K.J. Hymes, a 6-foot-10 junior, has left Phoenix St. Mary’s and will be transferring to Phoenix Hillcrest Prep to play his senior season on the national high school team, Hillcrest recruiting coordinator Nick Weaver said.

Weaver said that Hymes, who made second-team All-4A Conference at St. Mary’s this basketball season, is finishing up his academics this school year at Goodyear Millennium, which is the neighborhood in which he resides.

Hymes, who averaged 17 points and eight rebounds for the Knights this year, will be asked to fill a void left by 7-foot McDonald’s All-American DeAndre Ayton, ranked by recruiting services as the No. 1 2017 prospect, who signed with the University of Arizona.

Hymes is regarded as the most recruited junior in Arizona, along with Mesa Desert Ridge swingman Timmy Allen and Chandler swingman Tevian Jones. Hymes is a composite 4-star prospect.

He projects to be 7 feet by the time he gets to college. He can run the court and is good on the defensive end. He has ability to hit 3-pointers. He played last summer for the Las Vegas Prospects, a club program that feeds another top national high school team, Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep.

• ?Purchase tickets for azcentral.com Sports Awards

• Larry Fitzgerald headlines azcentral.com Sports Awards show

• Nominate:, Athletes of the Week, Academic All-Stars

He has more than 10 offers, including Arizona State, Washington, Grand Canyon, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Clemson, St. John’s, USC, Virginia, California and Colorado.

“We at Hillcrest are so very excited to announce K.J. Hymes as part of the Hillcrest Prep family,” Weaver texted. “K.J. is an outstanding player and will help keep Hillcrest atop the national powers. K.J. in our opinion should be a top-15 ranked player nationally. He has a unique skill set and is very underrated and valued. Next year he will be able to show off his true skill set on the national stage.”

Weaver said he wasn’t sure if he would take the same academic route of Hillcrest sophomore guard Josh Green, who left Glendale Mountain Ridge after his freshman year but remained a student at the public school while playing for Hillcrest, which is stationed at Precision High, a charter school in south Phoenix.

Ty Amundsen, Hymes’ coach at St. Mary’s, said he found out about Hymes transferring to Hillcrest on Twitter.

“I had three great years with K.J.,” Amundsen said. “He’s a tremendous player and even a better person. We had a lot of success together making it to three straight elite eights and I wish him and his family the best at Hillcrest.”

Suggest human interest stories to Richard Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him at azc_obert