Earlier this month, NBA superstar Damian Lillard announced the launch of Formula Zero, an elite camp and initiative meant to gather a certain type of high school and college basketball player — only 20 of each — into a community of hoopers led by Lillard and Phil Beckner, his longtime mentor, trainer and former Weber State assistant coach.

Lillard’s description of the kind of players he wanted for the inaugural gathering this summer seemed to place a high likelihood that someone like Weber State wing/forward Dillon Jones might get an invitation.

“We want to take some of the best players, we want to take the guys who are underrated, underappreciated, the tough ones, the dogs,” Lillard explained in a video posted to social media on July 6. “We want to put them all in the same place and just try to make them better when they leave.”

Indeed, when the first announcements went out Saturday, Jones was included — one of the first four college players announced as participants in Formula Zero.

Jones, entering his third year at Weber State, joins Caleb Love (third-year player at North Carolina), Keyonte George (incoming five-star freshman at Baylor) and Bryson Warren (Overtime Elite) as the first four college players invited. They were announced as “college counselors;” it’s unclear at this time what that designation means.

Salute @caleb2love, @Hesifambryson, @keyonte1george, @drizzydj23! Excited to work with y’all! https://t.co/9ql0gR5Cy1

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) July 23, 2022

“My first elite camp … it’s not just some basketball camp,” Lillard said in the aforementioned video. “We want to create a community, create an environment where people who come through here, they see things different, they do things different, and they’re better off when they do leave.”

The eventual roster of 40 participants will join Lillard from Aug. 3-7 in Portland.

The Formula Zero website proclaims the community’s ethos as character, hard work and accountability.

“Formula Zero is a community of elite basketball players led by Damian Lillard and Phil Beckner. This community is not for everyone,” the website reads. “It exists only for those that have an obsessive and relentless passion to do things differently.

“This Formula is not fake or superficial. It impacts real change and has molded one of the best players on the planet. We care about you and want to tell you the truths that will help you succeed. If you are fortunate enough to be invited just know; we want nothing from you, but everything for you.”

The first eight invitations to high school players also went out via social media Saturday. That list includes two Californians on Weber State’s radar: Modesto’s BJ Davis, a 6-foot-2 combo guard in the class of 2023 who holds an offer from WSU, and 6-foot-8 wing/forward Carter Bryant of Fountain Valley, a 2024 prospect in contact with WSU (and many others).

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