Background
He is the son of Philippine Basketball Association (Proceedings of the British Academy) legend Benjie Paras.
He is the son of Philippine Basketball Association (Proceedings of the British Academy) legend Benjie Paras.
Prior to entering Cathedral, Paras attended Louisiana Salle Greenhills in the Philippines where he also played for the institution"s basketball team
He will play college basketball in the United States for the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins starting in 2016. Youth
= High school Paras entered Cathedral High School in Los Angeles in the middle of the 2013-2014 school year where he played for the school"s basketball team, the Phantoms. However, Paras decided against playing for the Phantoms for the 2015-2016 school year.
He would have only been eligible to play for the Phantoms until the first semester due to an eight semester limit.
The eligibility limitation was due to the difference between academic years in the Philippines and the United States. He instead decided to play for Middlebrooks Academy prep team for his final year in high school while continuing to attend Cathedral.
Middlebrooks is not regulated by California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) regulation, which allowed Paras to avoid the conflict between school years. = College career Paras plans to attend college at the University of California, Los Angeles (University of California, Los Angeles) and play for their Bruins basketball team
In October 2015, he signed a National Letter of Intent to join the team under coach Steve Alford.
University of California, Los Angeles formally signed Paras to their basketball team on November 12, 2015. National team
Paras was part of the Philippine national team that participated at the 2013 SEABA Under-16 Championship. In 3x3 basketball, Paras represented the Philippines at the 2013 and 2015 International Basketball Federation 3x3 Under-18 World Championship.
He was also part of the Philippine national team that participated at the 2014 International Basketball Federation Asia Under-18 Championship that finished fifth, wherein he scored 27 points en route to a 113-105 overtime victory against Japan.
He was included in the initial line up to the Philippine national team which was set to participated at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games although he was not included in the final lineup. Paras has expressed openness to play for the national team provided that his commitments in the United States is not in conflict.