Photo Essay

World-Class Courts for World-Class Talent: How Nike Prepares its Future Hoop Stars

April 12, 2026
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Every spring, the world’s most talented high school basketball players experience what can only be described as the Hoop Summit effect. The elite all-star game in Portland is the prime place to watch the best young American-born players take on their international counterparts. All of these players have the skill sets that put them head and shoulders above their opponents on their regular-season teams. But there’s also an intangible part of their game, a secret reserve, that only comes out when they’re surrounded by other world-class players, like when they arrive in Portland, Ore. for the annual high school showcase, which debuted in 1995. Their drives to the rim become a little more fierce. Their defensive stance becomes a little more determined. In short, their entire game finds another level, on both sides of the ball.

“One reason Hoop Summit is unique is that the players are inspired to represent their lineage in a meaningful way," says Natalia Isaac, Professional, North America Pro Basketball Sports Marketing at Nike. "It also gives players one more platform to showcase their talents before exiting their high school careers.”

There’s a similar effect that happens at the world-class facilities on Nike’s Philip H. Knight Campus (PHK) in Beaverton, Ore., which hosts the teams for a week as they get ready for the Hoop Summit at Portland's Moda Center. The company gives them access to some of the most unique basketball gyms in the world, and even a stint at the backyard pro facility just a short drive from Beaverton. The gyms are architectural marvels. But it’s the talent inside them during events like Hoop Summit that turn these facilities into something greater. Evan Guerra, a student photographer and journalist at the University of Portland, turned his lens toward Nike's PHK as the players spent the week using these facilities, prepping for one of the biggest all-star games of their lives.

For Hoop Summit, one men’s team and women’s team for Team USA play against one men’s and women’s international team. All teams travel to Nike’s PHK to practice with their teammates during the week.

At the end of the week, the men's and women's teams face off in a final scrimmage. It’s one of the top high school games in the world, and one of the best ways to catch the young Who's Who of hoops.

Stepping into the Mike Krzyzewski "Coach K" Fitness Center at Nike's PHK, you’re struck by the sheer scale of it. The NCAA-regulation basketball court is the star of the building.

The court is surrounded by a wraparound graphic of the rabid superfans of Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, known as the Cameron Crazies. Panoramic windows show a view of Portland’s West Hills.

Built in 2018, the building is around 50,000 square feet. Its amenities include a dedicated strength training area, workout studios, recovery tools and more. All of these are open to the players.

The court is frequently used as the training ground of choice for visiting pro and collegiate teams, especially those that compete in the Portland Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

If the Coach K Fitness Center is built on scale, the Bo Jackson Fitness Center gets its energy from its intimacy. Built in 1989, it was Nike's first do-everything gym facility in Beaverton.

The more than 50,000 square-foot facility has a crown jewel, the upstairs gym, above which is a short track for running. But during basketball games, fans will line the track and watch from up high.

Facing the court’s south end, giant floor-to-ceiling windows give a view beyond Nike’s Bo Jackson Field. At nighttime, the court illuminates the entire surrounding area.

In Beaverton, the Hoop Summit teams are practicing at the epicenter of basketball product design. All teams are able to preview exclusive product in Nike’s basketball shoe lineup.

One of the week’s highlights was when the international teams received personalized colorways of the Ja 3 designed in the color palettes of their home country flags.

A sign of Nike's deep roots with its local NBA franchise, all Hoop Summit teams have the opportunity to train at the Trail Blazers practice facility in Tualatin, a short drive from Nike's PHK.

The Portland Trail Blazers have factored prominently in Nike’s history since the company’s founding in 1972; the Nike Blazer, a classic made famous by George Gervin, got its name from the franchise.

This is also the primary Hoop Summit stop where college and pro scouts are welcomed to watch the teams practice.

It won’t be the first time many of these players will walk through a pro facility, making it that much more important to give players a taste of what’s to come in the lead-up before Hoop Summit.

Listen carefully inside the LeBron James Innovation Center, and you might hear the pounding of balls upstairs on the LeBron James Basketball Court, a technologically unmatched hoops facility.

It doesn’t take long for the Hoop Summit players to feel the presence of the building’s living legend. The lobby floor is covered with memorable shots from the King, like his first bucket.

“When players get to experience our campus, it shows that we can serve them beyond the game itself. Seeing how our teams across the company work together to create this week-long memory for players is a big priority for us.”
Natalia Isaac, Professional, North America Pro Basketball Sports Marketing