A dream fulfilled. North Mecklenburg’s Isaiah Evans is the best player of a generation

According to everyone in his orbit, North Mecklenburg’s Isaiah Evans — the best schoolboy basketball player from Charlotte in the past 40 years — didn’t reach the peak of high school celebrity the way many kids do.

He wasn’t anointed in grade school, given boxes of free gear and high expectations. He didn’t have his name splashed on sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade national rankings for the best players in the country.

“Really,” his mother, Marieke Lemon, said, “eighth grade wasn’t a good year for him. Even his pediatrician was like, ‘Stand up. You grew so much this year.’ He was a little awkward.”

When he was in ninth grade, Evans, a 6-foot-7 wing, played on the junior varsity team at North Mecklenburg. He did well, but when his sophomore season was ready to begin, Evans and his mother were both more than willing to go back.

“We thought that might be good for his development,” Lemon said.

But North Meck coach Duane Lewis knew it was time for Evans to start spreading his wings.

“Playing that JV year allowed him to develop that personality that he has,” Lewis said. “It allowed him to grow. On varsity, we had (lots of star players). He would’ve been coming off the bench. So many kids want to play ninth grade and they sit and what good could that do? It could go the other way, and it’s like, ‘What could your trajectory have been?’ Our philosophy is put some guys on JV that might play varsity. We want guys to become alphas.”

Evans, certainly, was primed after his freshman year — and Lewis knew it.

“That’s a true story,” Lewis said. “At the start of 10th grade, his mom thought he would play JV again. I’m like, ‘Yeah, let me handle this one.’”

So Evans moved up to varsity as a sophomore and averaged nearly 20 points per game on a deep Vikings team. As a junior, he became the best player in North Carolina. He averaged 26 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.1 steals. He won the state’s biggest award, Mr. N.C. Basketball, after leading his team to the state semifinals.

This year, Evans became a Duke recruit, a McDonald’s All-American, the first N.C. player to win Mr. Basketball twice — and he led North Mecklenburg to the third state championship in school history. He averaged 27.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.3 blocks.

And if you want to know how good Evans is, consider this: He will graduate high school in three months, but he’s already listed as a first-round NBA draft pick in 2025.

“I can’t believe all of this,” Evans said. “I’m blessed. I mean, being on a mock draft is not as accurate as being on the real draft board would be, but just having people know that I’m in the conversation makes me feel good.”

Learning to be great

Evans said he wasn’t the best player on many of the teams he grew up playing on. He couldn’t play seventh-grade basketball because of his mother’s work schedule.

Then, when he started growing, at least for a little while, things got worse.

“Everything is off,” his mother, Lemon, said. “You’re not used to that body. It didn’t make sense how he was not progressing and not doing good and it got to be a sore spot for him.”

So Evans decided he would literally make himself into a great player, even if that meant a year on the junior varsity when many of the area’s elite freshman were playing varsity and getting their names into the basketball atmosphere.

“I really didn’t have a problem with it,” Evans said. “I wanted to play, but I didn’t have the mentality that I had to play varsity or I stunk.”

He started working out three times a day during the season. His mother would take him to school or to a local facility at 5 in the morning. Then there were school, practice and another workout session. Shot not falling? Work. Dribble not good enough? Work harder.

“I had to make sure he understood the importance of work ethic,” Lemon said. “He got this on his own. There isn’t a trainer out there that can say, ‘Oh, I got him.’ There are people who he worked out with from time to time. But I told him, ‘When you’re struggling, you’ve got to invest in yourself.’ He saved his money and started getting stuff: A ladder, cones, and he did really, really good.”

The North Carolina problem

Everybody in the Evans family is a fan of the North Carolina Tar Heels, or at least used to be.

“It was truly a family thing,” Isaiah Evans said. “This is just what we bonded over. I had a Carolina wallet.”

The spring and early summer between his freshman and sophomore seasons, Evans saw a lot of players in his class start to get Division I offers, guys he thought he could play with. Not much was coming his way, even though he was playing well.

Lewis said Evans got both angry and determined, and then, he said, Evans put on a show that same summer and fall. Lewis said Evans began to work even harder in the gym, often on his own.

“We went to some events in North Carolina and Georgia, our guys are like, ‘Whoa,’” Lewis said. “He just had some unbelievable games versus some highly ranked teams. He had 40 points (in each of) the first couple of games.”

Evans, finally, started to get some serious college interest.

“One of my (high school) coaches was like, ‘Let’s start getting your name out there. What colleges are you interested in?’” Evans said. “I’m like, ‘Carolina, Duke, Kansas, all of them,’ and they emailed him back.”

Evans said North Carolina coaches weren’t impressed.

“As soon as they let me know that they weren’t really liking my game, I was like, ‘All right, no more Carolina,’” Evans said.

Said his mother: “Look, it’s a natural rivalry now, whether they wanted him or not.”

Creating a legacy. ‘He’s that guy.”

During his junior season, Evans’ legend literally began to grow. He started shooting better than 60 percent from the field on two-point attempts and better than 40 percent from 3. He developed an NBA-style turnaround jump shot that he uses against smaller defenders with his back to the basket.

Then came a rush of memorable games.

He had 45 points and a put-away basket in a game at rival Chambers. In the state quarterfinals in 2023, Evans had 62 points against Chambers in a game where he made a shot at the buzzer to force overtime, then made another running buzzer-beater from the volleyball line to force a second OT.

This season, though, he had his career-best game in the N.C. 4A quarterfinals at Myers Park. The Mustangs were ranked No. 4 in America and had the state’s best defensive team, both statistically and via the eye test. Myers Park had two seniors signed to Power 5 schools that were ranked among the top 75 in the country. The Mustangs’ best player was a 6-9 junior ranked among the top 20 nationally in his class.

Evans had 48 points against that Myers Park team, including 21 in the third quarter. North Meck won, and then beat Lake Norman and Wilmington New Hanover to win the state championship.

Former McDonald’s All-American Antawn Jamison, the North Carolina great and longtime NBA player, was at the Myers Park game. His son, A.J., played for the Mustangs.

The former top 5 NBA draft pick came away very impressed with Evans.

“His mental makeup is something I haven’t seen in a high school player in a while,” Jamison said. “I haven’t seen a jump shot like that from a high school kid in a long time. Those are the kind of shots you’re going to be making on the elite level. Even though he picked the wrong school to go to and develop his talents in college, I’ve got nothing but respect. There’s only been a couple of players that wowed me the first time I saw them. Zion Williamson is one of those guys, and (Evans is) definitely up there, to be able to showcase that type of talent and shoot the ball like that.”

Evans has long been compared to former Duke star Brandon Ingram, who won a state title at Kinston High. Watching Evans torch Myers Park, Jamison had a different thought.

“I heard about the Brandon Ingram comparisons, which I know he’s gotten a lot,” Jamison said. “But watching Brandon in college, he’s more skillful than Brandon was at that stage. ... He was definitely impressive. He’s one of the first guys I saw live at that stage and said, ‘You know what, he’s that guy.’”

Cooper Flagg and McDonald’s

Ranked as high as No. 10 in America, Evans committed to Duke back in April 2023.

“I’m headed to the brotherhood,” he joyfully announced on Twitter.

In October, the nation’s No. 1 recruit, Cooper Flagg, also committed to Duke. Immediately rumors swirled that Evans might de-commit.

“It took me maybe a month to figure out why they were saying this,” Lemon said. “What is it about Coop that would make you think (Evans) would de-commit? I was sitting in a restaurant and it clicked.

“It’s because you would. If it was you, you wouldn’t be able to stand toe to toe with top talent. If it was your son, your son would not stand toe to toe. A lot of people take their kids and they’re moving them because their kid cannot stand a chance. They’re moving them to make them look like they’re top talent.”

Lemon said she can’t wait to have her son play with Flagg.

“You’ve got two powerhouses,” she said. “They’re about to dominate. We’re about to take this over.”

Said Evans: “I got a picture with Coop on my phone. I thought we were cool. I didn’t understand where it was coming from. Before I committed, I (told Flagg), ‘Yeah dude, come on.’ I was trying to get (all the players Duke was targeting) as a potential recruit. I was like, ‘Hey, the way I see it, we’re going to make a run at this thing for real.’”

A few months later, Evans — and Flagg — were named to the McDonald’s All-American game. They would play on the same team. Evans was in class when he found out.

“When I got ranked for the first time, I was in class,” he said. “I was just like, ‘Whoa.’ It didn’t hit me. I had just seen the list. I was like, ‘I just made the All-American team. I’m ready to go.’ But two days later, it hit me. I’m like, ‘Only 20 dudes get selected in the whole world, and I’m one of them.’

“Wow.”

And now, to the future

So much in Evans’ life has changed in the past 12 months.

He remembers the first time the clerk at the gas station stopped him to ask for a picture. He called his mother from Walmart once, worried because a man was staring at him and following him around.

“I’m starting to get uncomfortable,” Evans told his mother as the man approached.

The man told Evans, “Sorry, I’m a fan of yours.” He wanted a photo.

This is normal now.

Evans said he makes a point to always make time.

“Even if I’m having a bad day,” he said, “it doesn’t take (much) to take a picture with somebody. Say I am in a bad mood and a kid wants to take a picture. I’m going to say yeah. They won’t even know.”

Why? Evans said he remembers his life before, when he was working, trying to get where he is now. He said he’ll never forget where he came from.

“I came in freshman year,” Evans said, “and people said I could play. But I was just a regular dude. I was going to go to (rival) Mallard Creek (High School) because it was the closest (school to his home) at the time. Eventually, I came to North because I heard they had a good basketball program, and from there I just started working. I’m just a regular dude in layup lines trying to get a spot on the team and I grew to this.

“At the time, I didn’t see it getting like this. Now, it feels great. It feels fulfilling.”