Another star sophomore boys basketball player is leaving the state.
Devin Cleveland, a 6-3 guard who’s ranked No. 25 in the national Class of 2027 by 247sports.com and No. 15 by ESPN, will transfer from Kenwood to La Lumiere, a prep school in Indiana, for his junior year.
He led Kenwood to its first city championship in February.
“We had talked about leaving last year, and we decided to come back,” said Cleveland’s father, Fred Cleveland Sr. “He wanted to do one more year at Kenwood. It worked out good.”
Cleveland, a Sun-Times area and all-city selection, averaged 21 points and led the Broncos to the Class 4A supersectionals this past season. He already has college scholarship offers from Arizona State, DePaul, Hampton, Illinois, Illinois State, Michigan, NIU and WIU.
He announced the move to La Lumiere Thursday morning on X.
This makes two highly regarded sophomores in the last month who are planning to transfer out of Illinois. Bolingbrook’s Davion Thompson, the Sun-Times Player of the Year, announced he will play at Compass Prep school in Missouri next season.
Jaxson Davis, who led Warren to a second-place finish in the Class 4A state tournament in March, is the biggest sophomore star left in the area.
Cleveland Sr., who was born and raised on the South Side, said that 25 years ago, his son would have stayed in Chicago for his entire high school career. He’s worried the transfers will continue unless there
are changes made to the high school basketball scene.
“Chicago basketball has to do better,” the elder Cleveland said. “Kenwood was going to get some transfers, but if you bring a kid to Kenwood and the IHSA says he can’t play, then what is he going to do?”
He added: “I wanted [Devin] to be tested more, and he wanted to be tested more. Times are changing. No. 1, the [IHSA] needs to mind their business. Kids are going to transfer.
‘‘You see what is going on in college. Kids are going to go where they want to go. It shouldn’t be a problem. Certain schools get penalized for transfers and others don’t. What is that about?”
Next Chapter….. #LALU🔵🩶 pic.twitter.com/fDpk8KIdPS
— Devin Cleveland (@DevinClev2) May 15, 2025
Coaching changes
It isn’t just players on the move. Jamere Dismukes stepped down as Homewood-Flossmoor’s coach after a successful three-year stint that included winning the Class 4A state title in 2024. And Conte Stamas, who coached Brother Rice to a second-place finish in Class 3A this past season, is moving on from the Crusaders.
