Why Kansas Jayhawks’ Taylen Kinney wanted role in urging Tyran Stokes to pick KU
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Taylen Kinney spent much of the year persuading close friend Tyran Stokes to commit.
- Tyran Stokes, the Class of 2026's top recruit, committed to Kansas in late April.
- Kinney learned of Stokes's Jayhawk decision two days before it became public.
For much of the last year, incoming Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball player Taylen Kinney tried to convince close friend and No. 1-ranked class-of-2026 recruit Tyran Stokes to join him in committing to KU.
Kinney’s effort finally paid off in late April. But, oh, was that year — Stokes’ recruitment process — filled with twists and turns.
In fact, Kinney found out Stokes would be a Jayhawk only two days before the rest of the world.
“I was having ideas that he would come without him telling me,” Kinney told The Star this week. “But then some days I would think he’s coming, and then couple days later I would be like, ‘I don’t know if we got him. I don’t know if we got him.’”
Kinney’s pitch to Stokes? It was simple: bring the duo together again, have fun and win games with one another.
Both Kinney and Stokes view themselves as one-and-done prospects. Multiple NBA scouts have told The Star that Stokes could be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 NBA Draft.
Some NBA scouts view Kinney as a one-and-done but want to see how the season unfolds.
“I just talked to him (Stokes) the other day about it (Kansas),” Kinney told The Star in October. “I just said, ‘Me and you would be there 10 months together, help each other out. Go to the next level — go to the league, both of us, hopefully. Just want to run it back and play one more time with each other.’”
Naturally, Kinney is stoked that Stokes is a Jayhawk.
“It’s super exciting,” he said. “I can’t wait to go back out there and play with him. He’s super fun to play with. He loves to win. He wants to win so bad. and I’m the same way. I want to win. I know we both want to compete and do whatever it takes to win. So I just can’t wait to go out there and play with someone like that again.”
Kinney told The Star that his favorite memory with Stokes is when Kinney threw a lob to Stokes that ended in a thunderous dunk. Later in that game, the eighth-grade Stokes dunked on an opponent and people rushed the court. The game ended early in chaos.
As for what Stokes and Kinney must do in Lawrence as one-and-done prospects?
“Win games,” Kinney said. “That’s the biggest thing we need to do is just win games. Compete at a high level and show people that we are winners.”
