 minutes.

The Oakland Soldiers and Tyran Stokes will face JL3 on Saturday.