None of these decisions come easy. The best players, those who might earn millions of dollars playing professional basketball, might do well to leave. Barrett began his high school career in Canada but quickly left for Montverde Academy, a prep hoops factory in Central Florida where he honed his talents against the best young players on the continent.

“R.J. Barrett needed to go south,” Sbiet said.

Parents, equal parts enthralled and worried, have front-row seats for this gold rush . I sat for a while in the high school bleachers in Mississauga on a recent Saturday with Yvonne Rowe Samadhin and her husband, Mark. They are health care professionals, and we watched their son, Julian, play point guard for the Monarchs. He is 16 and quick to the hoop, and he dreams of a college career. His parents love basketball even as they sound taken aback by the great surge of talent and the expectations that follow like a dog nipping at their heels.

“There’s a lot of pressure on these boys now,” Julian’s mother told me. “We are very mindful of the coaches. They have to know how to deal with young teenage minds.”

They talk to Julian of books and balance, and of basketball as a means to a larger end. He nods and asks to take in another game, and another one after that. He’s a proper Mississaugan. Oh and, by the by, that lanky 14-year-old with the excellent dribble handle, court sense and hops? His name is Dylan Grant. You might want to explore buying long-term stock in his career.