{"id":826628,"date":"2025-03-12T17:30:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T21:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=826628"},"modified":"2025-03-12T17:30:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T21:30:46","slug":"koa-peat-is-writing-his-own-legacy-as-a-top-ranked-star-at-perry-hs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/slam-254\/koa-peat-is-writing-his-own-legacy-as-a-top-ranked-star-at-perry-hs\/","title":{"rendered":"Koa Peat is Writing His Own Legacy as a Top-Ranked Star at Perry HS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By the time the calendar flipped to 2025, Koa Peat could see the finish line\u2014on his incredible high school career and on the process that would determine his next step. On this particular mid-January weekend, he had time to knock out the photo shoot that accompanies this story; two days later, he led his Perry (AZ) High squad to another win. The Pumas held a top-10 national ranking and were on pace for a fourth straight state championship.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 6-7, 235-pound forward knows about top-10 national rankings\u2014Peat has been a fixture in that spot in the 2025 class for years now. At press time, he was arguably the top remaining undecided senior in the country, with Baylor, Houston and Texas vying with in-state rivals Arizona and Arizona State on his list of finalists. \u201cI\u2019m still figuring it out, so I don\u2019t have a timeline,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just taking it day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a healthy approach, and it speaks to the confidence with which Peat operates on and off the court. Growing up surrounded by high-level athletes probably has something to do with it. The son of former NFL lineman Todd Peat, he came up the youngest of seven and watched his older brothers star in football\u2014among them Andrus, a 10-year NFL vet who spent last season with the Las Vegas Raiders, and Keona, currently at Arizona State\u2014while his sisters Leilani and Maya both hooped in college. All of that had an effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cObviously my parents supported me in whatever I did,\u201d Koa says, \u201cbut as a competitor, watching my brothers and sisters since I was little inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football\u2019s in his blood, of course\u2014he played with Keona and their cousins, and his size made him a promising tight end prospect\u2014but hoops became his focus in middle school, and the timing of the pandemic coincided with his decision to fully dial in. \u201cOver Covid, I started training really hard, getting a lot better, and I could see those strides,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just fell in love with the work\u2014that\u2019s all it takes, hard work. That\u2019s when I knew I could go far with this.\u201d A growth spurt got him to 6-6 by the end of ninth grade, further solidifying his path on the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He pairs size and athleticism with a skill set that is looking increasingly complete. Asked about his strengths, Peat says, \u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m a winner first.\u201d And then? \u201cI\u2019m versatile\u2014I feel like I can play 1 through 5, I can guard 1 through 5. I\u2019m a leader\u2014I\u2019m gonna make sure my team\u2019s locked in. I\u2019m unselfish, and I\u2019m a team player.\u201d His college choice will come down to the right fit of coaching staff and style of play, a program that can appreciate all he brings and hone those strengths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely looking for coaches who are going to play me in a position where I can do everything on the court, let me play free, develop me as a player that has no flaws,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that sounds overconfident, Peat\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 backs it up. In addition to those three state titles and the last two Arizona Gatorade POY awards, Peat also owns three USA Basketball gold medals, winning multiple U17 FIBA World Cups and the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in 2023. For his efforts in that tournament\u2014he averaged a team-high 17.2 points and 8.3 boards en route to gold\u2014Peat was named the 2023 USA Basketball Male Player of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou dream of stuff like that,\u201d he says now. \u201cThe numbers I had, winning the tournament, being a leader on that team, I didn\u2019t feel like I didn\u2019t deserve it. To have your name by all those greats that won the award just shows that if you work hard and keep focusing on your craft and work, you can do anything.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Portrait by Thomas Ingersoll<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the time the calendar flipped to 2025, Koa Peat could see the finish line\u2014on his incredible high school career and on the process that would determine his next step. On this particular mid-January weekend, he had time to knock out the photo shoot that accompanies this story; two days later, he led his Perry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":826636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65344],"tags":[62525,65370],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-826628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slam-254","tag-feature-1","tag-koa-peat"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":826637,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826628\/revisions\/826637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826628"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=826628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}