DaRon & Cameron Holmes, Arizona Basketball Royalty

There may not be a better pair of brothers younger than age 23 in the game of basketball than the duo of DaRon Holmes and his younger brother Cameron.

DaRon is a projected first round selection in Wednesday’s upcoming NBA Draft following a junior season at the University of Dayton that saw the 6’10” forward lead the Flyers to the second round of the NCAA tournament and finish the year as a consensus All-American.

Cameron is entering his junior season at Millennium High School, an Arizona powerhouse where he has been a starter since his freshman year. He finished his sophomore season as a MaxPreps sophomore All-American and recently was one of the final cuts for the highly competitive USA U17 national team.

Before heading off to New York to prepare for the NBA draft, however, there was one final event that DaRon had to attend in his hometown of Phoenix, Section 7.

Section 7 has become one of the best summer events in all of high school basketball. It showcases 160 of the best high school teams in the United States in a three-day tournament at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, which recently hosted the NCAA Men’s Final Four.

Cameron and his Millennium Tigers were competing in the top bracket in the event and, just two minutes into their first round matchup, DaRon walked into the building and right to the end of the Tiger bench to coach up his brother in front of some of the top college basketball coaches in the country.

Early in the first half of the first game, the Tigers and Holmes were struggling but a halftime coaching point from Millennium head coach Ty Amundsen and words of motivation from DaRon were crucial in the Tigers come from behind victory over nationally ranked St. Joseph (CA).

“I always knew Cameron was going to be good, the best thing to see has been his growth and maturity as he’s gotten older” DaRon said.

Cameron has grown in his first two seasons in high school. As a freshman, Cameron led the Tigers to the same point that his older brother had twice with Millennium as he played there, the 5A state championship game. And although Millennium fell short in that matchup, Cameron was motivated to get back to the title game and enlisted help from his brother in the offseason to work towards that.

“DaRon started from nothing and worked his way up to the draft and he’s shown teammates and coaches what he can do and I’m proud of him and what I’ve taken from his game is his hard work, and that’s what he’s pushed me towards the most,” Cameron said.

Entering the 2023-24 season, both Cameron and DaRon had high expectations for what their seasons would hold.

DaRon was at the top of every major publication’s watchlist as someone who could possibly win the Wooden award, the most prestigious award given to a college basketball player. His Dayton Flyers were also the overwhelming favorite to win the A-10 conference and get to the NCAA Tournament.

DaRon finished the season averaging 20.4 points per game, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks on his way to winning A-10 Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

Cameron entered the year as one of the favorites to win Arizona Gatorade player of the year and his Millennium squad was one of the favorites to win Arizona’s open division state championship.

Millennium reached the open division title game led by Cameron, who averaged 18.1 points per game as well as 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals. The Tigers, for the first time in five years, reached a national top-25 ranking.

That led to Section 7, where Cameron had the ability to show his leadership skills as once again in the Tigers’ second-round matchup against Mater Dei (CA), Millennium was in a tight battle in the second half. In this game it was the little things by Cameron that made the difference.

“It’s his ability to understand the game from the neck up, understanding certain game-like situations, certain actions, where he needs to be at, and being able to impact the game on both ends of the floor in different ways,” DaRon said.

Just as in the first game, DaRon was coaching up Cameron every chance he got in order to help his younger brother perform in the best way possible in front of college coaches. Although Cameron plays on the wing and DaRon plays more inside in the post, It’s moments like that which play a role into why DaRon received a promise from NBA teams that he will be selected in the first round.

“Although we play different positions it’s that dog and that mentality that he brings to the floor that is amazing and it’s great to see that from my brother, I love it,” DaRon said.

It’s not just on the court that the brotherly love is helping both sides out.

Cameron is a five-star prospect currently ranked in the top 15 of the 2026 class who has dozens of college programs coveting his skills and vying for him to take his game to their programs. DaRon was a highly-rated four star prospect himself but his recruitment was different than what his younger brother is experiencing.

Following DaRon’s junior season, the Covid-19 outbreak put a damper on every prospect in America’s recruitment and made things tricky for colleges as they had to build a roster with less guaranteed open spots, uncertainty as to what the future held, and NIL was relatively new. Since that point, high school players such as Cameron have had to manage that when looking for a program. Still DaRon has been sure to guide him and teach him what to expect.

“The recruiting experience is different from what DaRon experienced, there’s older grad students, NIL, the landscape has changed entirely but he’s taught me a lot in how to navigate it all and I’m thankful for it” said Cameron.

DaRon wasn’t in attendance for the Tigers’ championship game on Sunday as he had already left for New York City, but Cameron saved arguably his best game for last as he finished with 22 points and six rebounds as Millennium defeated Archbishop Riordan to win the top bracket at Section 7. The Tigers, behind Holmes, were the first Arizona team in the five year history of the event to win one of the top two brackets.

The Holmes family, after celebrating Cameron’s victory, will shift its focus to DaRon and the next step in his journey which will be on Wednesday night and the NBA draft.

DaRon is projected to be the third Arizona-born player selected in the first round of the NBA draft in the last three years following Dalen Terry and TyTy Washington Jr’s selections in the 2022 draft. He’s also expected to be the second Millennium player to ever be selected in the draft after Tiger alum Carrick Felix was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2013.

As his father, DaRon Sr, and his mother, Tomika, sit with Cameron and brother Quintyn during the first round, the basketball royalty that is the Holmes family will be on full display for the nation to see and at the rate that Cameron is progressing in his game, the Holmes’ may be in the same position just a couple of years from now.