Former Joliet West star Jeremiah Fears declares for 2025 NBA Draft

Former Joliet West star Jeremiah Fears took the country by storm his freshman season at Oklahoma. Now, he’s hoping to do the same thing at the professional level.

Fears, who spent the first two years of his high school career at Joliet West, has announced he will declare for the 2025 NBA Draft. Fears declared his intention on the “Paul Finebaum Show” on Wednesday afternoon.

Fears starred for the Tigers his first two years of high school, including one year with his older brother Jeremy, who now is at Michigan State. Jeremiah then transferred to AZ Compass Academy for his final two years of high school where he was a consensus four-star prospect.

In his lone season at Oklahoma, he was sensational, averaging 17.1 points, 4.1 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. He shot 43% from the field and scored in double figures the first 15 games of his career.

He scored 30-plus points against a pair of top 25 foes in Michigan and Missouri, dropped 29 and 28 on Georgia and Kentucky in the SEC Tournament, respectively, and closed out his college career with 20 points in an NCAA Tournament first-round loss to UConn.

“I was lucky to walk into a great situation at Oklahoma with a lot of opportunity,” Fears told Finebaum on Wednesday. “I had great teammates and coaches working with me every day to help a young freshman achieve his dreams.”

ESPN ranks Fears as the No. 7 overall prospect in this year’s draft. He’s one of the youngest players in this year’s draft, not turning 19 until October. He has retained former NBA player Mike Miller as an agent, whom he will train with in New York for the next few months.

The NBA Draft will be held June 25-26 in New York City.