Boys basketball: Warren star Davis earns third Lake County All-Area captain award, continues improving as college offers grow

The documented all-time boys basketball scoring leader in Lake County history is currently playing on a 4-year, $156.5-million contract and plays half his home games in the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, as a member of the NBA’s New York Knicks.

And barring some unforeseen circumstance or major injury, Stevenson graduate Jalen Brunson’s decade-plus record of 2,682 career points has a shot to fall by the wayside next season at the hands of Warren Township junior phenom Jaxson Davis.

Davis, indeed, continues to fly in rare air.

The Blue Devils’ standout 6-foot-1 guard piled up 784 more points this season, averaging a county-best 23.8 points per contest in helping his team go 30-4, run the table in the North Suburban Conference at 14-0 and advance to a Class 4A sectional that likely would have had a different outcome had Davis not been injured in practice the day before the semifinal game against Rockford Auburn.

In the no-brainer of all no-brainers, Davis is now the unprecedented 3-time captain of the Daily Herald Lake County boys basketball All-Area team.

Davis, the reigning Mr. Basketball in Illinois (first sophomore to win the prestigious honor), did all this — while also averaging 5.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 3.5 steals — with opposing teams again throwing everything at him, plus the proverbial kitchen sink and a few spare tires.

“Since freshman year, teams have been locking on me and scouting me more,” said Davis, who has 2,163 career points and is 520 points shy of eclipsing Brunson’s record, and will speed past Deerfield alum Ryan Hogan (2,407, 1993-1997) and Zion grad Malik Yarbrough (2,621, 2010-2014) on his way to the top of county lore. Brandon Paul, the 2009 Mr. Basketball in Illinois winner, who stared at Illinois, played briefly in the NBA and has enjoyed an extensive overseas pro career, is believed to hold the previous Warren Township scoring record at more than 1,600 career points.

“They load the gaps and try to contain my dribble drive,” he explained. “I have dealt with it well and my teammates have helped me. I’m at my best when my teammates are hitting shots. When that opens the floor up, I can get downhill and get into the paint and try to make plays for me and my teammates. I’m a competitor. I love the challenge.”

Heading into this season, Davis took it upon himself to get stronger. He says he’s in that 175- to 180-pound range now. “Working out more has helped me tremendously,” he said. “I’m jumping higher and I am stronger. I can take the bumps and hits way more now.”

Stevenson coach Will Benson certainly noticed. “He absolutely got bigger and stronger from last year,” he said. “You can look at him and see the time he’s put in the weight room in the offseason. He got better at finishing through contact around the rim and his mid-range jump shot off the dribble became more consistent.”

Benson was asked to put into words how tough it is to defend Davis, who estimates he’s being pursued by around 20 Division I programs and has been on game-day visits to Illinois, Michigan and Michigan State.

“I mean, he is unbelievably difficult to defend,” Benson said. “I think Benet Academy’s coach (Gene Heidkamp) had the best quote about Jaxson. He said something like when he has the ball in his hands, you are at his mercy. He can do whatever he wants with it and get any shot he wants while also getting his teammates involved.”

Warren coach Zack Ryan noted, despite being under constant duress, Davis improved his field-goal percentage 6 percent this year and free-throw percentage by 4 percent, plus added a rebound to that total per game. “That’s a credit to him working on his shooting and improving his overall efficiency as a player,” he said. “Jaxson has gotten better and stronger every year.”

Joliet West coach Jeremy Kreiger has coached against Davis in each of his first three seasons and provided lengthy comments on Davis to the Gatorade player of the year nominating committee at the end of last season.

“Easily the best pure point guard in the state,” Kreiger wrote. “He impacts winning at every facet of the game: play creation, shot creation, offensive initiation. He can score at all 3 levels with efficiency and navigates pick and roll the best I have seen since Jeremy (currently at Michigan State) and Jeremiah (NBA New Orleans Pelicans draft pick) Fears. He never gets sped up, understands angles and utilizes gravity to get himself a shot or his teammates. He plays nearly 32 minutes a game while being the focus of the other team’s scouting report. He has an extremely high usage rate because he carries the burden of initiating and creating offense for he and his teammates all game.”

Kreiger said Davis’ elite status is twofold. “It’s his mind, his IQ and feel for the game, and character, who he is and how he conducts himself,” he said. “He plays the hardest position on the floor at the highest level mentally, which has impacted winning at the highest level. He makes next-level reads that allows his team to be in position to score easily in most possessions and score efficiently. He can get whatever shot he wants for he or his teammates at any time.”

Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw also watched Davis, the MVP of the Rich Township Big Dipper Christmas tournament (where he scored a tournament-record 51 points in a game) this season and a 2026 IBCA Class 4A all-state first-team pick, take the next step this season.

“His ability to take over a game is unparalleled in Illinois right now I believe,” he said. “Jaxson continues to develop in all the ways high-level players develop. He was already very good in every area of the game, but has deepened his skills and understanding in all those facets.”v

Lake Zurich coach Terry Coughlin has seen Davis do his thing since he was a young child, coaching for Davis’ dad, Brian, at the former Joy of the Game program based in Lake County.

“Besides getting better because of the time he spends in the gym and watching film, which I know he does relentlessly, what has really changed his game this year is his ability to completely control a game,” he said. “Jaxson has the rare ability to make a game go at the pace he wants the game to go at any given moment. The ability to control the tempo of a game and rhythm of a game is a quality that in almost 20 years of coaching and even longer being around the high school game I can count probably on one hand the amount of players who I have seen have that ability.”

With Davis, who helped lead Warren to a Class 4A state runner-up finish as a sophomore, heading into his senior year this fall, the question becomes, how high in the sky is his potential?

“He is a future pro as I see him right now,” Waukegan’s Ashlaw said. “I said to our players earlier this year, one of the separators between him and most even really good high school players is how hard he cuts. He cuts like a player on a mission. He cuts like a pro.”

Benson added: “I do think he has a chance to play in the NBA someday, I really do. He is undersized but he’s so skilled and his basketball IQ is off the charts. You combine his skill level and his intangibles, he has a shot to get to the NBA someday. I am sure many people will think I am crazy for saying that, but that’s what I believe. I saw Fred Van Vleet (Rockford Auburn grad now with the Houston Rockets) in high school and no one talked about him making it to the league so you never know.”

Scott Burgess of PrepHoops.com offered both a current-day an immediate future scouting report on Davis, who the online outlet has ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the state in the Class of 2027.

“He has a high-level feel for the game,” he said. “Overall, his leadership and ‘it’ factor are off the charts. He is a winner and the type of player other kids want to follow. I think he will be an impact high-major point guard. I some respect with his leadership, passing and ability to score when he needs, he is similar to Jeremy Fears at Michigan State who is the top true lead guard in the Big Ten on a national title contender. He is the type of player that will win a lot of games.”

First things first. Davis, part of 3 Warren teams that have gone a combined 88-20, has a senior season at Warren to conquer and the motivation has never been higher to do so given the tough end of the season that featured an 8-point loss to Auburn at Rockton Hononegah in a game he played limited minutes in after being injured a day earlier.

“I didn’t want to go out that way,” he said. “I’m extremely motivated for next season. It felt different. The game wasn’t really in my hands. I was injured. Last year hit harder because we were downstate and the ball was in my hands all game. My senior year is my last year and I want to make it the best I can. I have a different type of motivation to come back and win again.”