Alumni-filled Twin Cities Pro-Am returning this summer

The Twin Cities Pro-Am basketball tournament has returned to Minnesota this summer in what has become a powerful tradition for the state’s ever-growing basketball community. The official summer league for professional, collegiate and prep athletes in Minnesota will be hosted at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis this season. All six teams are full of connections to the state of Minnesota, Twin Cities metro and west metro.

Team Double Down will feature Robbinsdale-native Jamison Battle, who attended DeLaSalle and now plays for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA. Brooklyn Park native Josiah Strong is also on the team. Strong played for Champlin Park before going to Colorado State. They will be joined by Gophers player Parker Fox and Minneapolis-native Deshun Patterson.

Team Lamb Chops includes Brooklyn Park native Clarence Daniels, who went to Maranatha Christian Academy for high school before attending the University of New Hampshire. He was recently invited to join the Oklahoma City Thunder’s summer league team.

Daniels will be teaming up with New Hope’s Rashad Vaughn, who attended Cooper and has featured for several both European and American teams professionally, most recently Greece’s Apollon Patras. Lamb Chops will also feature Elk River standout Brandon Melchoir, one of the tournament’s younger players.

Team Sizzle will include Plymouth-native Nasir Whitlock, who attended DeLaSalle prior to leaving for college, as well as Minnehaha Academy alums Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren, who now tear up the court for Orlando Magic and Thunder, respectively, in the NBA.

Strickly BBall will include Hopkins alum Ish El-Amin and Israeli League star Sandy Cohen III alongside the Timberwolves’ own Luka Garza.

Team Tyus will feature Brooklyn Cente alum Landon Kirkwood alongside Kansas City Wizards player and Apple Valley alum Tyus Jones. They’ll be joined by the Hopkins trio of Jadee Jones, Vinne Shahid, and Marvin Singleton. Benilde-St. Margaret alum and European basketball veteran Jordan Taylor is also on the team.

Your Home Improvement Co. (YHIC) will include Armstrong alum Race Thompson, who was included in the New York Knicks summer league team last year, alongside Gabe Kalscheur, an Edina native who now plays with the Timberwolves-affiliate Iowa Wolves in the G-League.

The tournament includes four weeks of round-robin play, which kicked off on July 8 and is scheduled to run until Aug. 1. Teams will then be seeded into playoffs, beginning on Aug. 3.

Week one starts on Monday, July 8. Lamb Chops will face Team Tyus on July 8 at 5:45 p.m., while Sizzle will take on YHIC at 7:00 p.m. The next day, Tuesday, July 9, Sizzle takes on Double Down at 5:45 p.m., while Strickly BBall faces Lamb Chops at 7:00 p.m. The action continues on Thursday, July 11, when Team Tyus faces Double Down at 5:45 p.m., while YHIC faces Strickly BBall at 7:00 p.m.

Week two begins on Monday, July 15. Strickly BBall takes on Team Tyus first before Double Down faces Lamb Chops. Lamb Chops will be back at it on Tuesday, July 16, facing YHIC. Team Tyus will play Sizzle in the second game of the day. YHIC faces Double Down at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, July 18 in week two, followed by a game between Sizzle and Strickly BBall.